Ethical Issues of Sell Side Commerce - Case Study Example

Ethical Issues of Sell-Side E-Commerce Abstract The online world is reasonably different from that of the traditional brick and mortar (B&M) businesses. The very environment of e-business urges things to be seen from a different viewpoint. A significant consideration is whether ethics should be considered, and if so, the creation and execution of policies, which would support that need has to be analysed. The fast spread of e-commerce has produced tremendous chances for economic efficiency together with customer choice. The application of the worldwide Internet computer network for business activities offers some advantages to businesses on their day to day activities. However, the Internet, on the other hand, introduces a new world for unethical behaviour. Whereas e-commerce has undergone extensive growth in last 10 years, consumers concerns about ethical issues continue to increase, as well. Even many businesses and consumers are revelling in e-commerce; business issues linked to online purchasing and selling become the negative side of the matter. Introduction E-Commerce is the capability of an organisation to have a lively online presence that allows the organisation to carry out its business electronically, basically having an electronic/online shop. Goods/services can be advertised, vended and paid for all electronically devoid of the need for the buying to be processed by an actual human being (Shivani and Grewal 167). Because of the vastness of online advertising, a website can be open to millions of individuals the world over for almost zero cost and with information being capable of changing almost instantly, the website can, at all times, be updated with all the newest products to match with clients’ demands (Berthon et al 261). The major advantage of E-Commerce is its ability to offer safe shopping transactions through the internet and besides instant authentication, as well as validation of credit card transactions (Shivani and Grewal 167). Ethics, in contrast, is the branch of philosophy, which studies what is right and also what is wrong. Ethical rules are regulations to follow in people interactions with others and in their actions, which impact others. They apply to everyone and are meant to attain fine results for individuals and situations, in general; not only for ourselves, and not only for a single situation (Berthon et al 261). Business ethics is involved with the several ethical questions, which managers must tackle as part of their day to day business decision-making (Shivani and Grewal 167). The main purpose/goal of his proposal is to discern the ethical issues and problems related to sell-side e-commerce: To find out the main ethical issues in E-Commerce To discover the key threats in E-Commerce, and To offer an enhanced understanding on how businesses and their clients can be safe from Internet threats. Literature Review Ethics in Sell-Side E-Commerce Acting ethically is normally practical since most of the time people are truthful, they keep their promises, they do not steal, and they do their jobs. Hence, acting ethically, personally or in the professional field, is normally not a burden. In the business field, acting ethically corresponds narrowly with good business in the view that ethically created products are more prone to satisfy consumers (Shivani and Grewal 168). An expert can cause immense harm through carelessness, incompetence or dishonesty (Berthon et al 261). At times, it is hard to act ethically because it takes courage in cases where people could undergo harmful consequences. Bravery in a professional environment could mean disclosing to a client that the business’s program is faulty, refusing a job for which one is not qualified, or protesting when an employee sees another employee doing something wrong (Berthon et al 261). It is difficult to acquire trust online since businesses and their customers do not know each other (Yi 34). Therefore, ethics is significant in e-Business if an organisation anticipates for people to have faith it and conduct business with it. E-Businesses have to honour their business principles and their client’s security and privacy. E-Commerce security and privacy is greatly affected with ethical issues on accountability (Shivani and Grewal 168). If fraud arises, then whose mistake is it? Is it the organisation’s blunder for not securing their information properly? Is it their client’s fault for guessing that the technology utilised is protected? Is it the criminal's liability for thieving information, even though the information was being conveyed clearly? Or is it a blend of the three? It is vital that the system administrator of an e-business system be conscious of security and privacy of the system and the clients’ information (Shivani and Grewal 168). Is it moral if the administrator could have barred information but opted not to for specific reasons? Ethics is an apprehension of humans who have free will of choice. Ethics involves individual choice: when challenged with other courses of action, what is the right ethical choice? What are the key elements of ethical choice? They include responsibility, liability and accountability. Ethical decisions are choices made by people who are liable for the impacts of their actions. Responsibility is a vital constituent of ethical performance (Shivani and Grewal 169). Responsibility means that someone accepts their likely costs, duties, as well as obligations for the choices they make (Miller 65). Accountability is also another feature of social institutions and systems: It means that methods are in position to establish who took a responsible action plus who is responsible. Institutions and systems in which it is unlikely to unearth who assumed what action are essentially unable of ethical action or ethical analysis (Berthon et al 262). Liability prolongs the idea of responsibility more to the field of laws. Liability is an element of political systems wherein a body of laws is in position, which permits people to recover the harms made to them by other systems, organisations or actors (Shivani and Grewal 169). Due process is an allied trait of law-governed cultures and is a procedure wherein laws are recognised and comprehended and there is a capacity to appeal to much higher authorities to make sure that the laws are executed properly. The Ethical Issues in Sell-Side E-Commerce At the premature stages of its appearance, the Internet merely turned into a platform of searching information and communicating. But at the moment, we can argue that the Internet has been commercialised (Miller 66). These days, we can see nearly all business and trading activities comprising banking can be conducted online (Shivani and Grewal 170). This development opens a lot of benefits both to business organisations who conduct sell-side activities and their consumers (Berthon et al 262). Nevertheless, the negative side about sell-side e-commerce also cannot be unnoticed. What I mean by bad side is concerning the ethical problems in sell-side e-commerce (Shivani and Grewal 170). These issues entail the negligent parties who, at all times, present threats both other business organisations. Web Spoofing Web spoofing refers to an electronic fraud relates on the Internet (Miller 66). It happens when the attacker establish a fake website that is almost completely similar with the original website so as to lure clients to offer personal information like their credit card number or other information (Berthon et al 262). For instance, attackers can setup a site, www.micros0ft.com, using the zero instead of the letter O that many users, at times, type mistakenly (Shivani and Grewal 170). Cyber-Squatting Cyber-squatting is where a firm purchases and uses the present domain name belonging to the renowned organisation for the aim of contravening its trademarks (Berthon et al 262). This type of firm, called cyber-squatters, generally infringed the trademarks to extract the payment from the original trademark’s possessor (Shivani and Grewal 170). Privacy Invasion This matter is connected to buyers in the sell-side business. Privacy invasion happens when the private details belonging to the buyers are exposed to an unauthorised group (Miller 66). It might happen in three ways (Berthon et al 262). E-commerce businesses purchase information concerning organisations such as their private details and buying habits (Shivani and Grewal 170). The private information of organisations being transmit might be seized by anyone other than the firm which it is intended. Malicious programs delivered silently through web pages can show usernames, credit card numbers and passwords, which are often stored in special files referred to as cookies (Shivani and Grewal 170). Online Piracy This unethical action happens when Internet users utilise the hardware and software technology in an illegal conduct to convey the electronic intellectual property via the Internet (Miller 67). Email Spamming E-mail spamming, also identified as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE), concerns using e-mail to broadcast unnecessary advertisement over the Internet. This is a challenging hurdle in sell-side e-businesses (Shivani and Grewal 170). Major Threats in Sell-Side E-Commerce Sell-side e-commerce security has some key issues, as well, which are presented by these ethical issues (Berthon et al 266). They are redirection of data, interception of data, exploitable program errors, identification of parties and being the weakest link in security (Shivani and Grewal 170). The threats to e-commerce servers can be categorised as either (1) transmission threats; or (2) malicious code threats. Malicious Code Attacks Viruses and Worms The most ordinary threats in this category are viruses and worms. In today’s media, we always hear about these phrases (Miller 67). A virus requires a host of some kind so as to cause harm to the system (Shivani and Grewal 170). A worm does not require a host to replicate it can replicate itself online and can infect millions of PC on a worldwide basis in only a matter of hours (Yi 98). Trojan Horses A Trojan horse, in contrast, is a programming code, which is covered behind another program, and can execute stealthy, malicious functions (Berthon et al 266). For instance, an e-commerce server can present a nice-looking wallpaper, but behind that can be a hidden code causing harm to the system (Miller 67). Transmission Threats Denial of Service Attacks The key intention of a denial of service attack is to disallow the buy-side the services offered on the e-commerce server (Shivani and Grewal 170). In reality, there is no intent to cause harm to the system or the files, but the main aim is plainly to shut the server down (Miller 67). Ping of Death This occurs when e-businesses send E-Mail, surf the Web or communications between their computer, as well as the server, occurs by means of a data packet (Miller 67). It is the data packet, which houses the information, as well as the request for information, which is sent from the e-business computer to other computers in the Internet (Shivani and Grewal 170). SYN Flooding When an e-business opens up their web browser and key in a web address, or “Send” an E-Mail from their computers (known as a “client computer”), a set of messages are conveyed between the client computer and the server (Shivani and Grewal 171). These set of exchanges are what develops the Internet connection from the server to the client computer, and vice versa. This is also referred to as a “handshake.” This instant, because the e-business server is waiting to obtain the ACK message from the client PC, is regarded to be half-open. It is at this level where the e-business server becomes defenseless to attacks (Shivani and Grewal 171). Phony messages could be sent to the e-business server, hence overloading its processing power and memory, and making it crash (Kotler 50). Research Methods The existing scholarly literatures in this field under cautiously consideration were reviewed and an attempt was made to offer an integrated depiction of the present level of knowledge in this area. So as to present a holistic view of the ethical issues of sell-side e-commerce, this literature review comprised of contributions from diverse, but relevant fields of knowledge. The proposal covers ideas on the subject from the area of ethical issues of sell-side e-commerce and for analysing the major threats in sell-side e-commerce. Books, academic papers, and other electronic sources that were utilised for this purpose were also published in recent years (Shivani and Grewal 171; Berthon et al 266; Kotler 67 and Yi 153). Books and research papers from this time period were elected on grounds of their significance to the topic of review. At the initial stage, the main concepts that relate to the ethical issues in sell-side e-commerce were explained. At the second stage, the major threats in sell-side e-commerce were also analysed. At the third and final stage will be the implications of this research. Implications of This Research The Internet has formed a new economic environment, the e-commerce market and it has developed into the effective main street of the globe (Shivani and Grewal 172). Offering a quick and suitable way of exchanging products both regionally and internationally, e-commerce has boomed. However, the ethical dilemma that a manager of information systems might face normally is echoed in political and social debate (Kotler 78). Ethical Implications Firms getting into e-commerce face ethical challenges. It is simple for organisations to become preoccupied in the technical challenges of functions in this manner and pay small attention to their ethical implications (Shivani and Grewal 172). Legal Implications The main issues of e-commerce, as well as the law consist of the growth of e-commerce, the role of regulation and consumers of e-commerce with regards to consumer protection (Shivani and Grewal 172). Regulation of e-commerce is very significant for the cyberspace marketplace as it can assist or stop the firms working with e-commerce, as well as also to protect the clients in the online marketplace (Yi 153). Security Implications There are a number of security implications, which arise when setting an e-commerce website, particularly when managing sensitive information like credit card information and personal details like address (Shivani and Grewal 172). Conclusions The Internet is a developing and a persistently evolving creature, which will live on in eternity. Because of this, it is important to consider the numerous e-business ethical issues of both B2C and B2B business practices online. Some of the ways of protection your computers from these threats that come about by the ethical issues that arise in sell-side e-commerce is through implementing security applications, authentication, not sending or opening unknown mails, using the right browsers, sensing everything and educating other users. Implementing proper ethical standards to the online world is a straight reflection of the business online. Ethics influences all features of the business. It firstly affects the firm’s brand image and then how marketing, sales, and advertising values are applied to the duty of making the company commercial for the long haul. Works Cited Berthon, Patrick R et al. Marketing Meets Web 2.0, Social Media, and Creative Consumers: Implications For International Marketing Strategy. Business Horizons 55.7 (2012): 261-271. Print. Kotler, Philip. Marketing Management. New York: Prentice-Hall, 2009. Print. Miller, Roger. The Legal and E-Commerce Environment Today. London: Thomson Learning, 2002. Print. Shivani, Kik and Grewal, Himani. “A Study of Ethical and Social Issues in E-Commerce,” International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering 2.7 (2012): 167-174. Print. Yi, Tao. The Impacts of E-Commence on International Business and Marketing: A Literature Review. N.p, 2012. Web. http://essay.utwente.nl/62802/1/Master_thesis_Y._Tao.pdf Read More