Ethics lay the foundation for successful business. It is an auxiliary but very important aspect, and therefore it is necessary for an e-commerce based organization to maintain ethical standards. Lots of research has focused on the legal and ethical issues related to e-commerce.
Most of the researchers focus in factors like reliability, privacy, security etc. Ethical issues are related with the acceptable and recognized modes of operation, conduct, relationships between seller and buyer etc.
Multiplicity of differences between seller and buyer leads to increase in the chances of discontent and unrealized expectations. There exist many ethical issues for e-commerce organizations to address that would otherwise be dealt easily while doing business face to face.
For an example, consider an e-commerce based website selling liquor and tobacco. It would be very difficult to identify that the buyer is actually an underage minor, and this is equally difficult to regulate in contrast to the situation if the person walked into a store. So this is not only unethical, but it is also illegal.
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Legal and Ethical Issues in E Commerce
Some of the most commonly known ethical issues includes privacy invasion, security invasion, pornography, product warranty, unauthorized access, intellectual property, unsolicited e-mail, targeting children, cyber-squatters, fake advertising, plagiarism etc. Some of these legal and ethical issues in e commerce are described below:
Web Spoofing
Spoof means to imitate something. Web spoofing is when some creates a fake website matching in design and concept with another website. Fake website is called shadow copy of original website. This can be done to deceive a client who somehow reaches a fake website.
Fake website may ask some confidential information from the visitor and may use it in any manner for its own profit. Website spoofing is a type of security attack. An example may include an original website, say www.ptu.ac.in can be spoofed to a site named ww.ptv.ac.in (PTV used in place of PTU). Now, a small typing mistake may land a user to ptv.ac.in instead of ptu.ac.in.
Cyber-Squatting
The dictionary meaning of squatting is to unlawfully occupy an uninhabited building. Cyber squatting is also known as domain squatting. It means to reserve a domain name in advance that will actually be required by some popular organization later on.
Actually, there are some business houses that provide domain name, from where an individual or a company purchases a domain name for his use. But that business house does not care whether the buyer is a genuine buyer or not. So sometimes a person may buy a domain name that may actually be required by a company, and when that company actually requires it, he will sell it for a high price.
Privacy Invasion
Privacy over internet is a big concern to corporate and also a primary concern for individuals. To make a payment on an e-commerce website, a user may be asked to enter his/ her credit card details or net banking details.
Though this transaction is carried out using a secure web server using HTTPS instead of HTTP protocol, still many people hesitate to share their details due to fear of details being misused or privacy invasion.
Generally, websites want to know as much as they can know about their frequent or target audience or customers, and consumers are generally reluctant to share their details and tell only minimum required.
Email Spamming
Email spamming means to send unsolicited emails in bulk to many users. It is also called UBE (Unsolicited Bulk Email) or Junk Email. Email spamming is a subset of “electronic spam”. These emails may include some hidden links that appear to be hyperlinks of some genuine, popular and familiar websites but actually may lead to phishing websites.
They may also include malware content as scripts or may have attached some executable files. Spam emails can be easily recognized as they generally land in “Spam” folder instead “Inbox” folder. They are not only annoying, but may be dangerous also. Though there is no specific definition and identification of spam emails, but generally they have following three features:
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Anonymity: Sender’s information like address and identity etc. is concealed.
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Mass Mailing: These emails are generally sent to numerous recipients using CC and BCC.
- Unsolicited: The email is not expected or requested by the recipients, rather it is sent by sender forcibly.
FAQs Section
What are the legal and ethical issues in e commerce?
Some of the most commonly known ethical issues includes privacy invasion, security invasion, pornography, product warranty, unauthorized access, intellectual property, unsolicited e-mail, targeting children, cyber-squatters, fake advertising, plagiarism etc.
