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Not Only Security and Privacy: The Evolving Ethical and Legal Challenges of E-Commerce

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Computer Security. ESORICS 2023 International Workshops (ESORICS 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14398))

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Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has influenced nearly all the aspects of people’s lives, including their shift to purchasing online. Along with the changes, the known ethical and legal issues of the e-commerce grew in significance; there also appeared a number of new, unprecedented challenges. This paper presents the results of a novel study aimed at identifying the most significant ethical and legal issues of e-commerce that appeared alongside the COVID-19 pandemic, or grew in significance because of it. The study also sheds light on the evolution of human knowledge and understanding of these challenges, driven by an unprecedented reliance on e-commerce during the pandemic.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See: C. Raadio, “‘It has been a battle’: Montreal artist says her designs were stolen by online companies,” CBC Raadio, 2020; Laser Gallery, “Stolen Listing Photos Appear on AliExpress,” Etsy, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://community.etsy.com/t5/Photography-Tips/Stolen-Listing-Photos-Appear-on-AliExpress/td-p/14911802.,.

  2. 2.

    See: LMA, “Zara Accused Of Stealing Designs From Independent Artists, And Here’s The Evidence” Boredpanda, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.boredpanda.com/zara-stealing-designs-copying-independent-artists-tuesday-bassen/.

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Choraś, M., Pawlicka, A., Jaroszewska-Choraś, D., Pawlicki, M. (2024). Not Only Security and Privacy: The Evolving Ethical and Legal Challenges of E-Commerce. In: Katsikas, S., et al. Computer Security. ESORICS 2023 International Workshops. ESORICS 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14398. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54204-6_9

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