Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Issues

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Let's go to the website and see what information we can find to help you complete this assignment successfully. I also included the privacy policy at the end of the response for convenience, and which some of this response is drawn.

RESPONSE:

1. Need enough information to compile an 350 - 500 word paper on how Carsdirect.com handles legal, ethical, and regulatory, confidentiality, and international issues.

CarsDirect is the nation's largest special finance lead service with the acquisition of 1-800 Communications in 2005. They report on their site that "[n]early 25% of car buyers can't qualify for standard financing options, according to Wards Dealer Business." In fact, according to CarsDirect.com, this acquisition offers a large number of new benefits for customers who have blemished credit by matching these shoppers with dealers who specialize in sub-prime finance options.
Websites are ethical when they protect the customer's interest through honesty, transparency and clearly written privacy policies. Websites are legal, when they comply with the laws that govern websites, such as privacy and application requirements and related federal laws. For the most part, CarsDirect provides, at least, most of this infromation.

For example, on their website, Cars Direct.com deals with confidentiality through their Privacy Policy by using such things as encryption of information, security regulations, etc. They report:

"We at CarsDirect.com, an Internet Brands website, are committed to safeguarding your privacy online, and have designed our business practices to safeguard your privacy. This privacy policy applies to your information that we collect and receive; it does not apply to practices of businesses that we do not own or control or to people we do not employ. At no time will we sell your information or release your personally-identifiable data without your permission. You can visit www.carsdirect.com without revealing who you are or providing any personal information about yourself." (http://www.carsdirect.com/help_center) (See Privacy Policy at the end of this response).

The website also points out to the customer that once the policy is read, by using the site, the customer agrees to the terms of this privacy policy. It also warns thee customers that where other sites are provided, like third-party sites that offer automobile resources and related products, then the customer should consult the privacy policy of the website they are visiting, as CarsDirect.com is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other websites that you may visit. (http://www.carsdirect.com/help_center)

Laws pertaining to privacy are also upheld, as stated in their privacy policy: "We safeguard your personal data (e.g., credit card and finance application information) during electronic transmission from you to us using known encryption, security standards and procedures. We restrict access to non-public personal information about you only to those employees who need to know that information in order to provide products or services to you. We maintain physical, electronic and other procedural safeguards to comply with applicable privacy laws to guard your nonpublic personal information. We also assess new technology for protecting sensitive customer information on an ongoing basis." (http://www.carsdirect.com/help_center)

In their privacy policy, they report that they comply with the Federal law requiring all financial institutions to obtain, verify and record information that identifies each person who opens an account. When a customer submits a financing application, ...