He emphasizes that governments have an obligation to protect the interests of all stakeholders, including but not only business. If the situation is not transparent, private investors won't put their money in it,'' he notes. A similar viewpoint is expressed by John Curran, chief technology officer, GTE Internetworking, who serves on a number of advisory committees for Internet policy development. He says it is not the outcome per se that is important today, but the need to evaluate the costs of competing alternatives. Mr. Curran claims.
Taxation is subject to competing claims and authorities.
With store sales, the tax is based on the point of sale. With mail order, the tax is based on the residence of the buyer. It is not the job of the transport service for the transaction to provide the mechanism for this.'' Taxing sales of digital goods like software and music is complicated, because bit-based goods can come from several locations and be sent to several others. Another suggestion is a tax on the Internet ''pipes'' running through a state, just as there are state highway-use taxes. The International Chamber of Commerce supports the call by President Bill Clinton of the United States for a moratorium on e-commerce taxation until December 31, 2000.