Protecting Against Copyright Infringement
and
Safeguarding Other Intellectual Property Rights

• Secure a publishing agreement.
• Register a copyright through the Library of Congress.
• Monitor information that is passed in forums that you create.
• Be aware that giving others the means to download files from your machine may be considered exporting if the user's machines are in countries outside the U.S. Familiarize yourself with U.S. export laws.
• Consider using encryption when transmitting sensitive files.

Perform Financial Transactions Securely

• Consider using data encryption software.
• Verify credit card numbers with the authorization center.
• As alternatives to online credit card purchases, consider prepayment or COD.
• Get an address for further verification.
• Get a signature on delivery.
• Consider a Membership or Account approach (see Hint)

HINT:
To avoid all this, check out an internet bank that for a small fee, sets-up a secure account for buyers (using their credit cards) and a sellers account (a checking account for your deposit). It is clean and it is safe.

Developing a Security Policy for Your Company

• Determine what you want to protect and the trade-offs (consider here your organizational structure, personnel mix, type of online business you're conducting and cost).
• Determine the tools you will use to achieve that protection (passwords, encryption, restricted access, firewalls, packet filtering).
• Determine the procedures for implementing the policy.
• Document the procedures.
• Develop a training system that makes security a company-wide effort.
• Establish a system for handling violations of security and related incidents.
• Do a trial run to make sure the system works.
• Schedule periodic reviews and audits of system.

REMEMBER:

• Protection devices can help you, but they can't keep your information completely secure.
• Protecting your information has trade-offs. You may tie your own hands or inadvertently create obstacles for those people you are trying to reach.

For additional information about keeping financial transactions secure and about Internet security in general, try these newsgroups:

• alt.security.pgp
• comp.security.unix
• comp.security.announce
• sci.crypt
• comp.security.misc
• comp.society.privacy