INTRODUCTION
In an electronic commerce environment, trust is difficult relation to build and even more critical for business success than in traditional commerce. The electronic commerce is not an ordinary business environment where we can trust the vendors.
In order for electronic business to prosper, consumers must not be concerned that they will be manipulated, have their credit card numbers stolen, or receive poor quality goods or service.
In response to the electronic business needs created by electronic transactions and with the increasing need for third-party assurance to guarantee the trustworthiness of the whole transaction, web seal assurance services have emerged. These web trust assurance services were developed to reduce consumers' concerns.
To help consumers determine whether the website is secure, and decide to do online shopping, the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) and the CICA (Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants) have jointly developed the Web Trust Seal to help business entities in maintaining an effective privacy program that addresses their privacy risks and business opportunities.. The seal allows consumers to make purchases online with certainty that vendors have met high standards of business practices disclosure, transaction integrity, and information protection. This paper will focus on defining what the AICPA Web Trust Seal, its development background, what the principles are for obtaining the seal, who is responsible for issuing it, its process, cost, and finally the advantages and disadvantages of obtaining the Web Trust Seal.
WEB SEAL DEFINED
Web Trust is an international electronic commerce seal of approval designed to improve the confidence and security of co...
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...ng doing business online. For those firms seeking the highest standards of assurance, the web seal provided by the AICPA is the most appreciated but also the most expensive among the other seals offered as it is evaluated based on the AICPA attestation standard basis. The web seal is considered to improve the customers' perceptions about the online shopping but business firms need to make sure that their customers are well- educated about the seal. The web seal service has several advantages such as ensuring the vendor's credibility, increasing the trustworthiness of the website, improving the company's internal controls, moreover, web seal assurance may lead to higher sales and better brand recognition. On the other side, it is an expensive service, and requires customers to be well informed about it in order for the mentioned advantages to be fulfilled.
The hired firm then presents its findings in a Service Organization Controls (SOC) report, which allows the auditor to determine whether or not the intermediary’s controls can be relied upon. A SOC 3 Seal of Assurance was given to certify that the edu.confirmation.com website has been examined by an independent accountant. This report is based on management’s assertions that the entity’s business is in conformity with the applicable Trust Services Principles and Criteria. The principles that must be met in order to earn the Seal are security, availability, processing completeness, confidentiality and privacy. Certain criteria must be met also in order to display the Seal, which are the following: objectivity, measurability, completeness, and
This is because for example, if you buy a designer watch on an e-commerce site, you don’t know 100% if it’s original or not, which is why some customers don’t trust e-commerce sites. Also some customers have trust issues with e-commerce businesses because they think their personal details are not private. Customers also have issues when e-commerce sites personalise their usage of sites, by recommended other products, centred on what they purchased or searched for before.
The act provided the opportunity for secure-online transactions development within the e-commerce community, enabling the development of digital signatures, and provided the frame work for regulations of digital signatures by certification authorities. The establishment of this Act, and the technology that developed because of the act, has added a level of security for individuals. The digital signature utilizes hash cryptographic algorithms, utilizing what a user’s pin (signature) to sign electronically. Uniform Computer Information Transactions
It is alarming to think of a person or company buying and selling one’s personal information. Big Brother Gets A Makeover: Behavioral Targeting And The Third-Party Doctrine (Brotherton, 2012, p. 555), points out “What few Internet users realize is that, during the time they surf the Web, they are subjected to constant surveillance by potentially hundreds of different private companies.” In today’s online environment and new technology, it is clear this type of activity happens all the time.
The Internet offers the chance to work in a efficient manner by utilizing computer-based tools. Whether a business is thinking utilizing the capability of cloud computing or just using email and maintaining a website, Security should be included in the planning. Theft of digital information is the most commonly reported fraud. Each business that utilizes the Internet should be responsible for creating a culture of security that will enhance business and consumer confidence (FCC, 2015). These are all items that a small business will need to help protect it computers and
About 98.3% of all persons had used e-business services such as Octopus Card and Automatic Teller Machine (Census and Statistics Department, 2009). One of the pitfalls for the development of e-business, however, is the concerns on consumer privacy. According to Green’s (1999) survey, 54% of respondents had decided not to purchase a product because of a concern overuse of personal information collected in the e-business transaction. This essay examines the circumstances on protection of consumer privacy in e-business. As e-business is surging by an astronomical number and consumer information is a kind of property, the protection of consumer privacy in e-business becomes significant.
A security certificate is like a special deportation warrant in which the Canadian government can deport any “non-Canadians” who they feel are a threat to Canada and its citizens. An example of this would be anyone that the Canadian government feels is involved with a terrorist group or organization will be deported using a security certificate. Some pros to the security certificate are it will help the Canadian government better protect Canada by deporting anyone who poses a serious threat to Canada, and its citizens. Another pro is it limited in use as security certificates have only been used 27 times since 1991, meaning the powers of the security certificates have not been abused as of yet. It is somewhat fair to the person a security certificate
From PayPal to Debit cards, from EFT to Credit cards, this modern world has been inundated with new ways of making business transactions. Instead of the conventional use of dollars and nickels, now there are electronic payment systems. These types of systems allow for better trust and acceptance between consumer and businesses. In the traditional way of buying a product, one would see a product in person, and pay for it with cash or credit. In e-commerce, the business uploads images of its products online and it enables its customers to shop it using any type of electronic payment system.
In recent times we might consider that the right for privacy in one of our major achievements in our society. Unfortunately the same does not apply for the Internet. The Internet once considered a place for free information exchange and sharing, has the potential has becoming the biggest threat to its users. The commercialization of the Internet is one of the major reasons why the chances of a compromise of our privacy have increased. Customer profiling, address trading or simple lack of care with sensitive customer information are just some of the threats that this commercialization has bought to our ‘free’ Internet. Another reason being that with the increase of threats there is a regular change in technology to counter these threats. These changes make it harder for the already overstrained users to cope with the ever changing technology.
Recently, the Internet has become the most significant technology in all over the world, which is not only used by the people to contact with each other but also utilized by the business organizations to become global (Taylor, Caeti, Loper, Fritsch & Liederbach, 2006). Computer and internet enable the business organizations to execute the Electronic commerce business model, which has become very popular. Computers and Internet are a powerful source in the success of globalization and international business. Computers are being used worldwide and due to this, cyber crimes are increasing continuously with a rapid growth (Cheeseman, 2006).
Internet banking being relatively new, can involve legal risks to a high degree. Uncertainties regarding the validity of agreements formed via the electronic media, disputed transactions due to improper precautions in using internet banking products, and/or inadequate information about the rights and obligations to the customers about the use of e-banking products and services are some of the most significant reasons of occurrence of legal risks. Legal risks can also be caused from the banks‘ negligence. For example: A bank could link its website to other websites in order to attract and capture more and more
E-commerce or electronic commerce is carrying out business communications and transactions through computers and over networks. It involves buying and selling of goods and services through digital communication. E-commerce also includes transactions on the World Wide Web and the Internet and means such as electronic funds transfer, smart cards and digital cash. E-commerce covers outward facing processes that interact with customers, suppliers and external partners such as sales, marketing, delivery, customer service, purchasing of raw materials and supplies for production.
E- Commerce is a phenomena that is emerging rapidly between businesses all over the world, and it has affected the businesses at all sizes in many aspects.
The high take-up of the Internet leads to variety of opportunities in front of companies. People are more online than ever. They spend many hours each day on Social Networks such as Facebook and Google+. It is no wonder that buying and selling can now be done in a more convenient way. Although traditional shopping is still thriving, online shopping can be an alternative for people wanting to save time and money. If a certain customer plan to go shopping, it could be stressful and also be time consuming. E-business has made shopping or any kind of transactions online much easier and convenient. It introduces new facilities, opportunities and way of shopping for both vendors and customers.
growth in usage by both consumers and businesses. The unique capabilities of the Internet has captured the attention of the marketing community. While a growing number of companies have or are interested in developing an Internet presence, there is still a great deal of uncertainty about it and the potential ethical issues associated with its use as a marketing medium. Although many businesses are acknowledging the importance of a Web site, but the potential ethical issues related to marketing on the Internet still having an uncertainty in this situation. Much less attention has been given to the business community's perceptions of the ethicalness of this new medium. The unique interactivity of the Internet has captured the marketing community's interest as a way to develop and enhance customer relationships and establish greater brand identity. Thus, many commercial services have become available on the Internet that allow consumers and organizations to interact electronically. These services include booking airline tickets online, buying books and compact discs, and receiving stock market information. Although the number of consumer users and commercial organizations navigating on this "information superhighway" is growing almost exponentially, the benefits of the Internet are not without drawbacks.