Resumen
The article presents information on the on going tug-of-war for E-commerce control. The U.S. government quietly invited 12 industry lobbyists to join the nation's negotiating team for the pan-American free trade agreement. These lobbyists, representing the Motion Picture Association of America, America Online, the Software Publishers Association, among others, joined the citizenry's diplomats largely because government officials wanted their expertise as the administration tried to rewrite trade agreements for the nation's benefit. Actors in this struggle are competing governments, companies, and advocacy groups. Industry's main advantage includes its ability to hire lobbyists. The picture is different among the argumentative and cash strapped advocacy groups, including consumer groups, privacy supporters, unions, free-speech proponents, nationalists, and social conservatives who generally oppose industry's agenda without having a common strategy to unite them. Between these two camps are government officials. They want what industry offers plenty of good jobs and technical marvels for their voters. They also want what the advocacy groups claim to offer-some kind of solution to the many problems created by the international free-market. Industry's global lobbying campaign is evident in the U.S., Japan, China, South America, and in the European Community as well as at the multinational Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization, and United Nations.