Legal, Ethical And Political Effects On E-Business

Abstract

Legal/Political As with the need to understand world economies, global integration of E-commerce highlights fundamental environment issues such as legal and political influences. As independent countries operate different legal and politic systems, it is obvious that an understanding of such ideals is also important in addressing E-commerce. For example, a recent precedent-setting court case in New York recently, a judge ruled that New Yorkers were breaking the law by gambling on the Internet, even if the gambling companies were based in other countries. State Supreme Court Justice Charles Edward Ramos stated, The act of entering the bet and transmitting the information from New York via the Internet is adequate to constitute gambling activity within New York State. (Public Agenda Online, 2000) Such example highlights issues that organisation must be aware of when developing a marketing strategy formula. Failing to recognise possible repercussions of E-commerce use, in a political or legal manner could prove catastrophic for an organisation. It is imperative it is carefully looked at, particularly in regards to E-commerce.

Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, said the survey " clearly shows that fears about potential financial losses and damage to reputation from cybercrimes are stalling the growth of e- business, especially for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions."

"This is funny - only federal legislation would assume we could go three months without posting a privacy policy. As an e-commerce company, if we needed a privacy policy, we'd have to do it in days. Also, all responsible e-commerce and Web companies have to post privacy policies. It's standard business practice. But there are differences between a B2B and a B2C company. As a B2B, our customers are really another company's employees, as opposed to a consumer who goes to a Web site. Our relationship