2006 in review: Post-Christmas cheer came with things to fear

It was post-Christmas blues for consumers at the beginning of the year, when the Channel Islands announced that big retailers would no longer be able to sell goods at tax-free prices to UK customers via the web. Retail is tax-free in the Channel Islands and the decidion affected companies such as Amazon, Tesco and HMV.

The ruling followed complaints from the UK Government, the Forum of Private Businesses (FPB), the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which claimed that the trade was affecting small companies in mainland UK and on the Islands.

The Jersey Government also claimed that these businesses were doing nothing to help the country's economic state and gave Amazon a year to find another base.

By February, anyone still feeling the pinch from the decision could take comfort from the news that ISPs, such as Freedom2surf and Wanadoo, were offering consumers up to 8Mbits/sec and faster broadband services as standard but with no corresponding price hike.

Be decided to make use of local loop unbundling (LLU) to install faster ADSL2+ technology in exchanges for a top bandwidth of up to 24 Mbits/sec.

This also came as good news for those hoping to make use of the BBC's decision to show The Apprentice online as part of its TV Plus trials.

The upgraded channel site was redesigned to allow interactive multimedia content, which the BBC hoped would help it find new ways to engage audiences with programmes and enhance users' viewing experience.

The site also offered other streamed video content taken from the full range of the channel's schedule and included twice daily highlights of the Winter Olympics.

The TV Plus trials ran alongside other BBC pilots, including preview clips on mobile phones, programme premiers on broadband a week ahead of their TV transmission and the interactive Parenting Video on Demand.

Thanks to fraudsters the HM Revenue and customs tax credits website remained closed into February, giving us no choice but to resort to pen and paper to fill in tax forms.

In December 2005 it was discovered that the identities of 13,000 Jobcentre workers had been targeted by criminals who redirected the money to fraudulent bank accounts through changing account details and obtaining account information.

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