Changes Require New Thinking
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said Wednesday that given the dramatic changes that the Internet has undergone in the 10 years since the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development first released its e-commerce guidelines, government officials must re-evaluate how they think about policymaking. Locke made the remarks during the second day of an OECD conference at the FTC on consumer protection in the digital age.
The conference is the start of a process launched by the OECD to update the organization's 1999 guidelines to reflect the dramatic technological changes that have occurred in the last decade. OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria - whom FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz described as having been the Timothy Geithner and Hillary Clinton of Mexico - said the OECD's "robust review" of its guidelines must address many issues. They include an examination of how to fight online fraud more effectively, how to improve online education and awareness campaigns, and how to enhance the protection of personal privacy and information.
In describing some of the changes in the last decade, Locke noted that Google didn't begin providing keyword-based ads until 2000, now "hundreds of thousands of advertisers use Google's AdWords." He added that in 1999 only one company offered a "dedicated" Web service for cell phones, while in 2008 more than 160 million Internet-connected smart phones were sold. Like the OECD, Locke said his department also is working to update its e-commerce policies to a "version 3.0" and "develop policies that foster innovation and grow e-commerce jobs, but also enhance consumer protection." Among the issues he said that must be examined include whether "there are new models for accountability. If there are, we must also ask if sophisticated multinational companies should be held to higher standards than small entrepreneurs or start ups."
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