Introduction
In a continuance of the differences between B2B vs. B2C web sites, this week's paper will cover how the sites manage ethical, legal and regulatory issues.
Ethical Issues facing B2B and B2C sites
There are several definitions of the work ethics. One definition of ethics is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. It can also be defined as a set of moral principles or values, a theory or system of moral values and the principles of conduct governing an individual or group, such as professional ethics. (www.m-w.com, 2005).
B2B (Business to Business) web sites share mutual information with each other, so ethics in this situation are important. Privacy is important and should be protected through whatever technical and legal means possible. In the business environment, there are codes of ethics that are developed by the organizations, such as trade unions, which have developed them. For example the ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct were created by the Association for Computing Machinery. It is stated in the Preamble that Commitment to ethical professional conduct is expected of every member (voting members, associate members, and student members) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). (P. Mateti).
The ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct also includes information covering B2C web sites. The information that would cover ethical actions that would relate directly to the public is covered in Section 1.2 Avoid harm to others, paragraph 1:
"Harm" means injury or negative consequences, such as undesirable loss of information, loss of property, property damage, or unwanted environmental inmates. ...