FREE ESSAY ON SECURITY ON THE INTERNET

SECURITY ON THE INTERNET

Security on the Internet
Internet has become an essential tool for daily tasks. The options people have nowadays
are limitless: banking, shopping, booking reservations, chatting, and so on. However,
several drawbacks have arisen that are of concern to all of the internet users.
Unfortunately, incidents of auction fraud, the sale of illegal items, and criminal
trespassing are booming in the e-commerce market. The nature of the Internet and the ease
of gaining anonymity on it, has made crime easy and catching criminals much more
difficult.
Many cases of fraud have occurred: people who collect payments from buyers and never ship
the goods to them. "Earlier in the summer, for example, former eBay seller Robert Guest
pleaded guilty to mail fraud. Prosecutors had accused Guest of collecting approximately
$37,000 from bidders for items he never shipped." 1 Cases like these are a real drawback
for e-commerce. The lack of tangibility has been a major obstacle in doing transactions
online and these cases only serve to destroy the little confidence that consumers have
gained so far. Many people are hesitant to shop online, for example, and when they hear
of fraud cases it only serves to confirm their initial fears. That is why organizations
such as The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are
educating consumers to protect themselves. These agencies know that thousands of
consumers are taking advantage of the opportunity to shop from the comfort of their homes
via personal computers. A person can buy anything and avoid crowded malls, long lines and
busy parking lots. Furthermore, the Internet is always open: 7 days a week, 24 hours a
day. In order to actually benefit from online shopping, certain things must be taken into
consideration. The BBB's Web site contains a section that offers tips on "What You Need
to Know About Cybershopping." 2 The tips are the following:
? When dealing with a new merchant, ask for its physical location in order to check its
reliability with consumer agencies (i.e. The BBB).
? Determine the company's refund and return policy before you place an order.
? Never give out your Internet password. When creating a password avoid using established
numbers, such as your house number, birth date, telephone number or Social Security
number. If you are asked to create a new account, never use the same password you use for
other accounts.
? Be cautious if you are asked to provide personal information (i.e. Social Security
number or bank account information).
? Look at the "address" of the site, the URL ensures that you are dealing with the right
company. It is good to print out a copy of your order and confirmation number for your
records.
? Know your rights. The same laws that protect you when you shop by phone or mail apply
when you shop online. Under the law, a company must ship your order within the time
stated in its ads. If no time is promised, the company should ship your order within 30
days after receiving it, or give you an "option notice."
? If you decide to pay by credit card or charge card, your transaction will be protected
by the Fair Credit Billing Act. "Under this law, consumers have the right to dispute
charges under certain circumstances and temporarily withhold payment while the creditor
is investigating them. In the case of unauthorized use of a consumer's credit card or
charge card, consumers are generally held liable only for the first $50 in charges." 3 If
you are not comfortable entering your credit card or charge account number online, call
it in to the company's 800 number or fax it. 
The FTC also contains a section which offers consumers tips on online safety. In addition
to the ones made by the BBB, The FTC also suggests that:
? Use a secure browser. This is the software that you use to navigate the Internet. Your
browser should comply with industry security standards, such as Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) or Secure Electronic Transaction (SET). These standards scramble the purchase
information you send over the Internet, ensuring the security of your transactions. Most
computers come with a browser already installed or you can download one over the Internet
for free.
? Before signing up for any service or buying any product, evaluate how the company is
securing your financial and personal information. Many companies explain their security
procedures on their Web site. Other companies give you options on their Web site as to
whether and how your personal information is used. 
Trespassing and unsolicited e-mails
Another main concern on the Internet is the trespassing. Bulk e-mails are flooding our
systems everyday. The main problem with these unsolicited e-mails is that most of the
times they are scams. The FTC made a list that highlights the 12 scams that are most
likely to arrive via bulk e-mail.
1 Business opportunities. These e-mails make it sound very easy to start a business that
will bring lots of income without much work or cash. The scam: they are usually illegal
pyramid schemes.
2 Bulk e-mail. You receive offers to sell you lists of e-mail addresses for your own bulk
solicitations. The problem: sending bulk e-mails violates the terms of most internet
service providers. In addition, some states have laws regulating the sending of
unsolicited e-mail.
3 Chain letters. You're asked to send a small amount of money to each of 4 or 5 names on
a list, replace the names on the list with your own and forward. The scam: chain letters
are almost always illegal and most of the people who you forward the message to, are not
likely to pay.
4 Work-at-home schemes. These are envelope-stuffing solicitations that promise steady
income for minimal labor. In most of the cases you have to send money for a start-up kit.
The problem is that once you pay the money, you either never hear from them again, or you
receive a kit that is clearly not worth the amount of money that you mailed.
5 Health and diet scams. These e-mails offer pills that will let you loose weight without
exercise or changing your diet; cures for impotence or hair loss. The scam is that these
gimmicks don't work.
6 Effortless income. Typically a "get-rich-quick" scheme that offers unlimited profits.
The problem is that these systems don't really work. If they did, wouldn't everybody be
rich?
7 Free goods. You are offered valuable goods for free after gaining a certain type
membership that you have to pay for. In reality, the goods aren't free and in some of the
cases you don't even receive the goods.
8 Investment opportunity. You are offered outrageously high returns with no risk. You
usually have to send money and after you do, you never hear from these people again.
9 Cable "descrambler" kits. For a small amount of money you can buy a kit to assemble a
cable descrambler that supposedly allows you to receive cable TV transmission without
paying any subscription. The scam: it's not going to work and you can't even complain to
authorities because you were engaging in something illegal by trying to steal cable
service.
10 Guaranteed loans or credit, on easy terms. This turns out to be a useless list of
lenders who will turn you down if you don't meet their qualifications.
11 Credit repair. These are offers to erase negative information from your credit file.
The people who promote these services usually can't deliver and they can in fact get you
in trouble with the law because the advice you to lie on loan/credit applications or to
misrepresent your Social Security number.
12 Vacation prize promotions. Typically you win a fabulous vacation. The truth is that
this is an easy way to collect information form you, for marketing purposes. Also, most
of the times you end up paying for specific dates and upgrading. 4
There are however, ways in which to eliminate or at least reduce the amount of bulk
e-mails that are sent to you. In most of the cases you can remove yourself from the
sender's mailing list. In addition there are organizations that are formed with the
purpose of filtering information. One of the most known organizations is TRUSTe. 
TRUSTe is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to build users' trust
and confidence in the Internet by promoting the use of fair information practices.
OptList is a Web site designed to filter the information that you receive via e-mail. Its
privacy practices have been reviewed for compliance by TRUSTe. OptList wants to
demonstrate its commitment to consumer privacy. By displaying the TRUSTe trustmark, this
web site has agreed to notify Internet users of:
1. What personal or identifiable information is being collected from the web user
2. The organization collecting the information.
3. How the information is used.
4. With whom the information may be shared.
5. What choices are available to you regarding collection, use and
distribution of the information.
6. The kind of security procedures that are in place to protect the loss,
misuse or alteration of information under OptList, Inc. control.
7. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information. 5
The OptList Web site is committed to filtering the information that you do not want. 
"Our mission is to help reduce the unsolicited e-mail traffic on the Internet. To help
consumers gain control over the flow of unsolicited e-mail into their inboxes. To help
ISPs gain control over the flow of unsolicited e-mail into their mail servers and to help
marketers comply with the preferences of consumers and ISPs." 6 Companies can really make
a difference in addressing consumers needs. There are many tools available out there in
order to protect consumers from Internet scams and fraudulent deals. The important thing
is to be well informed and use common sense. 
Bibliography
FOOT NOTES
1 http://news.cnet.com/news/0-100/-202-830601.html
2 http://www.bbb.org/library/cybershop.html
3 http://www.tfc.gov
4 http://www.tfc.gov
5 http://www.OptList.com
6 http://www.OptList.com