（2001）A Comparison of Online Electronic Commerce Assurance Service Providers in Australia.pdfVIP

e-Everything: e-Commerce, e-Government, e-Household, e-Democracy th 14 Bled Electronic Commerce Conference Bled, Slovenia, June 25 - 26, 2001 A Comparison of Online Electronic Commerce Assurance Service Providers in Australia Vasant Rao, Narciso Cerpa, Rodger Jamieson The University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia N.Cerpa@.au, R.Jamieson@.au Abstract Assurance services have become important due to the medium in which Electronic Commerce (EC) is conducted. As the name suggests, EC takes place in a virtual environment and across geographical boundaries. In such conditions, customers find it difficult to verify the credentials of the online business, are sceptical of online trading and have real concerns about the security and privacy of their data and transactions. To bridge this trust gap, Electronic Commerce Assurances Services have recently emerged – to verify the credentials of EC businesses and to certify them in a manner in which the online user will be more confident when carrying out e-business. The main aim of this paper is to conduct a comparative study and analysis of four major assurance service providers currently active in Australia. This paper compares the service providers by the functionality of services provided and aims to discuss advantages and pitfalls with their use. 1. Introduction According to the latest Forrester report in Dec 2000, about 250 million people had Internet access, a 50% growth over last year. Last year, Internet users surveyed used the Web to buy over US$6.1 billion worth of books, computers, airline tickets, stocks and bonds, automobiles and a variety of other merchandise and services [