Legal and Regulatory Ramifications of Operating an E-Business Term Paper

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Operating an e-Business Today

The Age of Information has created a new environment where many of the rules are still being written. Certainly, any new innovation in human activity requires a careful evaluation of the ethical considerations involved. Not since the introduction of steam engines during the Industrial Revolution replaced human workers, though, has a technology appeared that had the potential to so dramatically reshape the human community and the ethical landscape in which business is conducted as e-business does today and in the future. This paper will provide an overview of e-business and its implications, an analysis of three potential ethical problems facing e-businesses today, followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Background and Overview. While the World Wide Web dates back to only 1993, Americans are going online in increasingly large numbers, at home and work, today. In fact, by September 2001, more than half of U.S. households had Internet connections, and more than two-thirds were also using a computer at home, work, or school (Mcallister & Turow, 2002). In their book, Cyberethics: Social & Moral Issues in the Computer Age, Baird, Ramsower and Rosenbaum (2000) examined the impact of Internet development on practically every aspect of daily life today. These authors found that people are increasingly communicating professionally and personally by e-mail; they also point out that "We shop on the Internet. Politicians are involved in e-campaigning. We argue and fight and pursue sex on the Internet. We do much of our research on the World Wide Web. Some do all of their work at the computer, at home" (p. 9). More and more businesses are projecting an Internet presence today, and gaming and educational applications are also increasing exponentially. Some observers even predict that doctors will be able to practice medicine completely online. "The aggregate effect," they point out, "is a different kind of life. With this new life come new moral and social issues.

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" (p. 9). Some of these issues are discussed further below.

Target Marketing. Target marketing is a common practice used by a number of large producers, wholesalers, service institutions, and retailers in the United States (Peterson, 1991). According to Choudhury and Cui (2003), "The increasing efforts by marketers to target diverse groups of consumers call for a closer examination of the ethical implications of market segmentation and differentiated marketing" (p. 364). The practice of target marketing refers to the concentrated marketing of a product to a segment of consumers based on the attractiveness of the group in terms of such factors as its size and growth rate. "Theoretically speaking," Choudhury and Cui suggest that "there is nothing inherently wrong with targeted marketing" (p. 364). Increasingly, though, more and more cases of targeting potentially harmful products at vulnerable consumers have raised ethical concerns in terms of justice and fairness, such as targeting sweepstakes at the elderly and handguns at women. According to Choudhury and Cui, "Even indirect and subtle targeting of potentially harmful products at vulnerable consumers has received criticism, such as targeting children with R-rated movies and using animal characters to promote cigarettes and alcohol" (p. 365). Even assuming that consumers are not the targets of such marketing practices, though, they are still far from being completely secure in sharing their personal information online, which brings us to the next ethical issue for e-businesses today: security of personal information.

Security of Personal Information. One of the paramount issues to emerge from the expanded use of online services is the need to protect the personal information that is being increasingly entrusted to businesses today. According to Peeples (2002), in the past, brick-and-mortar retailers gained the trust of their customers through traditional approaches to ensuring quality products, service, ethical conduct, and trustworthiness. This author point out that "Most customers don't question firms such as Neiman….....

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