E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce

E-commerce is a popular term for electronic commerce or even internet commerce. The name is
self-explanatory, it is the meeting of buyers and sellers on the internet. This involves the
transaction of goods and services, the transfer of funds and the exchange of data.
E-commerce is electronic commerce or internet commerce which involves buying and selling
of goods and services via the medium of internet and any digital platform. E-commerce has
predominantly impacted the modern business era, forcing every business to use electronic
medium in their operations. All the market leading businesses, we see today, are e-commerce
businesses.
So when you log into your Amazon and purchase a book, this is a classic example of an e-
commerce transaction. Here you interact with the seller (Amazon), exchange data in form of
pictures, text, address for delivery etc. and then you make the payment.
As of now, e-commerce is one of the fastest growing industries in the global economy. As per
one estimate, it grows nearly 23% every year. And it is projected to be a $27 trillion industry by
the end of this decade.
Importance of E-commerce
1. E-commerce challenges the traditional geographical problems to business,
making business accessible from any part of the world.
2. E-commerce has lower cost than traditional shopping and selling i.e. low
operational cost. It is beneficial to both seller and buyers.
3. E-commerce is more customer-centric, making customer satisfaction and
experience its primary concern.
4. Online business is less time consuming, more transparent, more reach
business.
5. E-business is scalable and has a potential of worldly growth.
6. E-commerce makes consumer aware of trends and situations of other markets
i.e. consumer awareness.
Scope of e-commerce:
1. Exchange of digitized information
2. Technology-enabled transactions
3. 3. Technology-mediated relationships
4. 4. Intra- & inter-organizational activities
There are mainly five types of e-commerce models:
1. Business to Consumer (B2C) - B2C stands for Business to Consumer as the name suggests,
it is the model taking businesses and consumers interaction. Online business sells to
individuals. The basic concept of this model is to sell the product online to the consumers.
B2c is the indirect trade between the company and consumers. It provides direct selling
through online. For example: if you want to sell goods and services to customer so that
anybody can purchase any products directly from supplier’s website. Directly interact with
the customers is the main difference with other business model. As B2B it manages directly
relationship with consumers, B2C supply chains normally deal with business that are related
to the customer.
As the name suggests, it is the model involving businesses and consumers. This is the most
common e-commerce segment. In this model, online businesses sell to individual consumers.
When B2C started, it had a small share in the market but after 1995 its growth was
exponential. The basic concept behind this type is that the online retailers and marketers can
sell their products to the online consumer by using crystal clear data which is made available
via various online marketing tools. E.g. An online pharmacy giving free medical consultation
and selling medicines to patients is following B2C model.
2. Business to Business (B2B) - It is the largest form of e-commerce involving business of
trillions of dollars. In this form, the buyers and sellers are both business entities and do not
involve an individual consumer. It is like the manufacturer supplying goods to the retailer or
wholesaler. E.g. Dell sells computers and other related accessories online but it is does not
manufacture all those products. So, in order to sell those products, it first purchases them
from different businesses i.e. the manufacturers of those products.
B2B stands for Business to Business. It consists of largest form of Ecommerce. This model
defines that Buyer and seller are two different entities. It is similar to manufacturer issuing
goods to the retailer or wholesaler. Dell deals computers and other associated accessories
online but it is does not make up all those products. So, in govern to deal those products, first
step is to purchases them from unlike businesses i.e., the producers of those products. “It is
one of the cost-effective ways to sell out product throughout the world”
Benefits:
 Encourage your businesses online
 Products import and export
 Determine buyers and suppliers
 Position trade guides
3. Consumer to Consumer (C2C) - It facilitates the online transaction of goods or services
between two people. Though there is no visible intermediary involved but the parties cannot
carry out the transactions without the platform which is provided by the online market maker
such as eBay. C2C stands for Consumer to Consumer. It helps the online dealing of goods or
services among people. Though there is no major parties needed but the parties will not fulfill
the transactions without the program which is supplied by the online market dealer such as
eBay.
4. Peer to Peer (P2P) - Though it is an e-commerce model but it is more than that. It is a
technology in itself which helps people to directly share computer files and computer
resources without having to go through a central web server. To use this, both sides need to
install the required software so that they can communicate on the common platform. This
type of e-commerce has quite low revenue generation as from the beginning it has been
inclined to the free usage due to which it sometimes got entangled in cyber laws. It is a
discipline that deal itself which assists people to instantly shares related computer files and
computer sources without having to interact with central web server. If you are going to
implement this model, both sides demand to install the expected software so that they could
able to convey on the mutual platform. This kind of e-commerce has very low revenue
propagation as from the starting it has been tended to the release of use due to which it
sometimes caught involved in cyber laws.
5. m-Commerce - It deals with conducting the transactions with the help of mobile. The
mobile device consumers can interact each other and can lead the business. Mobile
Commerce involves the change of ownership or rights to utilize goods and related services. It
refers to the use of mobile devices for conducting the transactions. The mobile device holders
can contact each other and can conduct the
business. Even the web design and development companies optimize the websites to be
viewed correctly on mobile devices.
There are other types of e-commerce business models too like Business to Employee (B2E),
Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Citizen (G2C) but in essence they are
similar to the above-mentioned types. Moreover, it is not necessary that these models are
dedicatedly followed in all the online business types. It may be the case that a business is
using all the models or only one of them or some of them as per its needs.

Nature/ characteristics
1) Ubiquity: E-commerce is widespread, that is, it is available everywhere always. It sets free
market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from computer
(such as desktop, laptop). The result is called a market space.
For consumers, ubiquity cuts transaction costs for exploring products in a market. Consumers
can acquire any information whenever and wherever they want, regardless of their location. It
is no longer necessary that buyer spend time and money for traveling to a market. In all, it
saves the cognitive energy needed to transect in a market space.

2) Global Reach: E-commerce technologies enable a business to easily reach across

geographic boundaries around the earth far more conveniently and effectively as compared to
traditional commerce. Globally, companies are acquiring greater profits and business results
by expanding their business with e-commerce solutions. As a result, the potential market size
for e-commerce merchants is approximately equal to size of online population.

3) Universal Standards: Universal Standards are standards shared by all the nations around
world. These are technical standards of Internet for conducting e-commerce. It gives all the
ability to connect at the same "level" and it provides network externalities that will benefit
everyone. Universal technical standards lower entry costs and minimal search costs.

4) Interactivity: E-commerce technologies permits two-way communication between

customer and sellers which makes it interactive. It proves as significant feature of e-
commerce technology over the commercial traditional technologies of the 20th century.

5) Information Density: Information density means total amount and quality of information
available over Internet to all market buyers and sellers. Internet vastly increases information
density. Information density offers better quality information to consumer and merchants. E-
commerce technologies increase accuracy and timeliness of information. For example,
flipkart.com store has variety of products with prices.

6) Richness: Richness refers to the complexity and content of a message. Richness means all
commercial activity and experience, conducted through a variety of messages. For example,
text, pictures, videos, sound, links, SMS (Short Message Services) etc.

7) Personalisation: E-commerce technology offers personalisation. Personalisation means

designing marketing messages according to particular individuals by customising it as per
customer personal details like name, interests, and past purchases record. Products or services
can be modified or altered according to the user's choice or past buying record

Examples of E-Commerce
 Amazon
 Flipkart
 eBay
 Fiverr
 Upwork
 Olx
 Quikr
Advantages of E-Commerce
 E-commerce provides the sellers with a global reach. They remove the barrier of
place (geography). Now sellers and buyers can meet in the virtual world, without
the hindrance of location.
 Electronic commerce will substantially lower the transaction cost. It eliminates
many fixed costs of maintaining brick and mortar shops. This allows the
companies to enjoy a much higher margin of profit.
 It provides quick delivery of goods with very little effort on part of the
customer. Customer complaints are also addressed quickly. It also saves time,
energy and effort for both the consumers and the company.
 One other great advantage is the convenience it offers. A customer can shop 24×7.
The website is functional at all times, it does not have working hours like a shop.
 Electronic commerce also allows the customer and the business to be in touch
directly, without any intermediaries. This allows for quick communication and
transactions. It also gives a valuable personal touch.
Disadvantages of E-Commerce
 The start-up costs of the e-commerce portal are very high. The setup of the
hardware and the software, the training cost of employees, the constant
maintenance and upkeep are all quite expensive.
 Although it may seem like a sure thing, the e-commerce industry has a high risk
of failure. Many companies riding the dot-com wave of the 2000s have failed
miserably. The high risk of failure remains even today.
 At times, e-commerce can feel impersonal. So it lacks the warmth of an
interpersonal relationship which is important for many brands and products. This
lack of a personal touch can be a disadvantage for many types of services and
products like interior designing or the jewelry business.
 Security is another area of concern. Only recently, we have witnessed many
security breaches where the information of the customers was stolen. Credit card
theft, identity theft etc. remain big concerns with the customers.
 Then there are also fulfillment problems. Even after the order is placed there can
be problems with shipping, delivery, mix-ups etc. This leaves the customers
unhappy and dissatisfied.

The advantages/benefits of e-commerce can be divided into two categories:

Advantages of E-Commerce to Customers:

1) Reduced Prices: The products available on websites have reduced prices because the
different stages of value chain are decreased between source and destination. The
intermediaries such as retail store are eliminated by the company and they sell their products
to consumer directly instead of distributing through intermediaries.

2) Global Marketplace: E-commerce provides global marketplace from where consumers can
purchase products according to their needs situated anywhere in the world. According
to World Trade Organization (WTO), "there are no custom duties put on products bought and
traded globally electronically". Global Marketplace also provides large collection of products
and services to consumers With their prices.

3) Anytime Access: Online businesses are open 24 hours, 7 day a week and 365 days in a
year and never sleep. Consumers can do transactions and enquiry about any product/services
provided by company at anytime and anywhere from globe. Consumer can purchase any
product in day or night using Internet connections and computer at single click of mouse.

4) More Choices: Online businesses provide their consumers more choices of purchasing.
Before purchasing any product, consumer can study products and their features of all major
brands.

5) Quicker Delivery: E-Commerce offers consumer more options and provides quicker
delivery of products and services. Some e-commerce company provides free home delivery
service to their consumers.

6) Relevant Information: E-commerce provides relevant and detailed information about

products and services within seconds to its consumers. Consumer can compare products and
their prices in easy manner.

Advantages of E-Commerce to Businesses:

1) Low Barriers to Entries: In today's world, small and large firms have opportunities to start
up and conduct business on the Internet. Firm entry cost to the Internet is minuscule (Very
small) because they do not need the space for rent. All the business over Internet are virtual
means that there is no need of large number of employees to conduct business.

2) Increased Potential Market Share: Businesses are increasing their market share by making
their business internet enabled. Online businesses are accessed at any time to international
markets.

3) Low-Cost Advertising: Internet provides low-cost advertisement as compared to

advertisement on newspapers or television. In today's world, Internet has become inexpensive
advertising medium used by firms for commerce. The different methods of advertising are :
e-mail, banners, pop-ups, steaming video and audio etc.

4) Strategic Benefit: E-commerce enabled business have many strategic benefits because
they:
a) Reduces cost of mail preparation, document preparation and data entry.
b) Finds errors easily.
c) Lowers cost of calling over telephone.
d) Lowers delivery time and labour costs.
e) Lowers data entry and management expenses.

5) Global Reach: E-commerce enabled business has ability to reach globally at low cost.
They are able send messages world-wide at any time. Since online businesses are globally
accessed so e-commerce helps to attract new consumers and business clients from anywhere
in the world.

Electronic Commerce Application Services –

Three distinct classes of electronic commerce applications
 Consumer-to-Business Transaction – This is called market place transaction. In a market
place transaction, customers learn about products differently through electronic publishing,
buy them differently using electronic cash and secure payment systems and have them
delivered differently
 Business-to-Business Transactions – This is called market link transaction. Businesses,
government and other organizations depend on computer-to-computer communication as a
fast, an economical, and a dependable way to conduct business transactions. Business-to-
Business transactions include the use of electronic mail for purchasing goods and services,
buying information and consulting services, submitting requests for proposals and receiving
proposals.
 Intra Organizational Transactions - This is called market driven transactions. A company
becomes market driven by dispersing throughout the firm information about its customers
and competitors; by spreading strategic and tactical decision making so that all units can
participate; and by continuously monitoring their customer commitment by making improved
customer satisfaction an ongoing objective.
IMPORTANT ISSUES IN GLOBAL E-COMMERCE
• In the modern times E-Commerce has increasingly emerged as an important means of
business and trade. But at the same time it has posed various challenges to national policy
makers and legislators as regards its governance. Furthermore, its born global nature has
created various jurisdictional issues, raising controversies over who should have authority to
decide in case of a dispute as well as how they should be handled. Because of these reasons
E-Commerce and its governance are involved in various policy dilemmas and issues. The
following issues need special attention.
1)Issues relating to Access: Access issues include access to infrastructure, access to content,
universal access.
2)Issues relating to Trust: The various trust related issues are privacy, security, consumer
protection and content regulation.
3)Issues relating to Ground Rules: Issues relating to ground rules are issues of taxation,
intellectual property rights, commercial laws including contract law, international trade and
standards are categorized as ground rules-related issues.
A. Issues relating to Access:
The following are the main issues related to access. If E-Commerce is to spread into the
population within a country as well as globally, these issues must be addressed and resolved
in a timely manner at the domestic and international levels.
I. Access to infrastructure • In order to conduct commercial transactions over the Internet,
consumers and business people must first have access to telecommunications networks and
services, including backbone networks. Once connection to the networks and services is
ensured, in turn, their capacities and quality become important for the users. It is thus of
critical importance for E-Commerce to ensure that a proper and efficient access be available.
II. Access to content • While access to infrastructure is a necessary condition for people to
adopt and participate in E- Commerce, various types of content transmitted over this
infrastructure are also critical elements for the success of E-Commerce. The contents have to
be competitive as well as respecting the cultural values of others.
III. Universal access • Connectivity to telecommunications networks is a prerequisite for
enjoying the benefits of E- Commerce. With the increasing importance of Information and
Communication Technologies in our everyday lives, universal availability of various
communication services, Including basic telephone service, is regarded as a principal policy
objective in competitive market environment. At the same time a large number of people are
even without the basic telephone services. This gap in the world population is called as digital
divide.
Digital divide and universal access • “The term digital divide refers to the gap between
those people with effective access to digital and information technology, and those
without access to it. • It includes the imbalances in physical access to technology, as well
as the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital
citizen. • In others words, it’s the unequal access by some members of the society to
information and communications technology, and the unequal acquisition of related
skills.” • The OECD defines the digital divide as “the gap between individuals,
households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with
regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication
technologies and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities.” • The digital
divide affects the people’s capacity to access modern Information and Communication
Technologies, which in turn impedes their capacity to access Internet and E-Commerce.
B. Issues relating to Trust •
There is a need of trust when we engage in a relationship or interaction with other people.
Generally lack of knowledge of those people requires us to take risks in the relationship or
interaction. • Renowned scholar Arrow says “virtually every commercial transaction has
within itself an element of trust, certainly any transaction conducted over a period of time.” •
Any type of commercial transaction presupposes trust between the transacting parties. In any
contract parties to it must trust each other and perform their part of the contract. • In normal
contracts the rules and procedures for dealing with instances of breach of trust are all ready
laid down. But this continues to be a problem in E-Commerce.
Any form of E-Commerce will never become successful unless the trading parties trust each
other as well as the system through which the transaction is made. • An analysis of this area
would reveal that the following elements are critical for developing trust in a E-Commerce
system: • 1)Privacy and data protection • 2)Security • 3)Consumer Protection, and •
4)Content Regulation
i. Privacy • Generally it is believed that privacy is a necessary precondition for trust. But the
increase of electronically mediated transactions over the information and communication
network raises regulatory concerns on the collection, storing and manipulation of personal
information without consent or even knowledge of consumers. Databases of consumer
information may contain personal information. • There is a chance that without the consent or
knowledge of consumers, those databases may be shared with or sold to others to whom the
consumers have not chosen to give their personal information. • Because of these matters the
protection of privacy has emerged as one of the most important policy issues among policy-
makers, businesses and consumers. • At the same time the growth of E-Commerce is
inevitably connected with and relies on the collection, storing of personal information
obtained by voluntary and involuntary consumer surveillance. • Taking these things into
consideration the task of the policy makers to balance these conflicting interests becomes
difficult.
ii. Security • The full potential of E-Commerce cannot be achieved until the system is
capable of providing the same levels of trust found in traditional commercial transactions. •
This can be accomplished only if consumers of E- Commerce are confident of the security of
transmitted information. • Among the prime security concerns of E- Commerce
confidentiality, authentication and integrity of information are most important.
Encryption technologies and trust • E-Commerce security can be defined as “a
protection of an information resource from the threats and risks in the confidentiality,
authenticity and integrity of the electronic transactions transmitted via a network”. •
With the rapid increase of amount and scope of information flow via the electronic
networks raises concerns of fraud and misuse of data. • To solve this problem a reliable
and strong cryptographic mechanism has to be used. • What is encryption? •
Encryption is a process for protecting information by scrambling the contents to make
it difficult and time consuming for an unauthorized recipient to unscramble and view
the information. • To put it another way it renders electronic information unreadable,
thereby guaranteeing confidentiality, security and integrity of the information. Its
applications include protecting files from theft or unauthorized access, keeping
communications secure from interception, and enabling secure transactions.
iii. Consumer protection • Price and product information are essential for consumers to
make informed purchasing decisions in any market. • When a commercial transaction is made
between parties without a direct face-to-face contact or a physical inspection of products, the
lack of this information affects legitimate expectations of the consumers to receive quality
goods and products. • Unfortunately most of the B2C E-Commerce transactions are of this
kind. The following two factors make this issue even more complicated: • Competition
among the business: The competition results in an increasing entry of businesses into the E-
market and the tendency of these people to go for unethical and unfair trade practices are also
on the increase. • Convergence: When convergence offers bundles of communication
services in the same platform, the provision of reliable and detailed product and price
information become more critical for the consumers. • The consumers must be confident that
they will be protected in the electronic marketplace as much as they are in the real
marketplace. There are many consumer protection issues identified at various international
forums as crucial for the further growth of electronic commerce.
The following are some of those major consumer issues in the e-commerce: •
1)Fairness and truthfulness in advertising. • Some of the online merchants advertise their
products and services in an unfair and unethical way so as to attract more number of
customers. • In real space commerce the customers can approach various authorities and
courts with complaints. • But this is difficult in e commerce particularly in the context of e-
commerce across national borders. • A small retail customer may find difficulty in
approaching an authority in another country where the seller is situated.
2)Labeling and other disclosure requirements such as guarantees, product standards
and specifications: Each country has got its own standards in labeling, quality of the product
and terms and conditions regarding guarantee. In the cross border e-commerce if any of these
standards are not maintained it would be difficult for a customer to seek remedy against this.
•
3)Refund mechanism in the case of cancelled orders, defective products, returned purchases
and lost deliveries etc. This is another serious issue in the e- commerce. Proving the
cancellation of orders, or a defect in the goods or services etc would depend on him proving
these circumstances. Taking the global nature of e-commerce it would be really difficult to
get the money back from the seller. The following are some of those major consumer issues
in the e-commerce:
The Global Information Infrastructure Commission also points out certain other areas
of concern, which are as follows: •
1)Online fraud: The instances of online frauds are on the increase. A person who loses
money in any of such frauds may face difficulty in enforcing his rights. •
2)Privacy protection: It is also important that confidential information such as credit card
information, bank account number etc. should be protected. Internet is a medium through
which these information are very often misused. •
3) Authentication and security of information: Similarly an ordinary consumer would also
face difficulty in verifying the authentication and security information in an online
atmosphere.
4)Lack of Consumer education: Many persons who use online platforms to engage in
commercial activities fail to understand the vulnerability of Internet and taking appropriate
safeguards.
In order create a trust-conducive environment for electronic commerce consumer protection
issues will have to be answered. • The governments across the globe will have to device
reliable protection mechanisms with the help of industry and others. • As a useful form of aid,
the new Information and Communication Technologies may be utilized by regulators and
consumer advocates for devising innovative solutions for consumer protection and education.
iv. Content regulation • With the opening of borders and markets and the elimination of
barriers to almost any form of communication, there will inevitably be certain types of
transmission that will be deemed inappropriate, offensive or harmful to certain segments of
consumers and users of E-Commerce. • Adult materials, hate speech against minors and
sedition are leading examples of those expressions that raise public concerns. There are
various conflicting interests in these issues. • For example those who bother about the
vulnerability of minors to these harmful Internet contents advocate for regulatory intervention
by government. • At the same time another class argue against any such intervention on the
ground of speech and expression. This is a problem for policy makers that the problem should
be solved without deterring the growth of E-Commerce.
C. Issues regarding ground rules •
When the E-Commerce develops as an important method of domestic as well as international
trade and business, there is a requirement of a common ground rules and standards across the
globe apart from the existing standards that are based on the national boundary of each State.
• New or modified rules and standards of governing E-Commerce are needed with respect to
many issues of crucial importance to the development of electronic commerce. • The
important issues are as follows: • 1)Taxation • 2)Intellectual Property Rights • 3)International
trade • 4)Commercial law and standards • 5)Dispute Resolution.
Taxation issue in Ecommerce • As E-Commerce increased commercial transactions across
national borders, the taxation issue has become one of the most debated topics. • E-
Commerce is considered by many national tax administrations not only as having the
potential for creating a new stream of revenues but also as presenting daunting challenges to
national tax systems because new technologies used for E-Commerce open up probabilities of
tax evasion and avoidance. • In order to properly tax commercial transactions, it is critical to
establish the systems by which the tax authorities can obtain accurate and necessary
information on those transactions, regarding transacting parties, time, place and volume.
However, unlike traditional commerce, some unique aspects of electronic commerce greatly
affect the way national tax systems operate. • Even though many scholars believe that
existing domestic and international tax regulations may well fit E-Commerce, nonetheless,
this new type of commercial transaction raises the need of modification and adjustment of
these existing regulations because of the born-global nature of E-Commerce. • In the past few
years mainly three taxation issues have been much debated in international discussion. They
are: • â- Issues regarding classification • â- Issues regarding source and place of
residence • â- Double taxation and tax evasion
a. Issues regarding classification • The main issue regarding classification is that whether E-
Commerce transactions are regarded as transactions of goods or services. This is really
important for cross-border transactions because different classes of transactions are treated
differently for tax purposes. In other words the question would be the applicability of General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) or General Agreement on Trade in-services (GATS).
• Traditionally, goods are treated as end products that can be converted into a tangible or
physical product. But Services are intangibles that cannot be converted into physical goods. If
E-Commerce transactions were classified as sales of goods, GATT rules would apply because
when goods are physically moved across national borders, they are usually subjected to tariff
as the GATT rules apply. On the contrary, if E-Commerce transactions were classified as
sales of service, GATS rules would apply where tariffs will not be applied. At the same time a
clear distinction between goods and services is always confusing in E- Commerce. • An
example for this issue is given below. When software is ordered electronically and then is
shipped physically in a CD, it could be classified as goods and are subject to tariffs. The
confusion arises when the software is directly downloaded from the Internet across the
border. It is unclear whether this software should be classified as goods or services and what
multilateral rules would apply to them. Due to this problem of classification, in 1998, the
WTO member states agreed to a two-year moratorium on tariffs on E-Commerce.
b. Issues regarding source and place of residence • The direct tax system in any country
would normally be clear regarding who is liable for taxes and, for those who are what income
is subject to tax. • Traditionally, source and residence are two basic concepts, which
determine these questions. • Residence is thought of as “the country with which a taxpayer
has the closest personal links, and source as the country with which income has its closest
economic connection” • Direct taxes are typically levied by a country on “the domestic and
foreign income of its residents and on the domestic source income of non- residents.” •
Similarly the collection of direct taxes relies somewhat on evidence of physical connection.
Similarly like the physical connection, permanent establishment is also very important to
determine particular tax jurisdiction like in which country income has been generated and is
therefore taxed. • According to Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention, permanent
establishment means “a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is
wholly or partly carried on.” This means that places of business that are mobile are not
regarded as a permanent establishment. • E-Commerce poses a serious problem to tax
administration with respect to this concept of permanent establishment. Since E-Commerce
will not be done from a permanent in most circumstances taxation would be normally
difficult.
c. Double taxation and tax evasion • As E-Commerce has increased the number of online
suppliers who are often subjected to double taxation and tax evasion have also significantly
increased, posing serious problems to national tax systems. • In order to solve these problems
in E-Commerce and reconcile different national positions, the OECD has developed a set of
rules to set up an internationally consistent and harmonized taxation framework. • As a result
of this effort, the OECD has proposed the Taxation Framework Conditions in 1998. • In these
framework conditions, five basic principles of international taxation for E-Commerce were
presented to help national governments to implement internationally consistent taxation rules.
• Those five principles are neutrality, efficiency, certainty and simplicity, effectiveness and
fairness, and flexibility.
International trade & Ecommerce •
As E-Commerce has mushroomed as an important means of doing business across national
borders, various policy issues relating to the international trade aspects of E-Commerce have
arisen in international discussions. • There are mainly three widely discussed policy issues,
which affect international trade. They are: • a. Is it a trade in Goods or Trade in Services? • b.
‘Cross-Boarder Supply’ or ‘Consumption Abroad’? • c. Domestic regulation of E-Commerce
and its impact on international trade
a. Is it a trade in Goods or Trade in Services? •
The answering of this issue is very crucial because E-Commerce transmissions will be
subject to the different WTO rules, depending on whether such a transmission is classified as
trade in goods or services. If it is considered trade in goods, the GATT rules apply. On the
other hand, if it is regarded as trade in services, it is subject to the GATS rules {General
Agreement on Trade in Services}. • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a
legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international
trade by reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. • The General
Agreement on Trade in Services, abbreviated as GATS, is a treaty of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) that entered into force in 1995 following the Uruguay Round
negotiations. It was created to include services in the multilateral trading system. • There are
many differences between these two sets of trade rules in terms of application of National
Treatment, Most Favored Nation, and Quota principles. The National Treatment principle
obliges countries to treat all foreign products equal to their similar domestic products. •
Under the GATT, this principle applies to all goods as a general obligation. However, it is not
a general obligation under the GATS, under which it only applies to sectors in which
members have explicitly scheduled commitments. Moreover under GATS, member states can
make conditions or limitations on their application of the National Treatment principle, which
may restrict the market access of Foreign Service providers.
Is it a trade in Goods or Trade in Services? • This issue also significant for determining
custom duties or Tariffs because the GATT rules impose custom duties on all imported goods
while the GATS rules do not impose custom duties on services, which is particularly critical
for developing countries where custom duties account for a considerable portion of national
revenues. • In order to ensure that the unresolved classification issue does not hamper the
development of E- Commerce, countries made the decision not to impose custom duties on
E-Commerce transmission in the 1998 WTO Ministerial Conference Declaration on Global
Electronic Commerce.
Similarly the principle of Most Favored Nation obliges countries to treat all foreign products
alike. This principle applies to all commitments taken under the GATT, requiring any benefits
given to one member country to be offered to all other members as well. • Under the GATS,
the principle also applies to all services in general. However, members are given a one-time
opportunity to exempt themselves from the obligation of MFN in service sectors of their own
choosing. • In addition to the principles of National Treatment and Most Favored Nation, the
GATT and GATS rules differ on whether quantitative restrictions, namely Quotas, are
permitted or not. The GATT prevents member governments from using Quotas to restrict
market access whereas the GATS prohibits it only inspectors where a member has made a
commitment to provide market access without limitations. • As described above, due to these
differences between the GATT and GATS, the classification issue with respect to electronic
transmission has important implications for international trade via E-Commerce because it
will result in significantly different treatment of a product. a. Is it a trade in Goods or Trade in
Services?
b. ‘Cross-Boarder Supply’ or ‘Consumption Abroad’? • The difference between a Cross-
Boarder Supply and Consumption Abroad is that in former the supplier enters the jurisdiction
of the consumer and in the later the consumer enters the jurisdiction of the supplier. • The
distinction between these two methods has significant implications for market access and
domestic regulations of service trade. Under the GATS, member countries may make
commitments to liberalize specific service sectors and these commitments may differ
depending on the modes of supply. • Therefore, how E-delivery of service is classified affects
the way E- Commerce is regulated in a particular member country. • At the same time, unless
the classification issue is clarified internationally, service providers would be left with some
uncertainty about what rules apply in a jurisdiction in which they supply services.
c. Domestic regulation of E-Commerce and its impact on international trade • Generally
national governments bring regulation of E- Commerce for various public policy objectives
such privacy, intellectual property rights, consumer protection and promotion of national
cultural diversity. • But some times these regulations create unnecessary trade barriers for
conducting E-Commerce. • So an appropriate balance need to be struck between the need of
government to pursue these public policy objectives through domestic regulation and the
need to ensure that these regulations do not constitute unnecessary trade barriers which
hamper the further development of E-Commerce.
Impact of E-commerce on International Trade.
Positive impact of global e-commerce on trade:
Advantages a. Access to the global marketplace b. Speed c. Increase market space d.
Opportunity to reduce costs e. Computer platform-independent f. Efficient applications
development environment g. Allowing customers self-service and ‘customer outsourcing’

Negative impact of global e-commerce on trade:

Disadvantages: a. Return/Receipt burden and cost of delivery b. Costs of site construction,
maintenance, upgrades c. Channel conflicts d. Easily copied models e. Cultural differences f.
Traditional cross-border transaction complexities g. Standard or local websites h. Customer
trust and satisfaction.

Architectural Framework of E-Commerce

Electronic commerce application architecture consists of six layers of functionality or
services-
 Applications  Brokerage services, data or transaction management  Interface and support
layers  Secure messaging, security and electronic document interchange  Middleware and
structured document interchange  Network infrastructure and basic communication services
These layers collaborate to give a consistent progress between the present computing
resources and those of tomorrow by straightforwardly integrating data access and exchange
within the context of the picked application Architectural Framework for Electronic
Commerce Application Services Consumer to Business, Business to business, Intra
Organizational Brokerage and data implementation Order Processing mail order houses. The
most existing executions depend on a level-based customer server architecture ignoring the
real requests of the underlying application. The provided framework recognizes the basic
structures of utilizations and encourages powerful plans by looking at basic cooperation,
different levels of abstraction and implementation issues.
https://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1903344.pdf

WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW) AS THE ARCHITECTURE

Electronic commerce depends on the unspoken assumption that computers co-operate
efficiently for seamless sharing of information. Unfortunately, this assumption of
interoperability has not been supported by the realities of practical computing. Computing is
still a world make up of many technical directions, product implementations and completing
vendors.
The web community of developers and users is tackling these complex problems.
The Web architecture is made up of three primary entities ; client browser, web browser and
third party services. The client browser usually interacts with the WWW server, which acts as
an intermediary in the interaction with third-party services.
The client browser is rested on the user’s PC or workstation and provides an interface to the
various type of content. The browser has to be smart enough to understand what file it is
downloading and what browser connection it requires to activate to display the file. Browsers
are also capable of manipulating local files.
Web server functions can be categorized into information retrieval, data and transaction
management, and security. The third-party services could be other web servers that make up
the digital library, information processing tools and electronic payment systems.

Web compasses of:

The web has become an umbrella for a wide range of concepts and technologies that differ
markedly in purpose and scope. These include:
(i) Global hypertext publishing concept: Promotes the idea of a seamless information world
in which all online information can be accessed and retrieved in a consistent way.
(ii) Universal readership concept: Promotes the idea that, unlike the segmented of the past,
we can use one application- a universal user interface to read a variety of documents. This
implies that once information is published, it is accessible from any type of computer, in any
country, and that any (authorized) person can access it.
(iii) The client-server concept: Allows the web to grow easily without any centralized
control. Anyone can publish information, and any authorized can read and download it.
Publishing information requires a server program, and reading the data requires a client
browser. All the clients and al the servers are connected to one another by the internet.
Various protocols allow all clients to communicate with al servers.
Web hangs on a number of essential concepts, including:
 The addressing scheme known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL) makes the hypermedia
world possible despite many different protocols.
 A network protocol known as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) used by the client
browsers
and servers offers performance and features.
 A mark-up language (HTML) which every web-client is required to understand, is used for
representation of hypertext documents containing text, list boxes & graphics information
across the net.

GLOBAL PUBLISHING CONCEPT

The large part of the growth of the World Wide Web can be attributed to its ability to integrate
a variety of information, seamlessly from distributor servers. In the process of the integration,
the web addresses several issues and offers the following advantages:

Platform transparency:
Access to the web is through a piece of software called the browser. In spite of, whether the
browsers running on the windows or X-windows, it offers the same interface. The web is not
limited to any single platform or machine. The data residing in a variety of server platforms
are available to users, through the same look and face interface.

Distribution transparency:
The web is distributed information system. The information stored at a variety of
geographically dispersed server platforms, is available to the web users on a single interface
window. The distributed nature of the web enables it to successfully provide so much
information, stored in thousands of servers located across the globe.

Information type transparency:

The web offers seamless integration of multiple types of information content. Text, graphics,
sound, video and various other data formats can be integrated and displayed uniformly
through the browser interface. It can be integrating a variety of information content, stored on
distant servers, through the Hypertext mechanism. The concept of hypertext really means that
instead of sticking to reading text in linear, rigid structure, the important terms can be made
rich by adding/linking the explanation to it.

Interactive:
Information browsing on the web is based on selecting and clicking on links. Clicking on
links retrieves and offers additional information on-screen. A simple interaction on the web
can lead one to a maze of information. Web servers can collect the input information from
users, through the form mechanism, add it to a database, update the database, or provide
customised information, depending upon the inputs.
Dynamic:
The information retrieved by browsers is stored in a site and offered through a web server. At
any point of time, if the information is updated at the server site, the latest version is available
to anyone browsing it. Unlike, published documents and books were every new
version/edition to be distributed physically. Web publishing does not incur any cost of
reproducing copies. Anyone accessing the publication reads the latest version on their
browser screen.

Graphical and navigational:

The capability of web to integrate and display graphics, text and other multimedia formats, in
colour on a same page, is probably the reason for its gaining popularity over such a short span
of line. Prior to the web, the information on the internet was accessible through command and
menu-based interface. The hyper linking mechanism has also reduced the task of navigating
through the information to point and click.

Hypertext Publishing
A hypertext-publishing medium is a system in which readers can follow hypertext links
across a broad and growing body of published works. There-fore hypertext publishing
involves more than publication of isolated hypertexts, such as HyperCard stacks. Hypertext
publishing systems can provide an open and relatively inexpensive medium having the
expressiveness of
print augmented by links. Electronic publication of reference-links, indexes and works will
speed the transmission of ideas; criticism-links and filtering mechanisms will speed their
evaluation.

Benefits of Hypertext: Hypertext provides a flexible working environment in which the user
can temporarily stop reading current material and look into some other material. Jeff Conklin
(1987) lists the following are advantages or benefits of hypertext:
Ease of tracing references and creating a new one: Machine support for link tracing means
that all references are equally easy to follow forward or backward. In many hypertext
environments, the user can contribute their ideas, works, and published it into the web site.
Users can produce their own networks or simply annotate someone else documents with a
comment (without changing the referenced document).
Ease of navigation: Users have faster access to information. Navigation tools, such as
bookmarks, history list, searching tools, allow the users to access quickly to any documents
or within it. Bookmarks allow return to points of interest and history lists allow back tracking
of the learners’ navigational steps.

Reader or learner control: Hypertext environment gives the learner control over paths of
learning. Reader control allows the learner make choices in navigating and manipulating the
content of the sites. As well, hypertext allows for non-linear movement within a document
with the option of quickly returning to the point of origin.

Create the new way of analyzing a problem through different kind of views (links)

Critical thinking:
It is suggested that hypertext can encourage users to think more critical because they are
facing with many views from many different authors (multiple perspectives) for one topic
study. Web hypertext provides more complete, complex and wide information on problem
with the power of linking. Information gathered from different sources engages users in
critical thinking as they make choices, discover, and problem solve their own route through
the topic being studied.

More environmentally friendly:

Reduction of printing and distribution costs associated with the presenting manuals and
handbooks. We can reduce the paper, stamp, courier, and all related to administration costs
from using the internet. But it does not replace if one wants to make the mail more personal.

Up to date and accurate information:

Writers of hypertext can easily access their work and update information, links, and
references, to ensure an active and functional site.

Can store a large amount of information:

With hypertext we can store a large amount of information in just one media. For example, in
the web site there are many links that one document can connect too many other documents
and we just have to browse it from the computer.

Have the better visual prominence using animation or interactive graphics to make an
interesting way of learning:
Many web sites had their animation or moving pictures to make their web site more
interesting.

Collaboration:
Several authors can collaborate with the Comments about the document being interwoven.

Information structuring:
Both hierarchical and non-hierarchical organisations can be imposed on unstructured
information; even multiple hierarchies can organize the same material.

Global view:
Browsers provide table of contents style views supporting easier restructuring of large and
complex documents. Global and local views can be mixed effectively.

Customized documents:
Text segments can be threaded together in many ways allowing the same document to serve
multiple functions.

Modularity of information:
Since the same text segment can be referenced from several places an idea can be expressed
with less overlap and duplication.
Consistency of information:
References are embedded in their text and if the text is moved, even to other documents, the
link information still provides direct access to the reference.

Task stacking:
The user is supported in having several paths of Inquiry active and displayed on the screen at
the same time. Any given path can be unwound to the original task.

Client Server Concept

All e-commerce applications follow the client-server model. Clients are devices plus software
that request information from servers. The client-server model of computing is a common one
in networking. It consists essentially of two computers: the client and the server. The client is
intelligent, is the one initiating the action and is where the control lies. The server is less
intelligent but is there to provide a service on demand. Typically, the server is a very large
computer that can handle several clients all at once. The client-server model replaces
traditional mainframe-based models that worked well for a long time. Mainframe computing,
which traditionally meant “dumb” terminals attached to a computer housed in a glass house,
is too costly and slow to cope with new data types like audio and video. In contrast, the
dominant model of client-server architecture links PCs to a storage (or database) server,
where most of the computing is done on the client. Even existing client-server models based
on the PC servers,
while providing back-end technology for scalable and flexible database management; have to
be reengineered to accommodate new data types.
The client-server model, allows the client to interact with the server through a request reply
sequence governed by a paradigm known as message passing. The server manages
application tasks, handles storage and security, and provides scalability-ability to add more
clients as needed for serving more customers – and client devices (from personal digital
assistant to PCs) handle the user interface. In effect, the multimedia server handles the critical
elements (distribution, connectivity, security, accounting), and so is expected to simplify and
make scaling more cost effective.
Be aware, however, that the full impact of the fundamental shift in the computing paradigm
from host-terminal architecture to networked client-server architecture will take several more
years to be realised. There is a long way to go before the installed base of mainframes and
minicomputers is networked or replaced by workstations and PCs. Commercial users have
only recently begun downsizing their applications to run on client server networks, a trend
that electronic commerce is expected to accelerate.

Processed Request
Application Logic → Application Logic

Presentation Logic ← Presentation Logic

Result

Multimedia Desktop → Multimedia Server

Exhibit: distribution of processing in multimedia client-server world

Hypertext Publishing

Web provides functionality necessary for e-commerce. The web has become an umbrella for
wide range of concepts and technology that differ markedly in purpose and scope which
include hypertext publishing concept, the universal reader concept and the client server
concept. Hypertext publishing promotes the idea of seamless information world in which all
online information can be accessed and retrieved. In a constant and simple way hypertext 45
publishing is a primary application of web interest in hypermedia. On the internet (called
distributed or global hypermedia). As accelerated shortly following are the success of web
media and browser. This success has been aided by more powerful work station high
resolution graphic display faster network communication and decreased cost for large online
service.

A hypertext-publishing medium is a system in which readers can follow hypertext links

across a broad and growing body of published works. There-fore hypertext publishing
involves more than publication of isolated hypertexts, such as HyperCard stacks. Hypertext
publishing systems can provide an open and relatively inexpensive medium having the
expressiveness of
print augmented by links. Electronic publication of reference-links, indexes and works will
speed the transmission of ideas; criticism-links and filtering mechanisms will speed their
evaluation.

Benefits of Hypertext
Hypertext provides a flexible working environment in which the user can temporarily stop
reading current material and look into some other material. Jeff Conklin (1987) lists the
following are advantages or benefits of hypertext:
Ease of tracing references and creating a new one: Machine support for link tracing means
that all references are equally easy to follow forward or backward. In many hypertext
environments, the user can contribute their ideas, works, and published it into the web site.
Users can produce their own networks or simply annotate someone else documents with a
comment (without changing the referenced document).
Ease of navigation: Users have faster access to information. Navigation tools, such as
bookmarks, history list, searching tools, allow the users to access quickly to any documents
or within it. Bookmarks allow return to points of interest and history lists allow back tracking
of the learners’ navigational steps.
Reader or learner control: Hypertext environment gives the learner control over paths of
learning. Reader control allows the learner make choices in navigating and manipulating the
content of the sites. As well, hypertext allows for non-linear movement within a document
with the option of quickly returning to the point of origin.

Internet Protocols

Internet Protocols are a set of rules that governs the communication and exchange of data
over the internet. Both the sender and receiver should follow the same protocols in order to
communicate the data. In order to understand it better, let’s take an example of a language.
Any language has its own set of vocabulary and grammar which we need to know if we want
to communicate in that language. Similarly, over the internet whenever we access a website
or exchange some data with another device then these processes are governed by a set of
rules called the internet protocols.

Working of Internet Protocol

The internet and many other data networks work by organizing data into small pieces called
packets. Each large data sent between two network devices is divided into smaller packets by
the underlying hardware and software. Each network protocol defines the rules for how its
data packets must be organized in specific ways according to the protocols the network
supports.

Need of Protocols
It may be that the sender and receiver of data are parts of different networks, located in
different parts of the world having different data transfer rates. So, we need protocols to
manage the flow control of data, and access control of the link being shared in the
communication channel. Suppose there is a sender X who has a data transmission rate of 10
Mbps. And, there is a receiver Y who has a data receiving rate of 5Mbps. Since the rate of
receiving the data is slow so some data will be lost during transmission. In order to avoid this,
receiver Y needs to inform sender X about the speed mismatch so that sender X can adjust its
transmission rate. Similarly, the access control decides the node which will access the link
shared in the communication channel at a particular instant in time. If not the transmitted data
will collide if many computers send data simultaneously through the same link resulting in
the corruption or loss of data.

What is IP Addressing?
An IP address represents an Internet Protocol address. A unique address that identifies the
device over the network. It is almost like a set of rules governing the structure of data sent
over the Internet or through a local network. An IP address helps the Internet to distinguish
between different routers, computers, and websites. It serves as a specific machine identifier
in a specific network and helps to improve visual communication between source and
destination.

Types of Internet Protocol

Internet Protocols are of different types having different uses. These are mentioned below:

1. TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol)

These are a set of standard rules that allows different types of computers to communicate
with each other. The IP protocol ensures that each computer that is connected to the Internet
is having a specific serial number called the IP address. TCP specifies how data is exchanged
over the internet and how it should be broken into IP packets. It also makes sure that the
packets have information about the source of the message data, the destination of the message
data, the sequence in which the message data should be re-assembled, and checks if the
message has been sent correctly to the specific destination. The TCP is also known as a
connection-oriented protocol.

2. SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

These protocols are important for sending and distributing outgoing emails. This protocol
uses the header of the mail to get the email id of the receiver and enters the mail into the
queue of outgoing mail. And as soon as it delivers the mail to the receiving email id, it
removes the email from the outgoing list. The message or the electronic mail may consider
the text, video, image, etc. It helps in setting up some communication server rules.

3. PPP(Point-to-Point Protocol)
It is a communication protocol that is used to create a direct connection between two
communicating devices. This protocol defines the rules using which two devices will
authenticate with each other and exchange information with each other. For example, A user
connects his PC to the server of an Internet Service Provider and also uses PPP. Similarly, for
connecting two routers for direct communication it uses PPP.

4. FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

This protocol is used for transferring files from one system to the other. This works on a
client-server model. When a machine requests for file transfer from another machine, the
FTO sets up a connection between the two and authenticates each other using their ID and
Password. And, the desired file transfer takes place between the machines.
5. SFTP(Secure File Transfer Protocol)
SFTP which is also known as SSH FTP refers to File Transfer Protocol (FTP) over Secure
Shell (SSH) as it encrypts both commands and data while in transmission. SFTP acts as an
extension to SSH and encrypts files and data then sends them over a secure shell data stream.
This protocol is used to remotely connect to other systems while executing commands from
the command line.

6. HTTP(Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)

This protocol is used to transfer hypertexts over the internet and it is defined by the
www(world wide web) for information transfer. This protocol defines how the information
needs to be formatted and transmitted. And, it also defines the various actions the web
browsers should take in response to the calls made to access a particular web page. Whenever
a user opens their web browser, the user will indirectly use HTTP as this is the protocol that is
being used to share text, images, and other multimedia files on the World Wide Web.

7. HTTPS(HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure)

HTTPS is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure
communication over a computer network with the SSL/TLS protocol for encryption and
authentication. So, generally, a website has an HTTP protocol but if the website is such that it
receives some sensitive information such as credit card details, debit card details, OTP, etc
then it requires an SSL certificate installed to make the website more secure. So, before
entering any sensitive information on a website, we should check if the link is HTTPS or not.
If it is not HTTPS then it may not be secure enough to enter sensitive information.

8. TELNET(Terminal Network)
TELNET is a standard TCP/IP protocol used for virtual terminal service given by ISO. This
enables one local machine to connect with another. The computer which is being connected is
called a remote computer and which is connecting is called the local computer. TELNET
operation lets us display anything being performed on the remote computer in the local
computer. This operates on the client/server principle. The local computer uses the telnet
client program whereas the remote computer uses the telnet server program.

9. POP3(Post Office Protocol 3)

POP3 stands for Post Office Protocol version 3. It has two Message Access Agents (MAAs)
where one is client MAA (Message Access Agent) and another is server MAA(Message
Access Agent) for accessing the messages from the mailbox. This protocol helps us to
retrieve and manage emails from the mailbox on the receiver mail server to the receiver’s
computer. This is implied between the receiver and the receiver mail server. It can also be
called a one-way client-server protocol. The POP3 WORKS ON THE 2 PORTS I.E. PORT
110 AND PORT 995.

10. IPv4
The fourth and initially widely used version of the Internet Protocol is called IPv4 (Internet
Protocol version 4). It is the most popular version of the Internet Protocol and is in charge of
distributing data packets throughout the network. Maximum unique addresses for IPv4 are
4,294,967,296 (232), which are possible due to the use of 32-bit addresses. The network
address and the host address are the two components of each address. The host address
identifies a particular device within the network, whereas the network address identifies the
network to which the host belongs. In the “dotted decimal” notation, which is the standard for
IPv4 addresses, each octet (8 bits) of the address is represented by its decimal value and
separated by a dot (e.g. 192.168.1.1).

11. IPv6
The most recent version of the Internet Protocol, IPv6, was created to address the IPv4
protocol’s drawbacks. A maximum of 4.3 billion unique addresses are possible with IPv4’s
32-bit addresses. Contrarily, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, which enable a significantly greater
number of unique addresses. This is significant because IPv4 addresses were running out and
there are an increasing number of devices that require internet access. Additionally, IPv6
offers enhanced security features like integrated authentication and encryption as well as
better support for mobile devices. IPv6 support has spread among websites and internet
service providers, and it is anticipated to gradually displace IPv4 as the main internet
protocol.

12. ICMP
ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is a network protocol that is used to send error
messages and operational information about network conditions. It is an integral part of the
Internet Protocol (IP) suite and is used to help diagnose and troubleshoot issues with network
connectivity. ICMP messages are typically generated by network devices, such as routers, in
response to errors or exceptional conditions encountered in forwarding a datagram. Some
examples of ICMP messages include:
Echo Request and Echo Reply (ping)
Destination Unreachable
Time Exceeded
Redirect
ICMP can also be used by network management tools to test the reachability of a host and
measure the round-trip time for packets to travel from the source to the destination and back.
It should be noted that ICMP is not a secure protocol, it can be used in some types of network
attacks like DDoS amplification.

13. UDP
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is a connectionless, unreliable transport layer protocol.
Unlike TCP, it does not establish a reliable connection between devices before transmitting
data, and it does not guarantee that data packets will be received in the order they were sent
or that they will be received at all. Instead, UDP simply sends packets of data to a destination
without any error checking or flow control. UDP is typically used for real-time applications
such as streaming video and audio, online gaming, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
where a small amount of lost data is acceptable and low latency is important. UDP is faster
than TCP because it has less overhead. It doesn’t need to establish a connection, so it can
send data packets immediately. It also doesn’t need to wait for confirmation that the data was
received before sending more, so it can transmit data at a higher rate.

14. IMAP
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is a protocol used for retrieving emails from a mail
server. It allows users to access and manage their emails on the server, rather than
downloading them to a local device. This means that the user can access their emails from
multiple devices and the emails will be synced across all devices. IMAP is more flexible than
POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3) as it allows users to access and organize their emails
on the server, and also allows multiple users to access the same mailbox.
15. SSH
SSH (Secure Shell) is a protocol used for secure remote login and other secure network
services. It provides a secure and encrypted way to remotely access and manage servers,
network devices, and other computer systems. SSH uses public-key cryptography to
authenticate the user and encrypt the data being transmitted, making it much more secure
than traditional remote login protocols such as Telnet. SSH also allows for secure file
transfers using the SCP (Secure Copy) and SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) protocols. It
is widely used in Unix-based operating systems and is also available for Windows. It is
commonly used by system administrators, developers, and other technical users to remotely
access and manage servers and other network devices.

16. Gopher
Gopher is a type of file retrieval protocol that provides downloadable files with some
description for easy management, retrieving, and searching of files. All the files are arranged
on a remote computer in a stratified manner. It is an old protocol and it is not much used
nowadays.