E-commerce

Section 1

The internet consists of three main building blocks, these are transport protocol, Domain names and the hardware on the internet which may include servers, routers and client computers.

Transport protocol It is mainly mandated with establishing connections and ensuring data arrives safely to its destination. IT aids in moving packets from one node to another (PC MAG.COM)
Domain Names These are unique identification label that users enter into their browsers address bar in order to uniquely identify any WebPages and these domain names are assigned to IP addresses in which they are also used to translate those same IP addresses into human easy to remember format.

Internet Hardware These aids in the transmission of data packets among the different ISO layers, for instance, routers may be conveniently used to distribute information on wireless networks.

Latency This is the time it takes for a packet of data to rotate around the readwrite head.  This may interfere with internet functioning because it reduces the instantaneous transfer of data hence interfering with internet such as delay in loading web pages and other associated transactions such as e-mail delivery, payment processing e.t.c Whenever a webpage takes longer than usual to download, this disorientates the users performance which may make him switch to another site (Bruno, Robert, Jain, 2007, p.263).

Packet switching technology works by dividing messages into separate packets before they are sent to their destination, the packets are then sent individually and they may even follow different routes towards their destination, once they arrive at their destination, they are then automatically recompiled by the system into an original single message. This technology is ideal in expedient deliveries and it is mostly applicable for real time data such as live audio and video such as webcasts or video conferencing. A perfect example of circuit switching technology is an ordinary telephone line whereby a dedicated line is allocated for transmission between two different parties.

Transmission Control ProtocolInternet Protocol (TCPIP).
This is a communication standard between computers that is mainly used to transmit data over computer networks which may include both private and public networks. It is the de facto communication standards over the internet and it is built into the UNIX operating system.

It is a dual layer program and it is charged with assembling message files into some smaller packets in order for them to be transmitted over the internet and eventually to be received by a TCP layer resembling the packets into the original message. The Internet Protocol which is the lower layer, handless the addressing of the packets in order for them to get to proper destination. This concept embraces the clientserver model communication technology whereby the client computers request and is also provided a certain service by another computer within their same network (Douglas Comer, 2006).

Some of the application protocols that embrace the TCPIP concept to access the internet include, File transfer protocol (FTP), Simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), File transfer protocol (FTP), Telnet among others.

However, there are some other protocols related to TCPIP such as the User datagram protocol (UDP) which in some circumstances is usually substituted with TCPIP.

WIFI  3G technology
Wi-Fi is basically 802.11 wireless Ethernet standards that have been designed to support wireless LANs while 3G on the other hand refers to collection of third generation mobile based technologies that enable mobile operators to offer integrated data and voice services over their networks (William  Lee, 2003).
Wi-Fi offers its end users some sorts of end-user centric decentralized approach to service provisioning while 3G technologies offers to the same users some sorts of vertically integrated, top-down service provider approach in delivering wireless internet connection (William  Lee, 2003).

Some of the similarities associated with these two technologies are, they are both wireless, they avoid cables and support mobility, this represents some significant cost saving due to the need of not installing or even reconfiguring a local distribution plant. Wireless technologies are easier to deploy to respond to the changing market dynamics.

3G and Wi-fi are both access technologies, they rely on similar network connections and the same transmission support infrastructure. In 3G the wireless link connects from the end users gadgets to cell base stations then the dedicated wire lines may aid in connecting the base stations to the operators network backbone hence to the internet cloud.

In Wi-Fi technology, the wireless technology in most cases is miles away from the end users to the base station which is connected to a wiredwireless LAN, then to the carriers network backbone hence the internet cloud.

Differences of Wi-Fi  3G
Their business models are different, 3G strives to upgrade existing mobile telephone services in order to expand capacity and add some value added services. End users are supplied a monthly bill as a recurring operating expense (Lindsay, McKnight  Lehr, 2002).

3G business concept is deployed on a top-down, vertically integrated and is also based on a centralized planning and operation and telecom operators already are offering the services as part of bundled service offerings mainly for the sake of taking advantages of price discrimination business strategies.
But in Wi-fi the end users are not directly charged for access and service is mainly provided free to the closed user community e.g. employees  students.

3G technology also uses some licensed spectrum while Wi-Fi uses unlicensed spectrum, this has an eventual cost implication in terms of cost of service, quality of service and congestion management, this is mainly because the cost of acquiring spectrum license represents a huge share of deploying 3G services while Wi-fi on the other hand only uses some share 2.4 GHz unlicensed shared spectrum.

3 G services are emerging slowly mainly due to the costs of acquiring 3G enabled handsets, this increases deployment costs while diminishing prospects for short term revenue while there is a large Wi-Fi base of networking equipments because vendors are pushing the home wireless networking  and at the same time, the commoditization of Wi-Fi equipments has already lowered the prices and simplified the installation and management of Wi-Fi networks hence making it feasible for non-techies to deploy these equipments (Dornan A, 2002).

SECTION 2

Electronic security breaches
Privacy incidence This may be defined as the loss of control. Compromise, unauthorized disclosure of a persons detail such as credit card and other related financial information falling into the hands of the wrong people unlawfully (DHS, 2007).

This particular situation is likely to arise when a user has recorded his financial related information in a computer system, the hacker manages to hack into his system, obtains his information and uses them in online purchases or effecting telegraphic transfers to some secret accounts. An identity may also be stolen when clients use less secure sites with no encryption  authentification technology such as the SSL signatures this makes his identity very vulnerable because traces  history of his online activities may be left un-cleared in a web browser which a hacker could easily exploit.

Spoofing Here a website may be created by some malicious personalityorganization with the main purpose of deceiving users that they are from the legitimate organization which may be the users bank, a non-suspecting user may then proceed and enter maybe some his personal details such as the credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account details, title deed details which may eventually be used to commit some crime by wiring funds out of a users bank account either through telegraphic transfer, online credit card purchases, selling a persons property because you have some of his crucial details among others.

Public Key Cryptography
Cryptography may be defined as the science of using mathematical concepts to encrypt and decrypt data. This concept enables users to store or transmit sensitive information over insecure networks in order for the message not to be read by any unintended recipient. This technique works by integrating a mathematical function which is used in the encryption and decryption process. The mathematical function or rather the cryptographic algorithm works in a combination with a key, word, number or phrase to encrypt the plain text in which this same plain text encrypts to different ciphertext with different keys (Anoop MS)
There is the public key cryptography which uses some pairs of both public and private key for encryption. The public key encrypts data while its corresponding private key decrypts data.

Fig 1.0 Diagram depicting Public key encryption
One of its notable benefits is that anyone who has pre-existing security arrangement can exchange messages in a secure manner and both sender and receiver do not necessarily have to share secret key combination via some odd security channels.

There are also malicious codes which are basically computer programs developed with the sole intention of interfering with the normal operations of a computer system hence hampering e-commerce activities. These codes may be interested with a users general information, his financial information or his organizational based information. These codes include viruses, Trojan horses, worms, spywares, logic bomb e.t.c
Virus It is a computer program that copies itself into the different areas of a computers operating system while infecting the system, it is distributable on the network and medium such as floppydisks and may come in form of malware, adware or spyware.

Worms on the other hand are self replicating virus that resides in active memory of a computers operating system.

Challenges of e-payment
There are quite a number of challenges that are associated with international payments, to begin with there is the issue of security, most of the e-commerce shops available do not have a secure way of channeling money, it is only the well established brands such as e-bay, yahoo, ammazon.com and some few others that have a reputation for credibility. This makes clients to fear on the whereabouts of their financial information such as bank account details and credit card numbers.

Some countries especially the third world do not have a deeply entrenched financial system, this makes it absolutely hard for people from there to buy goods and services from western markets and vice versa. Also lack of creditdebit cards in these places is also hindering the growth of e-commerce.

There is the discrimination factor, some merchants only ship to some selected international destination which locks out the few from unfavored destinations whom well understand the benefits of e-commerce, but they are unable to participate, due to this particular discrimination of some selected key markets, which are likely to be Western Europe, north America, Japan and Asian tigers.

However, international merchant may protect themselves from repudiation by establishing a global brand that is reputable hence for any transaction they just charge upfront payments or full payments depending on the type of goods being sold. For instance, an organization like Papera traders (papera.com) which deals in second hand vehicles from Japan cannot charge full amount before a vehicle has been delivered to its port of arrival they can only charge for shipping and part of the payment in which once the vehicle has been confirmed as safely arrived at the port of entry the owner makes the remaining payment before he is issued logbooks and other documents such as bill of lading for the sake of clearing the car at his port of delivery. But when it comes to goods such as laptop computers these may be charged in full regardless of the location.

Exchange rates on the other hand, affect the cost of goods, for instance when a currency weakens, the prices of its goods on the international market becomes expensive, but when this particular currency weakens, the competing nations hosting their competitors, their currency do not necessarily weaken, this gives the competing nations some undue advantage because there goods may be 10-25 cheaper than their competitors and if this particular trend persists for some period of time, the merchant shop might even be closed to lay off or close shop.

However, when it comes to shipping charges, it is not likely to impact very much because most shipping companies have some somewhat similar charges which is based on the distance travelled by the ship and the bulkiness of the goods in which if it is expensive to ship certain products then the rule will apply to both parties which is indeed fair.

Whenever an international client makes some transactions from a US based account he is likely to find a lot of delays, this is because his credit card account has to be verified if it is genuine for the sake of countering money laundering and stolen identities. He is not likely to be given preferences  privileges because he is a non-American, privilege may involve rebates, after sales service and free delivery as long as you are residing on the lower 48 states. This means international clients are always overcharged because some parts of neighboring countries such as Mexico and Canada may be closer to the merchants headquarters  stores than some parts of the U.S, but these close parts of neighboring countries do not receive expedient and free shipping.