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36 Sharma and Gupta
2000). In this section, we briefly discuss some major adverse societal impacts of
e-commerce.
Widening Digital Divide
The term Digital divide means a lack of equal access to computer technologies
and the Internet in particular, creating a gap between those who have and those
who have not. One dimension of the digital gap follows demographics of gender,
race, and social class. Another dimension follows the economic gap between
wealthy and poor countries. Millions of technologically disenfranchised have-nots,
who cannot afford the cost of that technology and training, are walled off from
potentially life-changing tools and knowledge. Therefore, they feel isolated in the
virtual world. For example, although growth has been very strong in Europe,
particularly in Sweden and Finland, the United States still accounts for more than
three-quarters of all e-commerce transactions. Despite the promise of “borderless”
trade, most e-commerce is still national or within the continents (Bassols & Vickery,
2001).
The digital divide gap between the technology haves and have-nots presumably
is also across white, wealthy, and urban Americans with computers and
Internet access on the one hand and minority, poor, and rural Americans who lack
computers and Web access on the other (Quay, 2001). Today the real digital divide
is the chasm between those who use Internet technologies to improve their lives and
those who do not. Another digital divide is based on geography. Disparities in the
location and quality of Internet infrastructure, even the quality of phone lines, have
created gaps in access (Quay, 2001). Hindered by poverty and a poor telecommunications
infrastructure, Internet penetration rates in the developing regions
range from less than 1 percent to 3 percent, which is far below the 25 percent to
50 percent penetration rates seen in many wealthy and developed nations (Rombel,
2000). E-commerce and access to the Internet create an enormous disparity in
wealth and a great need to spread and disperse this wealth and connectedness for
a socially sustainable benefit.
A Threat of Information Warfare
In information warfare, hackers, by controlling an organization’s computer
systems, obtain a significant advantage by changing the flow of information, altering
information, or shutting down a system completely. A computer system may not
only be shut down, but also could be destroyed by infiltration and distribution of
various computer viruses. The breakdown of major information systems such as
banking networks or electricity grids could be a devastating event, altering the
economy of a nation and the daily life of its population. While the online
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