Ebus400 Legal, Ethical, And Regulatory Issues
Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues
Introduction
Ebusiness is continuously growing. One does not need to travel far for evidence. Once strictly brick and mortar, more companies are heavily relying on the emergence of ebusiness to improve customer service as well as reach an untapped market. Not only has ebusiness modified the supply chain and created a need for new and innovative marketing tools and techniques, it has also required the government and businesses alike to identify and address legal, ethical, and regulatory issues regarding ebusiness websites. To further understand the impact ebusiness has imposed, important legal, ethical, and regulatory issues will be discussed, the importance of each noted, and how they differ on a B2C website in comparison to a B2B website.
Legal Issues
As with any type of business, there are many legal issues facing companies involved in ebusiness. Before discussing legislation, one must understand why the need exist and who does legislation protect. Effective legislation protects consumers, suppliers of goods and services as well as websites considered as the seller (About.com, 2005).
Legislation covering privacy, freedom of expression, accessibility and fraud has a great impact on ebusiness. There has long been a debate regarding what is privacy; the arguments vary. According to Posner (1978), privacy was once viewed in direct relation with economic interest. Individual information was considered “personal property” that could be brought and sold as commercial commodity. In 1999, Clarke stated privacy was pertaining to the interest consumers had in assuring themselves that personal information could not be retrieved by other individuals or organizations without an individual’s written or implied consent. Clarke’s definition is more aligned with legislation that governs Internet privacy. Legislation that governs privacy allows an individual or group the right to control the release...
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