ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seems sensible to exclude anything that does not raise special issues that are particular to e-commerce. It is concerned with commercial transactions, involving goods or services, including the provision of online services, and delivery of electronic goods. Transactions can be purely commercial, between businesses, for example with Electronic data interchange, or can involve consumers, dealing either with businesses or with other consumers. The book is also concerned with the support infrastructure for electronic trading, for example the allocation of domain names for business websites. It considers the issue of deep linking, and examines the United Kingdom copyright infringement case, Shetland Times v Wills. The book also considers for comparative purposes, the positions taken in Singapore and the United States on control of content on the Internet.