In Trying to Reach Customers in an Era of E-mail Suspicion, Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times hints that the recent spate of phishing scams and other forms of Internet fraud could throw some cold egg nog on the current holiday season for online retailers. Tom Sullivan, director of e-commerce risk for InterActiveCorp's travel division, surmises that Internet fraud, if left unchecked, could also slow the online travel industry:

"E-commerce sites are also feeling the strain... It used to be that if a cardholder name and some other personal aspect about that person tied together, you could say with some certainty that this is probably a good transaction. But phishing changes that, because the frauds have information that even a good customer doesn't normally provide, and a crook armed with more information about the legitimate cardholder makes our job tougher."

How bad can it get? In July, Corante's Stowe Boyd speculated that we could be seeing the end of e-mail.