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Roger Tassé, "Electronic Commerce: Creating an Environment That Consumers Will Trust" The rules and practices that govern traditional commerce will be adequate in the "digital world." The challenges faced by governments and the private sector is to create an environment where consumers and businesses feel comfortable in doing business online. This will be possible only if the rules of transacting over the Internet are relatively clear, predictable and fair. Sunny Handa, "Challenges Posed by Open Network Electronic Commerce" Some businesses have embraced cyberspace as a medium for transacting, however, most businesses still express reluctance often citing issues of security and the potential for fraud as reasons. Technology has offered a solution to these problems. The development of public key infrastructures, based on digital signature and public key cryptography technologies, has the potential to revolutionize the use of cyberspace for on-line transactions. Unfortunately, existing legal structures have not adapted to the needs of public key infrastructure technology. In this article, the author assesses the various legal risks being faced by certification authorities-businesses central to the operation of public key infrastructures - and discusses some of the methods being used to reduce risk. The author concludes by weighing the call for legislation in this area with the possibility of market based solutions. Karim Benyekhlef, "Commerce électronique: Normes et politiques" The author outlines some of the legal issues raised by electronic commerce. The pro-market American approach to regulating electronic commerce is contrasted with a more interventionist European approach. The author suggests that a mix of the two, reliance on market forces but with some necessary reliance on national and international regulations, will be necessary. R.A. Davis, "Tax Issues in a Virtual World" Existing principles of international tax law are difficult to apply to electronic commerce since they generally assume that an international transaction will involve a physical exchange at some point in the transaction. In the new electronic business environment, suppliers and customers can conclude agreements without regard to physical or national frontiers. As a result, cross-border transactions may be subject to inconsistent taxation. Tax authorities in Canada and around the world will need to consider the impact of this shift on their own taxation systems and develop rules that provide certainty and prevent double taxation. The authors identify and address a number of tax issues involving cross-border electronic transactions in respect of direct taxes such as corporate income tax and withholding taxes and indirect taxes such as value added sales taxes (like the GST) and customs duties. Jonathan Rosenoer, "Getting to Digital Signature and Electronic Commerce" In the US, the inability to forge a national consensus around an encryption policy acceptable to law enforcement and industry is often blamed for holding up the development of electronic commerce . However, resolution of the commerce issue does not depend on prior determination of a national encryption policy. To success and generate online revenues, businesses need strong digital signatures more than the bulletproof confidentiality that would be provided by resolution of the encryption issue. Jim Carroll, "Electronic Commerce and the Paperless Economy" The Internet is the backbone of the economy of the 21st century. It will inevitably link every computer system and computer chip on the planet. And electronic commerce is simply the logical and inevitable evolution in the role of computers, as we begin a slow migration from an economy in which business transactions occur via paper to one in which electronic transactions are dominant. Pierre-Léonard Harvey, "Réseaux et appartenances : Le développement d'identités extra-territoriales" The information highway is making for an increasingly networked world. The author provides a framework for analyzing the impact of these networks on social relations and regional identities. He wonders if, in view of the new networks made possible by the information highway, there is a case to be made for a new understanding of citizenship and belonging. Matthew W. Fraser, "Digital Delivery of Cultural Products on the Electronic Highway" Policy makers still seem uncertain about how digital cultural products should be regulated, if at all. The author outlines the main issues at stake with respect to the on-line delivery of cultural products and proposes a solution that can be implemented to help resolve some of these outstanding issues. Terrence J. Thomas, "The Extraction of Value in Cyberspace and Canadian Culture" Changes in property rights on the Internet will have important implications for Canadian culture. Think of the recent furore over Sports Illustrated Canada and imagine that the U.S. parent finds a way to unbundle the contents of its magazine, to put the unbundled articles on the Internet and to receive payment for the use of individual articles. The unbundling of a television channel's programming also has implications for Canadian television. There are economic reasons, based in part on the theory of property rights, to expect this unbundling to take place. The author discusses the reasoning for and the implications of these developments. Rodney Clifton and Hymie Rubenstein, "Improving University Teaching: A Performance-Based Approach" The quality of teaching is a low priority at most universities. Indeed, the incentives facing professors are often perverse: good teachers attract more students and thus face an increased workload. The authors argue that university teaching may be improved using a performance-based model that would provide concrete incentives for both professors and faculties to improve teaching performance. |
