UK: Cyber Liabilities

The advent of e-commerce has provided many businesses with a means of exploring and capitalising upon new business opportunities. However, concurrent with the new opportunities are a whole host of new "cyber-liabilities". For instance, without careful consideration and e-business could find that the description of goods or services on its website amounts to an offer, resulting in the business being legally bound to supply all those who accept the offer - regardless of its ability to perform the contract.

You’re in the UK, but your customers are in Europe or the US. Unless you’ve taken sufficient steps to incorporate carefully drafted terms and conditions into an online contract, you may find that you are trading on your customer’s terms, which the contract is governed by their laws or that specific terms you intended to rely on are unenforceable. You should also check that your terms and conditions and business practices comply with the Distance Selling Directive, recently brought in to protect consumers, some breaches of which carry a criminal penalty.

Regularly update the content or information that appears on or is accessible through your site. You could find a damages claim for losses attributable either to the content or from reliance placed on any information provided.

Do you process personal data? (Obtain, record or hold data from which an individual can be identified). If so, then you must ensure that you comply with The Data Protection Act 1998 and are registered with the Registrar. Failure to do so is a criminal offence.

The Internet gives you access to the sites of your competitors, and they in turn can see how you trade online. Your reputation, trademarks and goodwill are all at risk from the technology that allows instant copying of content and style, the re-directing of enquires from search engines or the registration of domain names. The reverse is also true however and you should make sure that you are entitled to use the domains you have, together with the images and layout of your website.

E-businesses who engage in anti-competitive conduct risk facing substantial fines, bad publicity and the anti competitive provisions of any agreement being void and unenforceable. Anti-competitive conduct can manifest itself in many ways. E-business, which for example agrees to exchange pricing information, to fix price, increases at an agreed time or market share with other companies or competitors face a very real risk of infringing the provisions of the Act.