Commercial security

GLOBAL ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

D. Read and translate the text 2.

C. Find out whether the statements given below are true (T) or false (F) according to the information in the text. If the statements are false, correct them.

6. The Internet is the idea that emerged several decades ago and has changed the world. ()

7. The terms Internet and World Wide Web mean the same. ()

8. The Internet is anarchy by design. ()

9. The Web is used for e-mail. ()

10. Different computer languages are used for graphics, audio, and video files in the Web. ()

Electronic commerce refers to commercial transactions which are based on the electronic storage, processing and transmission of data over communications networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web. Global electronic commerce has been made possible by rapid advances in technology. Digital technologies permit the storage and processing of vast amounts of information. Satellites and optical fibres have dramatically quickened the handling and distribution of this information.

Electronic commerce offers the possibility of ‘trade without borders’. In practice there is evidence that information and communications technologies may polarise the world economy into ‘online’ and ‘offline’ segments, what is sometimes referred to as the digital divide. In fact, with email, VOIP (voice over internet protocol), cloud computing, online banking and other services, it is easier and more convenient than ever to do business. In fact, many of the physical barriers of conducting business have been erased.

Enough can’t be said about the economic impact that the internet has brought to the world.

Although electronic transfers of money have been a feature of the international economy for decades, used by banks, credit card agencies, stock brokers and so on, the ‘electronic marketplace’ which deals with products and services is something new. Perhaps trillions of dollars have been created in wealth from the internet and billions of lives have been changed due to e-commerce.

Business-to-business transactions dominate electronic commerce. About 80 per cent of the electronic trade in products and services is represented by business-to-business transactions, which is the fastest-growing area of electronic communication.

Multinational enterprises use electronic commerce as the basis of their global networks. Companies providing professional services in insurance, finance, engineering, design and architecture, for example, use the internet to sell their services to other businesses. Physical barriers between countries and markets are meaningless in this context.

Economists can readily appreciate the cost savings likely to be associated with business-to-business electronic commerce – the impact on inventories, for example – as firms find it less and less necessary to carry stocks. But again there is a downside. Electronic commerce has implications for commercial security. When firms engage in electronic commerce, they open up their electronic systems to suppliers and customers. This can cover such things as websites, customer software, search engines, manufacturing processes, and so on.

Business-to-business electronic commerce which takes place across national boundaries has highlighted differences between the laws governing such data in different countries. The international law protecting data, patents, copyrights, trade secrets and so on only provides protection at the minimum level. Firms tend to rely on much stronger national laws to protect their interests. But electronic commerce throws up all sorts of anomalies. What appears at first sight to economists to be straightforward and highly efficient ‘trade without borders’ turns out to be no such thing. One example relates to data collections. In the US a collection of data – for example, a list of names and addresses – cannot be protected under copyright law unless it has enough ‘creativity’ to qualify as intellectual property.

But in the EU data as simple as a list of names and addresses is protected. All kinds of issues are affected by these anomalies. They impact on the relationship between multinational companies and their local suppliers, as well as between companies and their competitors.

E. Answer the questions to the text:

1. What is electronic commerce based on?

2. What gains in technology have been critical for the development of e-commerce?

3. What is the main ‘idea’ of e-commerce?

4. What new marketplace appeared with the development of the Internet?

5. What is the fastest-growing area of electronic communication?

6. Why do economists speak about cost savings of e-commerce?

7. Why do firms prefer to rely on national laws in their work?

Дата добавления: 2014-12-07