Archive

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
TRUST SERVICES provider VeriSign has announced that its managed PKI, (public key infrastructure), services will meet the criteria set out by the EU Commission’s Directive for digital signatures. The Directive aims to accelerate the acceptance of digital signatures to provide secure e-commerce and communications.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
THE NEWLY formed HyperTransport Technology Consortium – a coalition of international high-tech corporations including AMD, NVIDIA, Cisco and Sun Microsystems – is to develop a new system enabling microchips within PCs and local area networks to communicate far more effectively.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE INTERNATIONAL Chamber of Commerce has warned that the proposed introduction of a law insisting that in e-commerce disputes, it is the law and courts of the consumers’ country that should prevail in any legal disputes, runs the risk of “stifling” business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions over the Internet.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BELGIAN government has signalled that the development of e-government services is to be its priority in IT policy during the next six months when it holds the presidency of the European Union. It will be staging a major conference in Brussels on the subject in November, including key players from the IT sector and national and regional governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DRAFT model law for electronic signatures has been adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, (UNCITRAL), which will be a legislative guide for the many member countries who are grappling with the difficulties of framing national legislation on the subject.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to agree the final details of the powers and responsibilities of a European Data Protection Supervisor, who would control the release of the vast amounts of personal data held by the institutions of the EU.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
A BRITISH company developing a reconfigurable microchip has received a major boost following investment of US$ 14 million from key industry players Hewlett Packard and Actel, as well as the venture capitalist 3I Group.

The idea is that instead of having to choose between high cost programmable chips or less expensive fixed function units, manufacturers using Elixent’s know-how will be able to reorientate standard chips for many uses across an entire product range.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
STUDIES into helping governments verify nuclear non-proliferation treaties have led the EU’s Joint Research Centre to develop new technology, which allows the creation of three-dimensional images of high clarity and accuracy. A spin-off company 3D Veritas, based in Sesto Calende, northern Italy, uses software which enables the speedy production of photo-realistic 3D models of the interior and exterior of buildings and other large objects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GROWTH in the high technology sector means big profits for those that succeed in the race to market ‘the next big thing,’ but that also means high tech criminals are hot on the trail of consumers and manufacturers unaware that their new gadget is a fraudsters new scamming device, reports Monica Dobie, in Montreal, Canada.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
DEFINITIVE anti-dumping duties have been imposed by the EU on two

Norwegian salmon-exporting companies – Marstein Seafood AS and Westmarine AS – for failing to meet the conditions of an exemption granted in 1999 when duties were placed on other exporters.…