Ethics in E-Commerce

1. Ethics in E-Commerce Created By: Chrystle, Tim, and Sasa

2. Ethics in Web Business Policies • Some businesses send spamming messages to everybody’s inboxes to see who it can get to purchase their product or service. • The web is controlled by a community of web surfers. • There are limited amounts of laws online so enforcement is done by a community of people that use the internet.

3. Ethics in Web Business Policies Continued • The government has some programs to monitor how online businesses are doing e-commerce, • a quote on this topic that is interesting is “The programs are as effective as an umbrella in a cat 5 hurricane.” • harder to gain trust on line because you don’t know the people and they don’t know you.

4. Ethics in Web Business Policies Continued • ethics is important if you want people to trust you and to do business with you. • steps you can use to gain customers trust. These are: • Post Your Business Policies • Honor Your Policies • Protect Your Buyer’s Privacy and Security • Data Mining - They discuss how businesses get customers personal information to better understand the customer’s needs and so forth. They go on to discuss that this is legal, but is it ethical..

5. Ethics in Web Business Policies Continued Examples • eToys website where many people where angry about what the company did and eventually hurt the company so much that they dropped the lawsuit. • To read more on this go to http://digitalenterprise.org/ethics/ethics.html

6. Unethical policies used by some online business • Adware - A form of spyware that collects information about the user in order to display advertisements in the Web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns. • Typosquatting - Purchasing a domain name that is a variation on a popular domain name with the expectation that the site will get traffic off of the original sight because of a user's misspelling of the name. For example, registering the domain names webapedia.com or yahooo.com in the hopes that someone making a typo will get to that site unexpectedly.

7. Unethical policies used by some online business Continued • e-mail spoofing - Forging an e-mail header to make it appear as if it came from somewhere or someone other than the actual source. The main protocol that is used when sending e-mail -- SMTP -- does not include a way to authenticate. There is an SMTP service extension (RFC 2554) that allows an SMTP client to negotiate a security level with a mail server. But if this precaution is not taken anyone with the know-how can connect to the server and use it to send spoofed messages by altering the header information.

8. Unethical policies used by some online business Continued • Spam – Email that is sent to thousands of random email addresses for a purpose. Some business will send their ads to people’s emails to gain new customers and increase sales. • Bait and Switch – When a company has a ad that most of the time sounds to good to be true, to get people on their site and then once they are on the site the customer finds out what the ad said isn’t entirely true or misleading. Example: Ad claims $10 laptop (while supplies last) there was one a while ago that was 10 years old, but that ad wasn’t lying, but it was misleading and it got the customer onto their site.

9. Privacy Rights and Obligations • Electronic Communications Privacy  Act of 1986 – is the main law governing privacy on the internet today. • Opt-out approach – the company collecting the information assumes that the customer does not object to the company's use of the information. • Opt-in  approach -  the company collecting information does not use information for any other purpose  unless the customer gives permission. • Direct Marketing Association DMA – a trade  association of business that advertise  their product and services directly to customers.

10. Communicating With Children Benefits of the internet for children • educational tool • meeting others with similar interests • Entertainment

11. Communicating With Children Governmental Laws • 1998 Children’s Online Protection Act (COPA) – protect children from material harmful to children • ruled unconstitutional because it restricted access to a lot of material that was unnecessary which violated the First Amendment.

12. Communicating With Children Governmental Laws Continued • 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) – restrictions of data collection from children from electronic commerce sites aimed toward children. • does not regulate content • 2001 Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) – requires schools that receive federal funds to install filtering software

13. Communicating With Children Company Procedures • ask birth date to ensure the person is of age and if not does not allow them to gain access to the site. • ex alcohol promoting websites • provide choices for registration select age range and may ask for parents permission. • ex Disney website

14. Communicating With Children Marketing to Children • Companies depend on child for advertising for their nag factor • they beg their parents for things • they use cartoons and characters that children can relate to including colors • 4 million children a year use the internet – estimated

15. Communicating With Children Marketing to Children Continued • some sites ask children to fill out surveys asking about preferences, buying behaviors, other members of their family and personal information. • they may offer free items for intisement as well • children may feel inferior to classmates if they do not have the new items being marketed to them • advertisers hire psychologists to help their marketing campaigns aim better at children more effectively

16. Communicating With Children How Parent can Protect Their Children • monitor and limit their children’s access to the internet • keep themselves informed on internet safety • software that can protect children

17. Communicating With Children How Parent can Protect Their Children Continued • teach their children the dangers of the internet and how someone may target them • teach children what to do if they think they are being targeted • prime example = chat rooms and who is appropriate to talk to, what to disclose

18. Resources • Ethics and the Computer: Children's Development of Moral Reasoning about Computer and Internet Use • http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,1,6;journal,47,144;linkingpublicationresults,1:300321,1 • Cyber Ethics • How to keep your children safe online • http://devel2.emporionplaza.com.cy/cyberethics/faq.php • Communication to Children • http://www.prfirms.org/resources/monitoring/2007/02%20-%20Feb-4.asp • Marketing to Children • http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/sbeder/children.html • Parent's Guide to Children's Online Safety • http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/onlinesafety.html • Advertising to children: Is it ethical? • http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep00/advertising.html

19. Resources Continued • Ethics, Managing the Digital Enterprise, North Carolina State University:   • http://digitalenterprise.org/ethics/ethics.html • e-Ethics in e-Commerce, W3 Edge • http://www.w3-edge.com/weblog/e-ethics-in-e-commerce/ • Computer World • http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=standards_and_legal_issues&articleId=304308&taxonomyId=146&intsrc=kc_feat • E-commerce Times • ttp://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/52616.html

20. Resources Continued • Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace? • ttp://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm • Privacy and the Internet: Traveling in Cyberspace Safely • http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm • Children’s Safety on the Internet: A Resource Guide for Parents • http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21-children.htm • Online Shopping Tips: E-Commerce and You • http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm • Online Job Search Web Sites: Tips to Safeguard Your Privacy • http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/FS25-JobSeekerPriv.htm