Liability Issues

Unintentionally Spreading a Virus

Could your company face legal liability for damage to another business caused by a virus-infected email, unsuspectingly sent out by one of your employees? With the spread of viruses and the increase in email in the workplace, this question may not be far-fetched. Read an article that explores the relevant legal theories and provides tips businesses can take to help minimize their risks for spreading viruses unintentionally.

Credit Card Losses For Your Customers

If your website collects names and credit card numbers from your customers, and these numbers are stolen and used illegally, your customers may claim that you are liable for their losses.

There are a few steps you can take to make yourself less susceptible to these claims.

• The easiest step you can take is to include a disclaimer on your checkout page that explains that you are not responsible for lost or stolen credit card numbers. In this statement you can inform the customer that they should call their credit card company if they find any unauthorized charges on their card, as well as providing them a link to the FTC's identity theft website.
• In order to support a safer shopping experience for your costumers and to ensure that you minimize your losses and theirs, you should be sure that you are using the most secure software available to transfer your customers' credit card numbers over the Internet. Webopedia.com has more information on making your website more secure.
• A final method of security would be to allow your customers to use an online escrow service. This provides added security to both parties because the escrow often times will validate the credit card for you while allowing the customer to receive the merchandise before payment is finalized.