Legal Issues in Online Business: A Case of Chocs Away Ltd - Essay Example

Legal Issues in Online Business: A case of Chocs Away Ltd Introduction In this era of information technology, the implementation of web based tools and technologies has facilitated a lot of small and medium size businesses to reduce their work-burden and compete with other large size companies. Additionally, the advantages of conducting business activities online are countless and, it is not a surprising fact that a lot of corporations have keenly accepted the web based technology as a very helpful tool for the distribution of their services and products. Seeing that conducting business online is acknowledged as a high-quality practice for the company, however it requires implementing various policies that are not required in offline business transactions. In this scenario, a lot of rules and laws have been approved in order to provide security to both customers and company that carry out web based or online business transaction (Kallenbach and Fankhauser) and (eBusiness Live). This research is based on the assessment of newly established web based business for Chocs Away Ltd. The basic aim of this research is to analyze legal issues that Chocs Away Ltd can face while conducting business online and what it should do in response to these legal issues. Legal Issues Chocs Away Ltd. can face a lot of issues while conducting business online. Keeping in mind this scenario this section will outline some of the main issues which can affect online business working and operation performance. I have outlined below some of the main legal issues in case of web based business: Trademark The act of trademark is aimed at offering the guarantee that customers are able to properly recognize the origins of services or goods offered by the business. Additionally, a trademark is way of representing business entity with the help of phrase, word, design, symbol or mixture of phrases, words, designs or symbols that recognizes as well as differentiates the origin of particular products (Silver) and (SophieUhlhorn). Thus, in case of Chocs Away business the trademark hacking can cause a lot of problems such as reduction in business working and efficiency. In addition, these issues produce some critical concerns regarding management of business activities. Copyright Copyright is one of the major concerns of e-commerce. At the present one of the prime issues in internet copyright rules is downloading the online content and material, like that movies and music files. Copyright rules and regulations are applied on creation of copyrightable facilities or services (normally include images, text, music, games, software, etc.) (Silver) and (SophieUhlhorn). In case of Chocs Away business there can emerge a lot of security issues due to copyrighting. For instance, the business is producing a number of products based on formulas thus the hacking of these formulas can affect business working. Security The information security is a very critical issue for those companies which are conducting business over internet. Thus, the businesses that store important data and information on internet have to make sure that they have taken suitable security actions to protect their information resources (such as web sites or web portals) from various security breaches. Additionally, while working on internet the business could face a lot of issues from viruses, hackers, intruders, spammers, Trojan-horses, spywares and other malware infection. In this scenario, the business has to implement security measures beside its technological personnel and human resources. In addition, security could be retained through the implementation of a variety of security tools such as firewalls, encryption, passwords, biometric access codes, virus scans and access control lists. For instance, a business has the power to confine the access to the information and contents on its website simply by making use of a login ID and password based technique. In the same way sensitive data and information on websites can be efficiently protected with the implementation of firewalls that can be helpful in preventing from outside infringement. Moreover, despite sufficient security measures and actions, suitable official documentation policies would also be required (Shah and Nagree) and (Turban, Leidner and McLean). For the successful survival Chocs Away Ltd. on internet security of customer and business information is one of most important issues. In this scenario business can face some problems such as the theft of business data or hacking of customer files. Data Protection The major concern of every e-commerce website is to proficiently encourage the confidentiality or secrecy of its customers from illegal access. At the present, the massive utilization of modern technology based tools and shortage of protected systems enables an easy acquisition of personal, sensitive and private details concerning persons as well as companies. In addition, the website cookies are undoubtedly a big threat for the online business framework and versatile management (Shah and Nagree) and (Ray). In this scenario, the convenient protection of critical business data and information is one of the main concerns for the companies conducting business on internet. Thus, for Chocs Away Ltd. the customer and business receptive data needs to be strongly protected and kept confidential. In this regard there is a need for better business data protection and management method. Privacy The protection of customers’ personal and sensitive information has become one of the biggest challenges for businesses. The prime security issue appears in this situation is regarding the effective security parameters for suitable security of business and its customers’ privacy. Additionally, the privacy issues emerge in case of customer’s information hacking, it’s illegal access and then wrong utilization. This also causes problems for business status and revenues (Shah and Nagree) and (Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat). Thus, in case of Chocs Away Ltd. it is essential to deal with this issue effectively. Unfair Competition In a variety of web based configurations, a business is able to face unfair competition. In this scenario, a business competitor makes use of some illegal ways or methods to create problems for the business. For this purpose, they take advantage of hacking and information pilfering based techniques and tools to create potential damage to the associated business structure. This drawback leads to meager performance and substandard working competence of the business setup (Shah and Nagree). Data Theft Data theft is also one of the critical issues in web based business framework. In this scenario a hacker (either from inside the business or outside the business) gets an illegal access to the business arrangement. This leads to overall or partial theft of sensitive business data and information. In this scenario the working of overall business could drop by showing poor progress and imperfect operational performance (Shah and Nagree). Domain Names In a web based business setup, the selection of business domain name is also one of the prime business aspects. Considering several lawful aspects, some other businesses may have the possibility to duplicate or misinterpret the business structure and operational configuration. Additionally, the issues regarding domain name lead to some business problems. In this scenario, a business competitor would definitely take the advantage of business reputation (Shah and Nagree). Liability In case of web based business owners must protect their business against the possible origins of liability that could cause some legal issues. In view of the fact that the internet has no boundary, thus the owner of a website could use legal liability aspect intended for nonconformity or breach of laws of approximately every state or country. In addition, liability can occur as a result of a variety of actions taking place inside the business or outside the business due to hyper-linking and surrounding hacking, deception, offense, and trademark, attack of confidentiality and copyright violations (Shah and Nagree). Taxation The rapid growth of e-commerce or online business has not gone unnoticed by the tax imposition and establishments. In this scenario, understanding the power of receiving tax income from such fundamentals, tax corporate authorities are investigating the tax indications of e-commerce dealings as well as determining the effective ways to apply taxes on similar business activities all over the world (Shah and Nagree). Thus, in establishment of an online business Chocs Away Ltd. will face a lot of issues. In this scenario, the massive burden of business taxes leads to huge decline in business revenue that definitely reduces the overall business productivity and working performance. Credit Card Issues In case of a web based business that involves transactions through credit card should have to confirm that it encompasses sufficient and practical security actions and measures to secure customer’s secret data that is used on the corporate website. In addition, when credit card numbers are exposed over the internet, the business website can competently be declared liable for the problems and harms faced by the customers or users of the website. In addition, during the past few years a lot of such cases have been seen and reported accordingly about an illegal usage and hacking of credit card information. Such aspects lead to widespread problems and issues regarding the business working and operations (Shah and Nagree) and (Norton). Thus, in case of Chocs Away business there is a terrible need for the high-tech management the security aspects at the business framework. In this scenario there is a need for the proper and effective management of security issues. Response to These Legal Issues In order to deal with legal and security related issues at Chocs Away business we need to make sure that the business website is protected with the help of secured socket layer (SSL) technology. Afterwards we need to establish a proper security and privacy management mechanism. This will lead to better management of various areas of the business. In this connection we need to establish proper login based security management. Here we feel the vital need for the better management and implementation of a number of effective business safety management policies. Therefore we need to guarantee that business is having a complete staff privacy management framework. There is as well a dire need for effective management of the staff operational framework. There is a need for proper establishment of staff training programs (Ray). Conclusion At the present, almost all the companies use internet to carry out their business activities. The process of carrying out business activities using internet is known as e-commerce. E-commerce brings a lot of facilities and opportunities for the businesses. On the other hand, e-commerce involves a lot of issues and problems. This paper has presented a detailed analysis of some of the prime legal issues and aspects of the Chocs Away business. This paper has presented some useful recommendations to resolve such issues and related aspects. Works Cited eBusiness Live. The legal implications of online selling . 06 September 2005. 20 April 2011 . Kallenbach, Paul and Caitlin Fankhauser. Legal issues in internet selling . 17 July 2009. 19 April 2011 . Norton, Peter. Introduction to Computers, Fourth Edition. Singapore: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Ray, Ramon. Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses. New York: American Management Association (AMACOM), 2004. Shah, Aashit and Parveen Nagree. Legal Issues in E-Commerce. 2011. 21 April 2011 . Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat. Discovering Computers 2005. Boston: Thomson Course Technology, 2005. Silver, Judith. Legal Issues for eCommerce Business. 18 November 2002. 21 April 2011 . SophieUhlhorn. E-Commerce: Legal Issues. 24 October 2005. 21 April 2011 . Turban, Efraim, et al. Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy . New York: Wiley, 2005. Read More