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Headlines--- Pictures
from the past---1991--- Peter Eaton,
CLP This
Week's Scheduled Economic Events Siemens
Selects LiveCapital's Enterprise
Credit Management Solution November
sales worst since '70 Online
banking gaining popularity Expense
Management Takes the Spotlight Montana's
`wine connoisseur' rule shows the
oddity of wine laws States
treat wine shipping differently
Predicting
trends for the new year ### Denotes Press
Release ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pictures from the past---1991--- Peter Eaton, CLP
“Peter Eaton, CLP, First National Leasing Palo Alto, California,
took his role as Chairman of the
Western Association of Equipment
Lessor’s Crystal Anniversary Conference
in Monterey, California, to heart. He is shown above catching a few waves—still
sporting
a tuxedo jacket and bow tie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Classified
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Week’s Scheduled Economic Events December
9 MONDAY Treasury bill auction. United Airlines to
File BK John W. Snow, economist
and a lawyer who has run CSX, one
of the nation's largest railroad
companies, since 1991 expected to
replace Paul H. O'Neill as Treasury
secretary December 10 TUESDAY Stock Market to Re-Check
Itself Federal Open Market Committee meets to discuss interest rates. Institute for Supply Management, formerly known as the National
Association of Purchasing Management,
releases its semiannual report on
manufacturing activity. December 11 WEDNESDAY No Scheduled Events December
12 THURSDAY Commerce Department reports on retail sales for November
and current account, third quarter. Labor Department reports on weekly jobless claims. OPEC meeting on oil production and pricing begins in Vienna. December
13 FRIDAY Labor Department reports on producer price index for November. Commerce Department reports on business inventories for October. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ################# ############################## Siemens Selects LiveCapital's Enterprise Credit Management
Solution San Mateo, CA -., The industry leader in Enterprise Credit
Management (ECM), and Siemens Medical
Solutions, USA Inc., an operating
company of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI),
a leading provider of medical products
and solutions,
announced that Siemens Medical
Solutions, USA Inc. has purchased
the LiveCapital Solution for Enterprise
Credit Management (the LiveCapital
Solution) to support credit decisions
for the small ticket customer financing
segment of its business. Siemens Medical Solutions, USA Inc. expects a significant
increase in sales and customer financing
requests in the small ticket segment
over the next several years. The
LiveCapital Solution will help facilitate
that growth while allowing Siemens
Medical to maintain the credit department
at pre-budgeted staff levels within
the small ticket segment. All aspects
of the small ticket segment credit
process -submitting an application,
purchasing and analyzing bureau
data, gathering information, and
providing approvals and documents
to the sales team - now will be
automated. "We are in a rapid growth phase and anticipate double
digit sales growth in fiscal year
2003.
LiveCapital's product will
assist us in achieving our targets
while providing best in class service."
said Leslie Matthews, Manager, Leasing
Operations at Siemens Medical Solutions,
USA Inc. "We did a thorough
review of ECM solutions available
in the market, and Live Capital
offered the best solution for our
needs." The LiveCapital Solution allows enterprises to implement
"best practices""
into their financing approval process.
It provides real-time access to
D&B and other business data
sources, consumer data sources,
and an enterprise's internal systems.
By leveraging this information with
the LiveCapital Solution's sophisticated
credit process manager, flexible
decision engine and document management
capabilities, enterprises can make
better credit decisions, reduce
operational costs and deliver credit
to their customers more quickly. "We are thrilled to add Siemens, one of the 25 largest
companies in the world, to our growing
list of customers," said Mike
Grossman, CEO of LiveCapital. "This
deal and other recent sales to Waste
Management, Kubota Tractor and PC
Connection show that enterprises
see the need for significant improvement
in their ECM processes, and recognize
that LiveCapital provides the best
solution in the ECM space." About Siemens Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), headquartered
in Munich, is a leading global electronics
and engineering company. It employs
426,000 people in 192 countries
and reported worldwide sales of
more than $84 billion in fiscal
2002 (10/1/01 - 9/30/02). The United
States is Siemens' largest market
in the world, with sales of more
than $21 billion in fiscal 2002
and more than 74,000 employees in
all 50 states. Corporate headquarters
for Siemens' U.S. businesses are
located in New York City. For more
information: www.usa.siemens.com. Siemens Medical Solutions, USA Inc., headquartered in Malvern,
Pennsylvania, is one of Siemens'
operating companies in the U.S.
and one of the largest suppliers
to the healthcare industry in the
world. The company is renowned for
its innovative products, including
imaging systems for diagnosis, therapy
equipment for treatment, hearing
instruments, and critical care and
life support systems, as well as
a wide array of information technology
and data management solutions that
optimize workflow and improve outcomes
for hospitals, clinics and doctors'
offices. Known as the premiere health
information application service
provider, the company processes
nearly 137 million transactions
daily and manages more than 86 terabytes
of data - twice the information
volume of the Library of Congress. About LiveCapital LiveCapital is the industry leader in Enterprise Credit Management
(ECM).
The company's technology
and consulting solutions enable
enterprises to make better credit
decisions, improve productivity,
and close more sales by providing
credit to their customers more quickly.
The result: lower bad debt,
reduced operating costs, and higher
revenue . Privately held and headquartered in San Mateo, California,
LiveCapital provides ECM solutions
to industry leaders including Waste
Management, Kubota Tractor, Siemens,
PC Connection, and United States
Steel. For more information, please
visit www.LiveCapital.com. Contacts: Kimberly Cooper Kathy
Finnegan Siemens Medical Solutions, USA. LiveCapital, Inc. kimberly.cooper@siemens.com kfinnegan@LiveCapital.com 732-906-3802 650-350-3642 November sales worst since '70 By RENEE DEGROSS Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer The fragile holiday season isn't broken, or at least not
yet. But retailers need robust December
results to rescue the anemic November
sales. The sales represented the first November decline for retailers
since 1970, when the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
began tracking dozens of retailers. Retailers, worried about mediocre holiday sales forecasts,
used euphoric post- Thanksgiving
deals to lure shoppers. The buying
frenzy helped but not enough to
make up for sluggish sales earlier
in the month. Deflation is also playing a role in the season. Retailers
are offering bigger and better deals
to compete, so shoppers are sitting
on their wallets and waiting for
even lower prices. "Consumers are reacting day by day," said Candace
Corlett, a partner in WSL Strategic
Retail, a consulting firm. "Headlines
and world events make shoppers nervous,
but there also isn't a have-to-have
item for under the tree this season." Analysts think a better gauge of the season will come from
looking at November and December
together. And retailers still have
a little time to build sales before
their busiest shopping day of the
year: the Saturday before Christmas. The condensed period between Thanksgiving and Christmas also
affected November results. Last
year, by comparison, there were
six more post-Thanksgiving shopping
days because the holiday fell earlier
on the calendar. That crimped November same-store sales reported last week
by Target, Sears, Federated Department
Stores and others. Target's results
were down 6.7 percent at its chains,
when compared with the year earlier.
Federated's same-store sales declined
7.4 percent. James Zimmerman, Federated's chief executive officer, said
sales earlier in the month were
weaker than expected. Wal-Mart's same-store sales increased 2.6 percent but fell
short of Wall Street's expectations
of a 2.7 percent increase, according
to Thomson First Call. One of the bright spots was Gap, whose same-store sales jumped
9 percent in November, compared
with a 25 percent decline last year.
The company has struggled to regain
market share after nearly two years
of declining sales. "Gap has the benefit of easy comparisons," said
Stephen Deedy with Cap Gemini Ernst
& Young in Atlanta. "Their
strategies are beginning to pay
off." Same-store sales are considered the best barometer of a retailer's
health because they do not include
closed or newly opened stores. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi reported that its index of retailers
was down 0.01 percent, the first
November decline since 1970, when
the index began. In 1970, the index declined because of inflation, when prices
rose steadily for goods and services.
But retailers now are faced with
deflation, especially in prices
of apparel and electronics. Chains, paying less for goods, have also lowered prices to
battle increased competition in
the weaker economy. That means they
must sell more goods at the cheaper
prices to meet or exceed sales of
past years. "Deflation is the key story of the season and the year,"
said Michael Niemira, senior economist
with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. "There
are price declines in retail of
the magnitude that we haven't seen
[in decades]." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Online banking gaining popularity By Sarah Lunday KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Competition for online bank customers is getting intense. Bank of America Corp. is handing out magnets at NFL games
this month to advertise its free
online bill pay. Wachovia Corp. launches a new Web site in November.
And CharterOne Financials is offering
customers "FYI Alerts,"
notifying them via e-mail, phone
or fax when they have a new statement
or need to pay a bill. This marketing urgency is spurred by bank executives who
believe online customers -- particularly
those who pay their bills over the
Internet -- are better than the
average branch user. Bank of America's
in-house researchers report that
online customers have 35 percent
higher balances and call customer
service 30 percent less than others. "They find more answers for themselves," said John
Rosenfeld, e-commerce executive
at the bank. The American Bankers Association estimates that 22 million
U.S. households are signed up to
check their accounts online, and
that number is projected to reach
35 million households by 2005. The
way banks define who is and who
is not an online customer is still
debatable. Many simply count how
many have signed up to view their
accounts online. Others count online
users by how often they've logged
on or collected data on their account. Using online banking is pretty simple: A customer goes to
a company's Web site and sets up
a user name and password for his
or her account. But researchers
believe that a large majority of
those people use the accounts only
to check their balances and see
when checks cleared. "People often go in and just visit their money,"
said John Hall, spokesman with the
American Bankers Association. That's how Crystal Jones of Charlotte, N.C., uses her online
account at East Coast bank BB&T
Corp. She calls herself "anal"
when it comes to tracking her money,
logging onto her account nearly
every day. "Anything that will make my life easier, I will give
it a try," the 29-year-old
law-firm employee said. Jones, who
pays $3.95 a month for her services,
said she has not tried any of the
other online services, such as bill
pay. Customers like Jones are what the banks are banking on, literally.
Customers who use online banking
are more likely to sign up for online
bill pay. Once they are using bill
pay, they are 70 percent to 80 percent
more likely to remain loyal, said
Wells Fargo & Co. Internet services
executive Jim Smith Wells Fargo, which was the first big bank to go online in
the mid-1990s, reported that it
signed up more than 50,000 online
bill payers in July and nearly that
many in August. Other banks are
also scrambling to sign up those
users: Charlotte-based Wachovia
executives said that more than 20,000
customers have been signing up for
online bill pay each month this
summer. "A lot of customers tell us it's a comfort factor,"
said Lou Anne Alexander, head of
an e-payments team at the bank.
"As they get more comfortable
with technology and security, they
take the next step." Nearly 12 million U.S. households will pay bills online this
year, and that number is expected
to grow rapidly, according to Javelin
Strategy & Research. And bill paying isn't all the banks want customers to do
from the comfort of their computer
chair. They also allow users to
transfer funds, apply for a mortgage,
and view canceled checks. For those not familiar with Internet banking lingo, here
are a few of the more popular services: ONLINE BANKING: Most companies still charge $5 to $7 a month
for this service. While analysts
say online usage has been slower
to catch on than expected, many
banks say they've seen a marked
increase in people signing on during
the past year. "Clearly more and more people are doing it and finding
it easier," said John Hall,
spokesman with the American Bankers
Association. CHECK IMAGING: Wachovia became the first top-10 bank earlier
this year to roll out the ability
for customers to view copies of
canceled checks. Customers want
check imaging much more than just
about anything else online banking
has to offer, said researcher Chris
Musto at Internet consulting firm
Gomez. BILL PAYMENT: Banks believe getting customers to pay their
bills online will lead to a more
loyal consumer base. Citigroup and
Chase Manhattan have offered the
service free for some time. Bank
of America joined them this year
with a marketing blitz to advertise
its service. "Online bill pay is a behavioral change that you don't
have with online banking,"
said Jim Bruene, editor and founder
of the Online Banking Report. While
using online banking is often just
logging on and viewing account activities,
using online bill pay often means
learning a new system, typing in
bill addresses, and making sure
a bill isn't paid twice. "Subconsciously, you're thinking is it really that hard
to write it on a little piece of
paper?" Bruene said. BILL PRESENTATION: Most popular with credit card companies,
such as American Express and Citicard,
this is where customers can view
and pay their bill online. The problem from a bank's perspective is not all companies
will allow customers to view their
bills at a bank's portal. James
Van Dyke at Javelin Strategy and
Research estimates that the average
household gets 12 to 18 bills each
month but can view only two or three
of those at their bank Web site. Van Dyke said he expects more companies eventually will allow
banks to display their bills: "I
think we'll start to see some signs
of life next year as many large
banks roll this out," Van Dyke
said. Wells Fargo, which has a goal
of presenting 100 percent of bills
online, has more than 100,000 bill-
presentation users. ALERTS: Cleveland's CharterOne Financial began offering alerts
in September. The company notifies
customers by phone, fax or e-mail
when a bill is due, checks are received
and statements arrive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Expense Management Takes the Spotlight FASB Issues Accounting Guidance to Improve Disclosure Requirements
for Guarantees In an effort to provide better and more transparent disclosure
requirements for issuers of guarantees,
the Financial Accounting Standards
Board (FASB) has published Interpretation
No. 45, Guarantor’s Accounting and
Disclosure requirements for Guarantees,
Including Indirect Guarantees of
Indebtedness of Others. The Interpretation
expands on the accounting guidance
of Statements No. 5, 57, and 107
and incorporates without change
the provisions of FASB Interpretation
No. 34, which is being superseded.
The Interpretation may be obtained
by contacting the FASB’s Order Department
at 800-748-0659 or placing an order
at the FASB’s website (www.fasb.org
). The Interpretation elaborates on the existing disclosure
requirements for most guarantees,
including loan guarantees such as
standby letters of credit. It also
clarifies that at the time a company
issues a guarantee, the company
must recognize an initial liability
for the fair value, or market value,
of the obligations it assumes under
that guarantee and must disclose
that information in its interim
and annual financial statements.
In commenting about the importance of the Interpretation
to investors, FASB Senior Project
Manager Robert C. Wilkins, stated,
“By improving the required disclosures
and accounting, the FASB’s new accounting
guidance will provide a more representationally
faithful picture of a company’s
financial position and the risk
it has assumed. The Interpretation
should significantly improve the
reporting of guarantees that are
issued in conjunction with other
transactions, such as when a seller
also guarantees its customer’s repayment
of the funds borrowed to pay the
seller for the customer’s purchases.”
This guidance does not apply to certain guarantee contracts,
such as those issued by insurance
companies or for a lessee’s residual
value guarantee embedded in a capital
lease. The provisions related to
recognizing a liability at inception
of the guarantee for the fair value
of the guarantor’s obligations would
not apply to product warranties
or to guarantees accounted for as
derivatives. The initial recognition and initial measurement provisions
apply on a prospective basis to
guarantees issued or modified after
December 31, 2002, regardless of
the guarantor’s fiscal year-end.
The disclosure requirements in the
Interpretation are effective for
financial statements of interim
or annual periods ending after December
15, 2002. About the Financial Accounting Standards Board Since 1973, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has
been the designated organization
in the private sector for establishing
standards of financial accounting
and reporting. Those standards govern
the preparation of financial reports
and are officially recognized as
authoritative by the Securities
and Exchange Commission and the
American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants. Such standards
are essential to the efficient functioning
of the economy because investors,
creditors, auditors and others rely
on credible, transparent and comparable
financial information. For more
information about the FASB, visit
our website at www.fasb.org. Sites of Reference: http://www.fasb.org States treat wine shipping differently
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Montana's `wine connoisseur' rule shows the oddity of wine
laws By Matt Gouras, Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) To have his favorite wine shipped directly
from a California winery, Montanan
Gerard Lemieux wanted to make sure
he did everything legally. The law,
he knew, could be as twisted as
an old grape vine. Montana regulators said he had to buy a special state permit
a ''connoisseur's license'' to have
wine shipped directly to his home.
Lemieux never claimed to be a connoisseur,
but he shrugged it off and paid
the $50. Then the state said he would need to keep track of every
purchase, give special shipping
labels to the wineries and more
paperwork to regulators and send
semiannual tax filings to the state.
He also would be responsible for
ensuring shippers and wineries knew
why it was all necessary. He did it all. But in the end, it was such a hassle that
Lemieux gave up. Next time he wants
a few bottles from his favorite
winery, he's driving to Napa Valley,
filling the trunk of his car and
hauling it back himself. ''There's nothing saying we can't do that,'' said Lemieux,
a retired United Parcel Service
worker from Missoula and one of
just 10 Montanans holding a state
connoisseur's license. ''And in
the end, it's easier.'' Lemieux's experience is not uncommon for finicky wine lovers
who find the selection at the local
store lacking. All states have laws to control the sale and shipment of
alcohol. The wholesale industry
argues they are necessary to ensure
the states can collect alcohol taxes
and prevent the shipment of booze
directly to minors. In recent years, however, the wine industry has convinced
some states to make exceptions for
wine, arguing that minors aren't
likely to try ordering fine merlots
or chardonnays to get a buzz. What has resulted is a confusing array of state rules and
regulations that has left wineries
and wine lovers often befuddled.
Thirteen states now have ''reciprocal'' agreements that allow
residents in one state to order
wine from another state, so long
as that state allows the same. Fourteen states and Washington, D.C., allow wine shipments,
but under tight limits or restrictions.
Like Montana's law, many of the
rules are so cumbersome, confusing
or ambiguous that critics say wineries
and even shipping companies like
United Parcel Service won't ship
to those states. Alaska, for instance,
allows the direct shipment of a
''reasonable'' amount of wine, but
never defines reasonable. Wholesalers have resisted any move to exempt wine from state
alcohol rules. ''The argument is that fine wines are not alcohol, but if
you start opening the door, everything
flows through,'' said Craig Wolf,
an attorney for the Washington,
D.C.- based Wine and Spirits Wholesalers
of America. For wineries, though, the myriad rules mean anytime a resident
of another state places an order
whether by phone, mail or through
the Internet the winery is supposed
to make sure shipping there is legal.
''We see this really as a matter of fairness for consumers,''
says Steve Gross, state relations
manager for the Wine Institute,
a California-based trade group.
''It seems unfair that a consumer
from one state can have wine shipped
to his home to enjoy and a consumer
from another state is told, `Sorry,
we're not allowed to ship to you
because of where you live.''' Truchard Vineyards of Napa Valley takes orders over the Internet,
but is careful about where it ships.
The company's Web site lists the
states where it can ship wine unfettered.
Potential buyers from other states
are asked to inquire before ordering
because other state rules can change
''on almost a daily basis,'' the
winery says. ''It's a hassle,'' said Truchard's Linda Carr. ''We'd love
to see things different because
we're missing a huge part of the
consumer market.'' In Massachusetts, wine makers say such laws are hampering
its fledgling wine industry. At the Hill Vineyard in Dartmouth, owner Robert DeGrazia
has to sell ''every last drop''
of his 1,500 cases a year within
Massachusetts. That state's law
forbids wineries to ship directly
to consumers, and his winery is
too small to have been noticed by
wholesale distributors. ''California wineries are 3,000 miles away and they're beating
us up because we can't cross state
lines,'' he said. The disagreement has resulted in about half a dozen lawsuits
from Florida to New York to Washington
state usually filed by wineries
or wine lovers. The lawsuits have
pitted wineries and small, retail
wine stores against wholesaler suppliers.
Court rulings in recent years have been mixed. A number of
early rulings favored the states.
More recent decisions, including
one earlier this month in New York,
favored the wine industry. In New York, a federal judge ruled the state's ban on direct
shipments interferes with interstate
commerce because it treats in-state
and out-of-state wineries differently.
New York is one of 23 states that
bans direct consumer shipments of
any alcohol into the state, but
allows New York wineries to ship
directly to consumers. A challenge to Florida's ban on direct sales is up in the
air after a federal appeals court
ordered the state to justify why
it also treats out-of-state wineries
differently than in-state wineries.
Both sides of the debate acknowledge that direct shipments,
if allowed in all 50 states, would
still probably amount to only a
small portion of all wine sales.
Currently, direct shipments, including
sales directly from winery tasting
rooms, account for less than 10
percent of all wine sales, according
to one Wine Institute estimate.
In addition, a survey by the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers
of America found that 86 percent
of wine drinkers are happy with
their local selection of wine. ''It's a very elitist, minority issue,'' said the wholesalers
group's Wolf. ''They speak loudly,
but in terms of the actual interest
in wines not available locally,
it's very small. And they would
tear down an entire regulatory system
to get what they want.'' But Gross, with the Wine Institute, said direct sales are
vital to many of the nation's smaller
wineries. ''A lot of wineries, their biggest sales are right out of
their tasting rooms,'' he said.
Wholesalers note there already are online alcohol retailers
who blatantly violate state laws
for direct shipments. One site brags that it will ship any alcohol to all but six
states. ''By placing this order
you agree that you are at least
21 years of age,'' one Web site
reads. ''The regulations are being ignored nationwide,'' Wolf said.
''It's going to keep happening until
some kid orders online and ends
up killing someone.'' Richard Waddington, who runs an Internet wine shop called
OnLineVines.com from Washington
D.C., said it is up to the wine
industry to find a workable solution
and stop engaging in courthouse
and statehouse battles. ''There just needs to be some sort of compromise,'' he said.
On the Net: www.OnLineVines.com: Specialists in rare wines www.wineinstitute.org: Wine industry lobbyists www.freethegrapes.org: Group that supports wine law reform
www.wswa.org/: Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America States treat wine shipping differently By Associated Press A breakdown of how states regulate the shipment of wine directly
to consumers: Shipments allowed on a reciprocal basis: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota,
Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington,
Wisconsin, West Virginia. Shipments allowed with restrictions or special permits: Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire,
North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, Wyoming, Washington, D.C.
Shipments prohibited: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maine, Massachusetts, Michigin,
Mississippi, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia.
Source: Wine Institute Predicting trends for the new year Mark Grossman Miami
Hearld As we approach the New Year, I'm going to take a stab at
predicting what the two hot buttons
in technology law will be in 2003. You'll find no Top 10 list here. I'll be happy if I can get
two right. While my crystal ball
has been right more often than not,
I've also had my share of clunkers. Before we begin on the 2003 predictions, let's review three
predictions that exemplify my track
record: • Electronic signatures In December 1996, I asked if the law recognized the validity
of digital, or electronic, signatures.
My take was: ``The best answer that
I can give today is that courts
should, and I believe will, recognize
the validity of digital signatures.
The problem is the absence of meaningful
judicial precedent.'' What the future brought was then-President Clinton signing
the Electronic Signatures in Global
and National Commerce Act on June
30, 2000. It established the validity
of digital and other types of electronic
signatures. Now, they essentially
have the same weight as an old fashioned
John Hancock created with a pen
on paper. Score one for the Tech Law columnist. • Internet access at the office It might seem like the dark and distant Stone Age, but in
1997, most of us didn't have Internet
access at the office. Early that
year I wrote, ``We can probably
all agree that Internet access at
work will soon be as common as access
to a telephone. Whether soon means
two, five or 25 years isn't relevant.
The point is that it will happen.
(My personal bet is five years.)
If you don't think this will happen
soon, you're missing the boat big
time.'' Survey results in January 2002 showed that 55 million Americans
went online from work, and on a
typical workday in 2001, 55 percent
of those with Net access at work
went online. Score another point for a solid prediction. • Micropayments Now for the sake of balance, it's time to highlight a clunker
prediction. In early 1997, I talked
about micropayments -- extremely
small electronic payments made while
you surf the Net. The idea is that while you may not be willing to pay CNN.com
25 cents for every story you read,
you might be willing to pay a half
penny. I thought that by 1999 micropayments
would rule. ''Once they build true micropayment ability into the browsers,
I think that micropayments will
quickly begin churning billions
of dollars through the world's economy,''
I predicted. The reality is that micropayments are an almost nonexistent
part of the Internet economy. They
don't churn billions of pennies,
much less billions of dollars, through
any economy. TWO NEW TRENDS Now let's get started on my 2003 predictions. Time will tell
how they will play out. I predict that the hottest area in technology law in the
next year will be privacy. What
is interesting is how this issue
is simultaneously being tugged in
two very different directions. On one side is our universal distaste for spam (unsolicited
commercial e-mail) and a distrust
of websites that solicit personal
information. We hate when they ask
for our mother's maiden name; we
don't like telling them how much
money we make; and we don't even
want to give them our e-mail addresses. Yet, we're in a war against terrorism and may soon be at
war with Iraq. The government is
passing legislation limiting our
privacy when it's the party doing
the intruding. This comes at a time
when many of us are yearning for
legislation limiting the buying
and selling of personal information
by businesses. Interestingly, because of the security threat, people don't
seem as uncomfortable as they were
pre-9/11 with the government collecting
information about them. Still, many
want their personal information
protected from private companies. These debates will continue in 2003. I don't expect any groundbreaking
new legislation on spam next year
or for that matter any other privacy
issues involving the people vs.
business. When government is involved, especially if we suffer the
''spectacular'' terrorist event
that we've been warned may happen
at any time, I expect the Bush administration
will push for even more authority
to compile master databases about
everything it can get its hands
on. In the post-spectacular event world, the government will
get what it asks for and not many
of us will be in the mood to deny
it. SCI-FI AS REALITY Another fascinating area will be nanotechnology. This was
the stuff of science fiction, but
now it's real. A nanometer is one
billionth of a meter, and these
super-small particles have unimagined
electrical, physical and chemical
properties. My prediction is that nanotechnology will advance quickly,
and then we will begin wrestling
with the many legal issues this
technology raises. We'll start seeing
debates on laws requiring that nano-particles
be contained and issues such as
required insurance in case of unintended
consequences. Earth, please meet the world of Star Trek. Mark Grossman is a shareholder and chairs the Technology
Law Group of Becker & Poliakoff,
P.A. Visit his website at www.EComputerLaw.com.
His e-mail address is techlaw@EComputerLaw.com.
Online research provided by LexisNexis. For more Tech Law columns, go to Herald.com and click on
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