Past AOL Chief Retakes Helm
Barry schuler is stepping down as chairman and CEO of America Online and will be replaced by a familiar face.
Bob Pittman, who ran AOL before it merged with Time Warner—and the current co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner—will assume Schulers duties. AOL is now a division of AOL Time Warner.
Pittman will also become the sole COO at AOL Time Warner once Gerald Levin steps down as CEO of the media company next month.
Schuler, who became CEO of AOL in January 2001, will lead a new division in the company that will develop digital services for AOL Time Warner.
Auctions Top Scam List
The bulk of fraud on the Internet—about 43 percent—comes from online auctions, according to the FBI.
In its annual report on online scams, the Internet Fraud Complaint Center—a joint project of the FBI and National White Collar Crime Center—said nondeliverable items and nonpayment came next at 20.3 percent, followed by Nigerian letter fraud, at 15.5 percent.
It was the Nigerian letter frauds that, at $5,575, had the highest median dollar losses, according to the report.
In all, the center received 49,711 complaints last year—and referred 16,775 to law enforcement officials—with unique hits on the Web site amounting to almost 17.1 million, said the center, which was created more than a year ago.
Bill Targets Kids Safety
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a bill that would create a special Internet domain for Web sites for children.
The Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week and will move to the full House.
The goal is to create a safe place on the Internet for children, away from predators who use the anonymity of the Internet to their advantage.
Before approving the bill, the committee put stringent restrictions on such services as e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms.