NEW YORK -- Leading companies ranging from IBM to German publisher Bertelsmann have formed a global group to discourage governments from imposing Internet taxes and other measures that could hurt business over the Internet.
The group, representing businesses in technology, media and finance, plans to present suggestions on policy to governments around the world as well as send a general message against government regulation of the exploding medium.Led by 24 companies, the Global Business Dialogue on E-Commerce on Thursday said it would speak in coming weeks with European Community officials against a new European privacy measure that would make it tougher for companies to transmit personal data about their customers over the Internet.
Some firms doing business in Europe fear the directive could bar them from using customers' confidential information for everything from financial transactions to junk mail, stifling business commerce.
"We have to take action now," said Thomas Middelhoff, chairman and chief executive of Bertelsmann AG, the German publishing conglomerate whose U.S. headquarters in New York housed a press conference launching the group.
The group's formation follows the success of U.S. firms in lobbying the U.S. government on issues important to the high-tech industry, which this year won a temporary ban on Internet taxes and new copyright protections.