person intentionally registers a domain name of a trademarked company with the hopes of selling it to the company at a higher price. This was more prevalent in the early days of the Internet. To govern these matters, the World Intellectual Property Association (WIPO) was formed. There are several domain threats, including name stealing, and fraudulent domain name ownership change. Protection from these practices includes host name blocking, packet filtering, and proxy servers, although none of these are really effective in preventing theft. Some ideas that are promising are the digital watermark and copy control. Another negative event that may occur on the Web is product disparagement. This occurs when a party makes a false statement about something and a business or the integrity of its product are compromised. False advertising is also a common problem.

With the openness of the Internet comes the chance of it being misused. Unfortunately this can be a problem. Crime on the Web can range from theft to stalking to gambling. There is also the matter of commandeering computers to plant viruses and worms that can infect others. Law enforcement agencies have trouble combating much of this crime. On the Web you can be whoever you want to be. Identity theft is rampant and with many doing all their banking and shopping online, the criminals are having a field day.

It is important for firms that conduct business on the Web keep to the same standards as those that do not. If not, the consequences will ultimately lead to a loss of business. All product information should be verifiable and correct. There are sometimes issues that are not illegal but may be unethical. These actions can damage a company’s reputation, and cost them money.

One such issue involves customer information, such as e-mail. Although many sites have set up ways to protect your personal information from getting out to the spammers, they are not legally required to do so. This issue of online privacy remains an issue and is governed by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. This act protects Web users from having their transmissions intercepted. One reason that ethics are so important on the Internet is that laws have not kept pace with the rapid growth of it. It is imperative that these laws remain updated to protect the integrity of the Web. Another issue with privacy on the Internet is that there is none. You can view information about anything, anywhere. Once something is put out there, it is accessible to anyone, and this includes government records. One way to protect yourself is to always read the Terms of Service and look for an opt-out button. This will prevent a site from sharing your information with a third party.