[10.13] Networks and Society: Commerce on the Internet

• Thousands of businesses now have home pages on the Internet to advertise their goods and services, available for purchase with a credit card.

• Although many Web surfers regularly visit these sites for information, sales have been disappointing.

• Complaints about purchasing goods on the Net include possibility of "cyber scams" and inability to touch the merchandise.

• Fear of credit card theft in Internet purchasing involves the continuing issue of security of private information distributed on the Internet. Research on network security is based in software techniques of encrypting private data from access by unauthorized users.

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