The internet has called for several changes in laws and regulations. The internet makes it easy for information to be offered for free. It also makes it easy to bend copyright laws in sharing that information. Books, movies, and other intellectual property can be shared on the internet, yet ecommerce laws exist to ensure websites do not breach the commercial laws protecting people’s intellectual property. While it does not always work there are definitely laws in place to make sure any copyright infringement is taken seriously and any products illegally posted removed. There is one person who is working hard to get around ecommerce laws regarding copyright infringement to offer written, posted, filmed, uploaded, broadcasts, and recorded material be placed online for free. Brewster Kahle has a vision to make a Library of the Future. Unfortunately, he is being stopped by paywalls and rights arguments. He stated they are building the library of Alexandria V2. He is asking for academic publishers to help him create the Internet Archive. The archive is being built in the Christian Science Church Building on Funston Avenue in San Francisco. Kahle is an inventor to the first internet and believes that we should provide children with the information they deserve. Kahle has already archived 2 million books, 300,000 movies, 80,000 live concerts, and 560,000 audio recordings. He has been archiving every webpage since 1996. Visitors to this library site will be able to access anything from around the world if Kahle can get around certain ecommerce laws. As a library he has a good chance of getting around the laws; however, it may cost him in order to get some of the copyright material published. The drawback of the free site is that Kahle needs to find alternate income in order to pay to host the information.

Ecommerce
The term ecommerce or e-commerce is used for where goods, products and services can be bought and paid for online.
A lot of people would generally rather use the smaller ecommerce definition of using this to do any financial transactions electronically, yet others people find it more comfortable to use the larger ecommerce and much wider definition as there are many organisations and individuals going online to sell goods who still don’t have the required know how to be able to do their financial transactions electronically.
Many discussions have over the past few years ended up turning in to full blown arguments about exactly what is and what isn’t ecommerce. And because of this you can find a huge amount of information on the internet, which has been written by many different people and organisations in the hope to find the right kind of definition.
E-commerce can be made either through business to business or business to consumer, but to put it basically, any business who is trying to make  money for profit using the internet is using ecommerce.
It would be easy to write an entire book about all the things which are in relation to ecommerce, and all the aspects included.  Companies who use the internet for business purposes are usually known as ‘retailers’, (just like in a normal high street shop) who sell their goods or services in stores which are commonly regarded as ‘cyberstores’, and you can even see on the computer screen there are ‘shopping carts’ for you to use to buy your items.
Here are a few variations of the word ecommerce:

Electronic Commerce - Social Commerce

Social Commerce is a derivative of electronic commerce which involves the use of social media which covers online media that supports any social interaction and has user input assisting in the online purchasing and retailing of service and products. Social commerce was first introduced back in 2005 by Yahoo which was used to provide information on a set of online tools for shopping. This incorporated useful information for the consumer by using user ratings, pick lists and other user supplied information on what products. Another tool that is used in Social Commerce is social media optimization which is designed to pull in a specific client base. This is linked to the way search engines work and the rankings that they can generate but does not rely fully on this though and can have generated hits from say RSS feeds etc. on what the consumer has purchased. The main aim of social commerce was to supply any purchaser with a collaboration of tools that they could use to find out information on the products and what services that would be best to use in their purchase. Social Commerce covers all these main categories of which these are the most commonly found on any electronic commerce site: 1. User recommendations 2. User referrals 3. Forums 4. Communities 5. Social applications Social commerce also uses social shopping tools through social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. These tools can be used to find the greatest deals and best places to shop etc. and are based entirely on user input. This user input can be put to great use by social shopping site vendors so they then can use that information to gain revenue not only by the heavy advertisement that this can generate but also by the use of sharing this information about their users with retailers.

Ecommerce is the term used for the sale of products and service using the internet.  This not only includes customers buying goods or services online, but also businesses and organisations selling and communicating with other companies through the use of the internet.
There are very few technologies have the vast amount of benefits ecommerce does, whether it’s taking a small business and helping it grow to global proportions or opening up, what could potentially be millions of new customer markets.  Ecommerce has helped expand many companies over many different countries and here are listed are a few of the reasons why:
-         Helps growth from local companies to international companies
-         Reduces business costs, such as maintenance and telecommunications
-         Minimises places to store the goods
-         Product updates are instant, including prices and descriptions
-         The online store can be open 24 hours a day
-         Search engines make it easy to look for what you want without using traditional catalogues
-         Encourages healthy competition between small and large organisations and businesses
-         Large portals mean huge product bases, prices and manufacturers
 There are of course a few limitations with these benefits.  Here are a few listed:
-         Credit card security can become a serious issue
-         Costs involved are mainly with computers which can end up being quite expensive
-         Customers concern about the security of credit card orders
-         Extensive database and computer knowledge is essential
-         Competition between small and large business online retailers can, on occasions prove stressful for the smaller companies
-         Some customers like to have the product in their hands immediately, an waiting for the delivery can be time consuming
-         Customers having to wait at home, sometimes for long hours for the delivery to turn up.

The term ecommerce or e-commerce is where products and services can be purchased online via the internet.
Some people would rather use the narrower ecommerce definition of using the electronic means to do any financial transactions, yet others would rather use the larger ecommerce and much broader definition as there are many companies and individuals using the internet to sell goods who still don’t have the knowledge or ability to conduct their financial transactions electronically.
Many discussions over the past few years have ended up turning in to arguments about exactly what is e-commerce, and what it definitely isn’t, and consequently  there is a great deal of information on the internet which has been written about this in an attempt to try and find a right kind of definition.
E-commerce can be made either through business to business or business to customer, but to put it in more simple terms, any business who is attempting to make a profit using the internet is involved in ecommerce.
It would be easy to write an entire encyclopedia about all the items related to ecommerce, and all the factors which are included.  Sellers who use the internet to conduct business are generally known as ‘etailers’, who sell their good in stores which are commonly regarded as ‘cyberstores’, and even on the computer screen there are ‘shopping carts’ to use to purchase your items.

The European Union or Commission is a governing body that covers the United Kingdom and European countries. Any member of the European Commission is subject to the laws they feel need to be in place to protect citizens.  The commission has recently reviewed the UK’s data protection methods.  They have found the safeguards in place are not up to European standards. 

A Website Disclaimer is a legal document that can be used in the place of more lengthy set of website terms and conditions. This short form version can assist is helping customers/website users actually read through the terms by which they are permitted to make use of your website. As the Website Disclaimer will be simple in its nature, it is not suitable for use on websites that sell things like goods or services, as it is not comprehensive enough to cover such intricate detail that may be required for the sale of goods. It is, however, perfect for simple information only websites, including blogs and basic forums. The Website Disclaimer operates to set out the level of liability a company will accept in relation to the use of their website by users. Website Disclaimer templates can be easily purchased online as a cheaper alternative to going to see an ecommerce solicitor in the high street. A Website Disclaimer purchased as a template will most likely be aimed at those websites that are non-ecommerce, this means that they do not sell anything and merely provide information to users in relation to their niche topic. This may a blog or forum as well as a regular textual website. When you create a website, you will find that you will need to access certain legal documentation to post on your site, including a Website Disclaimer or Website Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. You may also find it helpful to use an Email Disclaimer too. A Website Disclaimer will explain to users in an easy to understand but concise manner the information that is needed to be known by your website users. A typical disclaimer will state that the website and website owner shall not be liable for any loss of data or damage to such in connection to the website. This is a short document that is out there due to the nature of it offering protection in the ecommerce sector. It is user friendly and legally enforceable provided it has been properly created. You may wish to vary the amount of protection the Website Disclaimer is to provide to your website. This can be done by amending the terms on the template document/download to suit your needs. Simply add or remove clauses to adjust your level of liability.

 
Every website should have a terms and conditions present on it! Website terms and conditions templates can be easily bought online.  Webiste terms and conditions are typically used on non-selling websites, forums and blogs.  These are known as non-ecommerce sites.

The reason website terms and conditions are needed is to explain to users and visitors of your website the rules and responsibilities of your website that they must abide by.  it is, in essence, a set of rules of use.

Whenever you may create a new website, or update an old one, using terms and conditions can affirm user confidence, as well as offer you protection by expressing your liability, obligations and responsibilities to users in a clear, concise and easily accessible manner. 

You do not need to spend lots on high street solicitors fees as a simple set of webiste terms and conditions can be obtained easily online, often for free!  You may need something a little more comprehensive if the website is a business website, or a website that sells products and/or services.  if this is the case, it may be worth noting down exactly what you wish the website to achieve and work what users would expect to see in your terms and consitions on the website. If you are using an online template to save on costs, these can be beneficial as, provided you are certain of what you want/need, you will be able to create something appropriate using a cost effective template that can be instantly saved and uploaded to your website in a matter of minutes, ready for your users perusal.

usually, the terms and cinditions will begin with an opening line welcoming the user or visitor to the website and explaining which responsibilty belongs to whom.. Typically, most of the onous is placed upon the user.

Content that is copied is bad news for any website – it ruins your search rankings in search engines such as Google, and could even result in your website being booted out the search index completely.

In essence, the simple point to the story is do not put something on your website that has been taken from another’s website.  Granted, you may not know this has already been used,  but there are many devices out there such as www.CopyScape.com and others that help you to establish whether the content (text, images, diagrams etc) need to be altered in any way to render them unique and not copied.

The majority of words that we read on any website are often not actually created by the owner(s) of the website – this is often outsourced to copywriters, who research and write a unique piece for the website owner or administrator, which saves a lot of time.  When approached with a Copied Content Complaint Letter, most websites will be very apologetic and simply amend the copied content or remove it completely.

All ecommerce businesses must be vigilant is maintaining unique content to ensure their rankings are not compromised.  For online businesses, there are less regulations in place than for regular companies.  This is because the internet, as an entity, can be accessed by anyone, making it more difficult to enforce regulations as there would be billions of people to manage, and the security of the internet is subject to a number of factors, including each individual computers anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, the use of firewalls, and the strength of any given network.

Due to the lack of regulation, the website owner must protect themselves first and foremost.  The Copied Content Letter enables the website owner to complain to another in a legal manner and with confidence.

The use of written communication shows evidence that you have attempted to establish contact and deal with the situation fairly.  You should always keep a copy of every letter you send, ensuring it is accurately dated and sent by first class post.

Once the letter has been sent and it has gone passed the date you would expect the letter to arrive at the copying websites address, it will be worth checking to see if the content has been removed.

In 2007 in the US, a jury awarded $4.5million against a company that offered support to students to apply colleges online.  The operators of the website copied a privacy policy from another websitre which stated that personal information disclosed via the website will not be disclosed.  However, personal information was being shared and so the privacy policy was not an accurate reflection of what the website had claimed.

For the majority of websites, a privacy policy is a saving grace.  A generic term of a privacy policy is that if the user does not agree with the terms of the policy or the website as a whole, the user should refrain from using the website with immediate effect.  The reason the user should not use the site is because they do not agree with the terms of use, for example, the recording the personal information to record sales data.

In the US, there is a federal law called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.  This Act requires all financial institutions to provide a privacy policy to all customers.  This would include any website with a checkout process, as the term financial institution covers a wide range of organisations and is easily open to interpretation.

The Federal Trade Commission enforces the Act and is responsible for the compliance by businesses in the US.  A maximum penalty fine for breach of this Act is $11,000 per violation for financial institutions found not to have a privacy policy in place in accordance with the Act.

Furthermore, there is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA.  This requires all health care providers to disclose a privacy policy to all customers.  The Office of Civil Rights are responsible for enforcing this Act, and by 2007, more than 4,500 cases had been successfully prosecuted under this Act.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act 1998 compels all website owners and/or operators knowingly collecting data from children under the age of 13 years to have in place a visible privacy policy.  The Federal Trade Commission are responsible for enforcing this Act, and several companies have fallen foul to this legal requirement.  Toys R Us volunteered to pay a whopping $400,000 as a penalty for violating this Act.

California is the only state in the US that requires the owner and/or operator of a commercial website collecting personal information from residents of that state to post a privacy policy on the website.  This law applies to website owners and/or operators regardless of whether their office is based in the state.  Individuals, companies and the California Attorney General can bring a case against a website owner or operator if violation of this rule occurs.

A privacy policy must be meticulously drafted to conform with the legal requirements of applicable jurisdictions.