With the increase of Internet technology that began in the late 1990s and the resulting facilitation of reliable and near-instantaneous global business communications, offshore outsourcing has continued to increase.
Although outsourcing was once confined to manufacturing, today its reach has expanded to include, among other things, the management of a company's particular computer and Internet applications, as well as the management of the placement and processing of online sales of goods and services.
Not surprisingly, outsourcing has, over the last decade, captured the attention of the public, prompting some legislators to consider, and in some instances, enact legislation to curb the practice.
In large part, most of the pending and enacted anti-outsourcing legislation at both the federal and state level has been in response to the concern that increased outsourcing results in a loss of American jobs, particularly those that are technology-related, such as computer programming and information technology support services. Whether this contention is true, however, is still the subject of much debate.
