A Review on UK to get tough with illegal downloader

11:29 AM / Posted by Melissa / comments (7)

In this post, i will do a review on a post in an e-commerce blog. I have chosen a post about illegal download. What is illegal download? Is downloading music and movies from the internet considered illegal? I will discuss some information about illegal download in this post.
According to the e-commerce blog, there are estimated around 6 million people are downloading files illegally in UK. These illegal downloading of music and movies are costing the industry to lose million of pounds in revenue every year. However, what is the actual definition of illegal downloading?


According to Christian Music Trade Association, Piracy is any form of unauthorized duplication and/or distribution of music or movies including downloading, file sharing, and CD-burning. When it comes to stealing digital recordings of copyrighted music, people somehow seem to think that it is unethical. Illegally downloading or copying copyrighted music is the same as stealing, there is no difference.
According to The Star December 4, 2007, if you download material illegally from the Internet, be prepared to fork out a minimum fine of RM250,000. This is the warning from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to Malaysians who continue to illegally download songs, videos and the like. Besides that, illegal downloaders may have a chance to be prosecuted.

However, it is not only Malaysian who downloads from the Internet. Internet user from all around the world would download songs, videos, movies and other digital files from the Internet. This illegal action will have many negative impacts to many parties.

In my opinion, the party that will most affected by this illegal download would be the artists, songwriters, producers and so on. This is because it betrays songwriters and producers who have produced it. Since many Internet users illegally download copyrighted products, therefore music and movie industry will be affected. Many Internet users just download their favourite song or movies for free therefore they do not need to purchase it. By doing so, the cost of producing song or movies cannot be recovered because revenue is low.




Besides that, it also indirectly will affect us as fan of some singers or artists. This is because when the cost cannot be covered, then they will not able or even stop producing song and movies. Hence, we will not able to enjoy those beautiful art.


Lastly, I would advice Internet users to not to be selfish and ruin the whole industry. We should not be the "Pirates of the Industry" !!!

Labels: ,

The Application of Pre-Paid Cash Card for Consumers

7:48 PM / Posted by Melissa / comments (5)

What is a pre-paid cash card? Is it a credit card or a debit card? Are you confused now? Never mind. I'll explain what is a prepaid cash card actually in this post.


A prepaid cash card is neither a credit card nor a debit card where it doesn't have line of credit. Besides that, it is not a debit card because it is not linked to a bank account with an overdraft facility. We can't borrow money with a prepaid card, we can only spend the money we have loaded onto it.

Prepaid cash card can help to manage your money safer, easier, and cheaper. Prepaid Visa and Prepaid MasterCard work like a checking account where individuals and businesses deposit money and withdraw funds from a protected account. The money is safe in the prepaid card accounts instead of carrying it around in cash. It's very convenient to sign up for a prepaid cash card.


The usages of prepaid cash card are wide. It can be used in many ways as follow:
Prepaid cash card can be used to make purchases. For example when u go shopping, u do not need to carry a lot of cash around. Besides, it is more secure to use prepaid cash card rather than carrying cash around and it enables the person to start spending according to a budget as well. Apart from that, prepaid cash card can also be used to withdraw cash from ATM without worry about overdrafts because you can only spend what is in your account.

Furthermore, you can use the card to shop & pay bills online, make hotel & car rental reservations, and purchase goods & services wherever Visa or MasterCard is accepted. Besides that, it is more secure to use prepaid cash card rather than carrying cash around and it enables the person to start spending according to a budget as well.


Prepaid cash card are widely used in :

- Everyday shopping

- Internet shopping

- Topping up your mobile phone

- Paying bills

- Paying monthly subscriptions

- Withdrawing cash from ATMs
- etc.


Example of prepaid cash card that is used in Malaysia is the Touch n' Go. It is used at all highways in Malaysia, major public transpots, selected parking sites and also theme park. User can continue using the card as long as it is pre-loaded. Touch ‘n Go enhances the speed of paying and it is also very convenient because user no longer need to prepare for small change or wait in queue at the cash lane to complete the transaction.


The are two other companies that provide prepaid cash card. If you are interested, do visit the following companies' websites:

i) AccountNow ii) ThinkGlink

Labels: ,

Phishing: Examples and its prevention method

7:35 PM / Posted by Melissa / comments (2)

Hello readers. I’ll introduce the term phishing in this post. Besides, I will provide a few examples and prevention methods towards phishing. First and foremost, do you know what phishing is? It is “phishing” and not “fishing” although both words have the same pronunciation! A phishing (also known as carding or spoofing) expedition, like the fishing expedition it's named for, is a speculative venture: the phisher puts the lure hoping to fool at least a few of the prey that encounter the bait. Phishing is a fraudulent attempt using email messages and web sites designed to look as if they come from a known and legitimate organization, in order to deceive users to steal your personal information such as credit card number, social security number, account number or password.

According to About.com, there are a few examples of phishing identified.

Firstly is ebay phishing scam. This eBay phishing email includes the eBay logo in an attempt to gain credibility. The email warns that a billing error may have been made on the account and urges the eBay member to login and verify the charges.

Secondly is the Citibank phishing scam. The attacker claims to be acting in the interests of safety and integrity for the online banking community by instructing readers to visit a fake website and enter critical financial details.

Thirdly is the PayPal phishing scam. This PayPal phishing scams tries to trick recipients by pretending to be some sort of security alert that urges recipients to confirm their account details via the link provided where clicking the link actually takes the recipient to the attacker's website.

Example of email phishing scam

Example of website phishing scam

According to some tips from Windows Live, below are some signs of phishing for prevention purposes.

Unsolicited requests for personal information - Most businesses and organization would not ask for your personal information because they should already have this information in their file. If you get a request for personal information, call the company first and make sure the request is legitimate.

The phrase “Click the link below to gain access to your account.” - HTML-formatted messages can contain links or forms that you can fill out just as you’d fill out a form on a Web site. The links that you are urged to click may contain all or part of a real company's name, but the link you see is actually taking you to a phony Web.


The words “verify your account.” - A legitimate business will not ask you to send passwords, log on names, Social Security numbers, or other personally identifiable information through e-mail. Be alert of a message that asks for personal information no matter how authentic it looks.

Addressed as “Customer” - If your bank or other organization regularly addresses you by name in its correspondence and you get an e-mail addressed to “Dear Customer,” this may be a phishing attempt.

Alarmist warnings - Phishers often attempt to get people to respond without thinking, and a message that conveys a sense of urgency, perhaps by saying that an account will be closed in 48 hours if you don’t take immediate action, may cause you to do just that.

Mistakes – Another indication that could reveal phishing expedition is that phishers often slip up on the finer details and overlook typos, mistakes in grammar, and so on.

Below is a video that summarizes some prevention methods against PHISHING !


In my opinion, phishing will not succeed if we know how to identify it and also the preventions. Therefore, I hope this post will be useful to all internet users and let us be the "Phis-erman" =)

Labels: ,

The History and Evolution of E-Commerce

7:32 PM / Posted by Melissa / comments (2)

Before I explain and describe on the history and evolution of E-Commerce, I would like to define E-Commerce first so that readers of this blog will understand what E-Commerce is actually all about. Electronic Commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, is the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.

Originally, electronic commerce meant the facilitation of commercial transactions electronically, using technology such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) which were introduced in the late 1970s, allowing businesses to send commercial documents like purchase orders or invoices electronically. Credit cards, automated teller machines (ATM) and telephone banking were also other forms of electronic commerce which were introduced in the 1980s.

From a table found, I'll summarize the evolution of E-Commerce as below:
1984 - EDI, or electronic data interchange, was standardized through ASC X12 that guaranteed companies would be able to complete transactions with one another reliably.
1992 - CompuServe offers online retail products to its customers. This gives people the first chance to buy things off their computer.
1994 - Netscape arrived. Providing users a simple browser to surf the Internet and a safe online transaction technology called Secure Sockets Layer.



1995 - Two of the biggest names in e-commerce are launched: Amazon.com and eBay.com
1998 - DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, provides fast, always-on Internet service to subscribers across California. This prompts people to spend more time online.
1999 - Retail spending over the Internet reaches $20 billion, according to Business.com
History of ecommerce is unthinkable without Amazon and Ebay which were among the first Internet companies to allow electronic transactions. Thanks to their founders we now have an ecommerce sector and enjoy the buying and selling advantages of the Internet. According to an article, currently there are 5 largest and most famous worldwide Internet retailers: Amazon, Dell, Staples, Office Depot and Hewlett Packard. According to statistics, the most popular categories of products sold in the World Wide Web are music, books, computers, office supplies and other consumer electronics.

Amazon.com, Inc. is one of the most famous ecommerce companies and is located in Seattle, Washington (USA). It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and was one of the first American ecommerce companies to sell products over the Internet. After the dot-com collapse Amazon lost its position as a successful business model, however, in 2003 the company made its first annual profit which was the first step to the further development.

History of e-commerce is a history of a new, virtual world which is evolving according to the customer advantage. It is a world which we are all building together brick by brick, laying a secure foundation for the future generations.

In my opinion, I believe that E-Commerce will keep on emerge and evolve to a more popular stage where maybe everyone will just stay at home and start to order products or maybe even housewives will start to order groceries online without need to go through the hassle and hectic to travel to the nearest supermarket and looking for car park. Therefore, we need to adapt to this changing environment and be a smart online user by taking precautionary steps.

Labels: ,

About our blog's authors

7:47 PM / Posted by E-commerce Change the World / comments (2)

Charlie Tan Hui Chew

Hi everyone, my name is Tan Hui Chew, you can call me Charlie. I’m 21 years old and from Banting, Selangor. Currently, I’m a year three semester one student who is taking Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) Accounting in University Tunku Abdul Rahman. My father is a part time insurance agent, 54 years old and mother is a business woman, 47 years old. Besides, I got three brothers and a sister.

By the way, let me describe more about myself to you. In fact, I’m a talkative girl who likes to be friend with anyone and share the joy and sorrow with my best friend. Besides, I enjoy watching drama during my leisure time especially Taiwan drama as I can see all the actors that I like. Hence, watching drama is one of my hobbies as well. Sleeping also can be considered as my hobby because sleep can reduce my stress and unhappiness. Therefore, my housemates and best friend always called me “lazy pig”. Another hobby is to be a mountaineer as climbing can refresh my mind and relax my body as well.

Now, let me share the top 5 websites that I frequently visited. They are www.facebook.com, www.baidu.com, www.gougou.com, www.hotmail.com, and www.youtube.com. Baidu.com and gougou.com are the most websites that I visited as I can download all the music that I like from baidu, and download all the drama that I want to watch from the gougou.com. These websites can help me pass my time especially when I’m feeling bored. On the other hand, the top 5 activities that I frequently did are searching music, drama, play games, photos of artists, and view friend profile from facebook.

If you want to know more about me, feel free to visit my website.
Lim Ker Pei
I am Lim Ker Pei, Melissa who is currently a Year 3 student of University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) from Bachelor of Commerce (HONS) Accounting. I’m from Kuala Lumpur which is the centre of Malaysia therefore I’m a typical city girl that lives in a world of Information Technology. I will have contact or deal with IT in my day-to-day life for example blogging, checking mails and keep in touch with my friends all around the world via MSN messenger. Therefore through this blog, my friends and I will share some information about E-Commerce so that readers will have a clearer idea or picture of what E-Commerce is actually all about.

My hobbies are reading blogs, hanging out with my friends and will play piano in my leisure time. The 5 top websites that I visited the most are Google, Facebook, Hotmail.com, Blogger.com and theStar.com. I visit all these websites to search for information, keep connected with my friends and also to entertain myself. Besides that, I’ll update myself with the latest news and the current issues from theStar.com.

The 5 top internet activities that I’ll do are playing online games, checking my e-mails, chatting with my friends via MSN messenger, update my facebook account by uploading photos and lastly searching for new information.

Lastly, if you guys want to know more about me please do not hesitate to visit my personal blog: Ker Pei's Blog.


Marcus Teoh Kim Hung
I am glad to have this opportunity to introduce myself in this E-commerce Web Log (Blog). My name is Teoh Kim Hung, everyone called me “Ah Teoh”. Let me write a bit about myself, I am an undergraduate student of University Tunku Abdul Rahman and major in accounting. I like to travel and swim during my leisure time because these activities help me to open my mind and keep my body fit. The only sentence to describe myself is “I am who I am”, because I believe that everyone is special.

Internet has played a major role in my life since I entered into university. The top 5 activities I always do are chatting via live messenger, blogging, reading news, gaming and searching for information. Although Internet brings a lot of benefit but I am not addicted to it. This is because if a person gets addicted to internet, it will cause damages to relationships and also the growth of individuals.

The 5 websites I visited the most are YouTube, Facebook, My blogger’s blog, ChinaPress dotcom, and Viwawa. Among these websites, YouTube is my favorite as I can view many funny videos, news, and even my favorite artist’s music video followed by Facebook and My blogger’s blog because it helps me to get the latest updates of my friends’ status. In my opinion, reading English articles and news is a headache for me, so I would rather read Chinese news as ChinaPress dotcom provides this service to public.


Fum Phaik Yin
My name is Fum Phaik Yin and I was just got into the world of 21 years old in May. I come from a family of five. My family and I are currently living in Puchong. I am taking my bachelor course in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and this is my third year in the course. I am currently staying in a rented condominium unit due to my study in UTAR, Sg. Long.

Whenever I am free, I will read some books or magazines. I prefer reading novel and short paragraphs that discuss issues about life. Besides, I like to watch movie and listen to music when I am free. I usually check out for the latest movie and songs online. Besides that, I also surf the net quite often to search for the information I want, perform selling and purchasing, and also keep in contact with my friends.

If possible, I will visit Friendster.com, Sosot.net and WBLE everyday. I will check my comments in Friendster everyday to keep in touch with my friends. On the other hand, the purpose of surfing Sosot.net is to shop for things that I need and also selling things whereas surfing WBLE is to check any latest lecture notes or tutorials worksheets were uploaded. Besides, I also use Google to search for the information I want frequently, I choose Google because it gives a wider results for my searching. For entertainment purpose, I surf Meetoto and Kongregate to relax and reduce stress. Meetoto is a singing game; it is a place that provides stages and rooms for your avatar to sing whereas Kongregate is a games library which has thousands and millions of games to get rid of your bored.

I am trying to enjoy the life I am having now because I think life will be tougher after graduation since working life will starts.

Labels: , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)