Tag archive: Capitol Hill

Renamed the ”Marketplace Fairness Act”, a group of bipartisan senators is expected to introduce an alternate version of the “Main Street Fairness Act” in order to appease Web companies like eBay. Rather than taxing all transactions on the Internet, the new bill focuses on large retailers and allows smaller transactions to remain free of taxes. The bill is designed to give states the option of collecting the new tax. Some… Read More

While game developers and retailers have, for the most part, voluntarily fallen in line with the Entertainment Software Rating Board  (ESRB) in branding adult games and restricting their sale to minors, some on Capitol Hill still feel Uncle Sam should play enforcer. A new bill before Congress would mandate ID-checking with the sale of M- and AO-rated video games, and slap $5,000 penalties on retailers who fail to comply. The… Read More

Upstart real estate valuation site Zillow has caused a few waves, first with its “what the heck is it?” marketing launch, then inking a deal with Yahoo to provde home valuations in Yahoo Real Estate listings. Basically, the idea behind Zillow is to provide real estate investors and home buyers with estimates—er, Zestimates—of a property's market value, along with other key information about the property which is… Read More

Like several bills already proposed or being drafted, the software giant wants increased penalties for the fraudulent practices of many spammers who peddle diet fads, get-rich-quick schemes and pornography. But the company is also pushing for an electronic seal-of-approval system for all e-mail marketing, to ensure that legitimate marketers meet high standards and to help consumers weed out unsavory or unwanted spam. Under the… Read More