Transcript Ethics in E-Commerce - Lynchware

Ethics in E-Commerce
Created By: Chrystle,
Tim, and Sasa
Ethics in Web Business Policies
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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.
Ethics in Web Business Policies
Continued
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The government has some programs to
monitor how online businesses are doing ecommerce,
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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.
Ethics in Web Business Policies
Continued
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ethics is important if you want people to trust you
and to do business with you.
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steps you can use to gain customers trust. These are:
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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..
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
Unethical policies used by some online
business
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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.
Unethical policies used by some online
business Continued
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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.
Unethical policies used by some online
business Continued
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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.
Privacy Rights and Obligations
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Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 – is the main law
governing privacy on the internet today.
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Opt-out approach – the company collecting the information assumes
that the customer does not object to the company's use of the
information.
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Opt-in approach - the company collecting information does not use
information for any other purpose unless the customer gives
permission.
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Direct Marketing Association DMA – a trade association of business
that advertise their product and services directly to customers.
Communicating With Children
Benefits of the internet for children
 educational tool
 meeting others with similar interests
 Entertainment
Communicating With Children
Governmental Laws
 1998 Children’s Online Protection Act
(COPA) – protect children from material
harmful to children
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ruled unconstitutional because it restricted access
to a lot of material that was unnecessary which
violated the First Amendment.
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.
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does not regulate content
2001 Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
– requires schools that receive federal funds to install filtering
software
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.
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ex alcohol promoting websites
provide choices for registration select age
range and may ask for parents permission.
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ex Disney website
Communicating With Children
Marketing to Children
 Companies depend on child for advertising
for their nag factor
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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
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.
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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
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
Communicating With Children
How Parent can Protect Their Children Continued
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teach their children the dangers of the
internet and how someone may target them
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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
Resources
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Ethics and the Computer: Children's Development of Moral Reasoning about
Computer and Internet Use
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Cyber Ethics
How to keep your children safe online
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http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/sbeder/children.html
Parent's Guide to Children's Online Safety
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http://www.prfirms.org/resources/monitoring/2007/02%20-%20Feb-4.asp
Marketing to Children
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http://devel2.emporionplaza.com.cy/cyberethics/faq.php
Communication to Children
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http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=is
sue,1,6;journal,47,144;linkingpublicationresults,1:300321,1
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/onlinesafety.html
Advertising to children: Is it ethical?
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http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep00/advertising.html
Resources Continued
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Ethics, Managing the Digital Enterprise, North
Carolina State University:
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e-Ethics in e-Commerce, W3 Edge
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http://www.w3-edge.com/weblog/e-ethics-in-e-commerce/
Computer World
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http://digitalenterprise.org/ethics/ethics.html
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=vie
wArticleBasic&taxonomyName=standards_and_legal_issu
es&articleId=304308&taxonomyId=146&intsrc=kc_feat
E-commerce Times
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ttp://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/52616.html
Resources Continued
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Employee Monitoring: Is There Privacy in the Workplace?
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Privacy and the Internet: Traveling in Cyberspace Safely
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http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs21-children.htm
Online Shopping Tips: E-Commerce and You
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http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs18-cyb.htm
Children’s Safety on the Internet: A Resource Guide for Parents
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ttp://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs7-work.htm
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs23-shopping.htm
Online Job Search Web Sites: Tips to Safeguard Your Privacy
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http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/FS25-JobSeekerPriv.htm