Chapter 8

Ethical, Social, and Political Issues in E-commerce

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

Understand why e-commerce raises ethical, social, and political issues.
Understand basic concepts related to privacy and information rights, the practices of e-commerce companies that threaten privacy, and the different methods used to protect online privacy.
Understand the various forms of intellectual property and the challenges involved in protecting it.
Understand how the Internet is governed and why taxation of e-commerce raises governance and jurisdiction issues.
Identify major public safety and welfare issues raised by e-commerce.