Laws and Regulations

The growing popularity of the Web raises some legal issues that should be considered with the the expansion of e-commerce. Internet legal hazards are in the areas of privacy, and intellectual property. Another area of concern is whether the judicial system can manage electronic commerce connected contractual disputes.

Despite that all the laws that apply to business in a "paper-based" world also apply on the Internet, lawyers are trying to fit established legal principles to the new circumstances created by the Internet.

There are a lot of legal pitfalls in e-commerce, and the legal issues will vary depending on what a world web site will do. If the site is selling goods and services, long -distance liability could be a problem, because a person in Canada who uses the products web site may try to sue under Canada law. If the site publishes information, copyright could be a legal issue. And if the site lets people post comments, defamation, libel or obscenity could be another issues.