Purchasing goods on Internet is safe, experts say

Purchasing goods on Internet is safe, experts say

JAKARTA (JP): People should not be worried about purchasing
goods on the Internet because it is just as safe and convenient
as shopping at nearby malls, according to e-commerce experts.

Visa International's Asia Pacific market development manager
for e-commerce, John Bauer, said here on Wednesday that
customers, however, should be extra careful in examining terms
and conditions of the transactions involved.

"Merchants involved in e-commerce will naturally make sure
that all the data obtained from customers, especially credit card
and personal information, are properly encrypted to avoid data
abuse by mischievous officials or any third parties. Otherwise,
they will lose clients to competitors that can provide better
security," he told a seminar on e-commerce.

Bauer said e-commerce customers must also be aware that
purchasing goods from overseas merchants would mean that they had
to deal with the law and regulations applied in the merchants'
origin countries, not theirs.

Paul Fitzgerald, a legal expert on e-commerce from Singapore-
based law firm Arthur Loke, Bernard, Rada & Lee, said the most
legal cases the company had encountered so far were on
intellectual copyright abuse and mischievous hackers.

"Legal suits filed by unsatisfied customers or sellers over
purchases made on e-commerce are rarely found. The cases are
mostly filed by one company against another over alleged abuse of
intellectual copyright or illegal access to its data files," he
said.

He said unsatisfied customers and merchants could still file a
legal suit against each other over alleged trickery or breaches
of transaction contracts, despite the fact that cyber law did not
exist in many countries.

Singapore was among the few countries that had already
included legal settlement on e-commerce business in its
transaction laws, he said.

Fitzgerald said it would be much better for a country to have
regulations providing guidelines, if not control, on the practice
of e-commerce in order to assure a just and proper settlement for
any problems possibly brought up by any parties.

He acknowledged, however, that the lack of regulations or
legal assurance on e-commerce practices would not necessarily
stop companies from selling on the Internet.

"E-commerce has become a trend. Companies will still go into
e-business because they simply do not want to be left behind by
competitors," he added.

The president of local e-commerce service provider PT Secura
Agradi, Andy B. Sutedja, agreed with Fitzgerald, saying that more
companies would turn to e-commerce because it offered great
business opportunities and required only a reasonable investment
to start.

"A company can start its e-commerce business with an overall
investment of around US$25,000," he said.

He said e-commerce would be the preferred business and
investment tool of the future.

Many local companies had recently gone online, at least for
internal operations or promotional purposes, he said without
mentioning a figure.

The U.S.-based telecoms and IT research firm, International
Data Corporation (IDC), projected e-commerce would grow faster
this year in Indonesia, following the country's gradual economic
recovery.

IDC estimated the number of Internet users in Indonesia who
make purchases through e-commerce would grow from approximately
70,000 in 2000 to 600,000 by 2003. (cst)