Regardless of the business that you are in, you must know and understand the various laws and regulations that apply to the Internet. Not only do you want to pay attention to any copyrighted and trademarked material that you may have on your web site without proper consent, you want to give due diligence to a variety of other factors:

1. The various types of web sites;
   
2. Libelous content;
   
3. Legality of selling certain types of products on a web site.  

While there are many kinds, web sites can be divided broadly into those with the following tributes:  

• Show Window Web Sites – These provide information about a business and its products, but without encouraging any significant visitor interaction; ie. A company brochure. 
  
• Contributed Content Web Sites – These allow visitors to add content such as information about their identity, or postings on message boards.
  
• Full E-Commerce Web Sites – Here, visitors can buy goods and services, either physical products that are delivered offline or digitized material that is available for download.  

Most web sites, especially for businesses, encourage visitors to interact and leave comments and suggestions that help increase product and brand awareness as well as to improve search engine optimization – contributed content.  

 

One of the most basic means of facilitating visitor interaction is a discussion board (forum) or chat room. Such environments can pose legal problems as they are often unchecked and allow visitors to post information without any restrictions. You need to recognize that you can find yourself liable under civil or criminal law unless steps are taken to control material that appears on your web site.  

 

Problems include:  

• Defamatory statements;
  
• Infringement of copyright material;
  
• Legally objectionable material that could be considered obscene, blasphemous, threatening or radically discriminatory.  

To avoid liability for such material, you need to establish some safeguards. These include being proactive in moderating visitor-created material before it appears on the web site; removing any posted material that may become problematic upon further review; and a documented “notice and take down” procedure that explains any infringing content can be removed upon notification.  

 

Be sure to address these issues in your terms and conditions that you post on your web site so visitors and third-party complainants are aware of the steps taken to prevent infringement and libel. You may also require visitors to register with your web site that provides their personal and contact information before they can post anything, in the event a situation arises such as a third-party complaint or an impending investigation by law enforcement.  

 

The Internet has provided a large platform for anyone to trade a wide variety of goods and services through a given web site. Further, the seller can be either the web site owner or a third party trading such as in an online auction service.  

 

There are many issues that can arise with the products that you are trying to sell to customers that have specific government-imposed regulations for social, ethical and fiscal reasons.  

 

These include:  

• Sale of alcohol;
  
• Sale of medicines, particular prescription-only medicines;
  
• Financial services;
  
• Betting, gaming and lotteries;  

Depending on the jurisdiction and type of product being sold, a web site may need to adhere to regulations such as:  

• Placing a provision in the contract with a consumer that specifically states the identity of the supplier, the main characteristics of what’s being sold, payment and delivery arrangements and the principal terms and conditions between the seller and buyer.  

You should always form a legal binding contract with the buyer regardless of what you sell through your web site such as requiring the visitor to scroll through your terms and conditions and clicking on an “I Accept” button.