Many of the ethical and global issues related to IT also apply to e-business. By making it easier to store and transfer personal information, e-business presents some threats to privacy. To begin with, most electronic payment systems know who the buyers are. It may be necessary, then, to protect the buyers’ identities. Businesses frequently use encryption to provide this protection.

Another major privacy issue is tracking. For example, individuals’ activities on the Internet can be tracked by cookies. Cookies store your tracking history on your personal computer’s hard drive, and any time you revisit a certain Web site, the server recognizes the cookie. In response, antivirus software packages routinely search for potentially harmful cookies.

In addition to compromising individual privacy, the use of EC may eliminate the need for some of a company’s employees, as well as brokers and agents. The manner in which these unneeded workers, especially employees, are treated can raise ethical issues: How should the company handle the layoffs? Should companies be required to retrain employees for new positions? If not, how should the company compensate or otherwise assist the displaced workers?