Grant Gross

Manugistics Group Inc. and IBM Corp. have entered into an alliance to market supply-chain management software, hardware and services.

Ten members of the U.S. House International Relations Committee are questioning the European Commission's decision last Wednesday to fine Microsoft Corp. US$605 million for anti-competitive practices, saying the U.S. has sufficiently addressed Microsoft antitrust issues.

The outsourcing of U.S. IT jobs to foreign workers is good for the U.S. economy and will result in the creation of twice as many jobs as are displaced, according to a study released March 30 by the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA).

U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are being pitched many new technologies, but government technologists have an obligation to consider ethical and moral issues such as privacy when embracing new applications, concluded a panel of technology experts speaking at the FOSE government computing trade show.

The U.S. Senate voted to approve an amendment restricting federal tax dollars from being used on jobs going overseas, a day after a U.S. representative introduced a bill prohibiting federal grants and loans from going to some companies that send jobs out of the country.

Bernard Ebbers, the former chief executive officer of WorldCom Inc., will be indicted on federal fraud charges related to his former company's US$11 billion accounting misstatement, according to news reports.

Four U.S. senators will introduce a bill to extend a now-expired Internet tax moratorium by two years, instead of a permanent ban on Internet-only taxes that passed through the U.S. House in September.

Two laid-off U.S. workers recently testified before a U.S. House of Representatives committee that they were fired by IT companies and replaced with cheaper labour brought to the U.S. under a worker visa program designed to fill jobs needing special skills.