Using its authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices, the FTC has brought a number of cases to enforce the promises in corporate privacy statements, including promises about the security of consumers' personal information. The Federal Trade Commission Act regulates all forms of advertising, including online advertising, and states that advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 establishes national standards for direct marketing over e-mail. These activities include the use of commercial e-mails, online advertising and consumer privacy. In the US in its entirety, electronic commerce activities are regulated more broadly by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In the United States, California's Electronic Commerce Act (1984), enacted by the Legislature, and the more recent California Privacy Rights Act (2020) enacted through a popular election proposition, control specifically how electronic commerce may be conducted in California. Data integrity and security are pressing issues for electronic commerce.Īside from traditional e-commerce, the terms m-Commerce ( mobile commerce) as well (around 2013) t-Commerce have also been used. On the institutional level, big corporations and financial institutions use the internet to exchange financial data to facilitate domestic and international business. The second category is based on the nature of the participant ( B2B, B2C, C2B and C2C). The first category is business based on types of goods sold (involves everything from ordering 'digital' content for immediate online consumption, to ordering conventional goods and services, to 'meta' services to facilitate other types of electronic commerce). There are five essential categories of E-commerce: Ĭontemporary electronic commerce can be classified into two categories. Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services.Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters).Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media.Business-to-business (B2B) buying and selling.Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer (B2C) or consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales.Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants.Į-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the following: The existence value of e-commerce is to allow consumers to shop online and pay online through the Internet, saving the time and space of customers and enterprises, greatly improving transaction efficiency, especially for busy office workers, but also saving a lot of valuable time. E-commerce is supported by electronic business. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electronic markets, and online auctions. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of products (such as books from Amazon) or services (such as music downloads in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store).

Robert Jacobson, Principal Consultant to the California State Assembly's Utilities & Commerce Committee, in the title and text of California's Electronic Commerce Act, carried by the late Committee Chairwoman Gwen Moore (D-L.A.) and enacted in 1984.Į-commerce typically uses the web for at least a part of a transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. The term was coined and first employed by Dr.

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