Safe Internet Shopping
LEVEL A.2 - B.1
This Week: Safe Internet Shopping
Here is an extract from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) warning customers about how to shop safely on the internet. Which 6 of the key questions are not answered?
- a) Do you know if your order is correct?
- b) Do you know what you're buying?
- c) Do you have printed copies of the terms of your agreement?
- Do you know ll the terms and conditions?
- Do you know how much you're paying?
- Do you know the business's return, exchange, refund and warranty policies?
- Do you know what sort of online security the website has for processing your payment?
- Do you know who you're dealing with?
- Do you know how long it will take for the product to get to you?
- Do you know how any personal information you submit will be treated?
- Do you know which country's laws will apply to the transaction?
1. Identifying info
Has the website provided contact information, such as the physical address of the business, phone and fax numbers and, in the case of Australian businesses, an Australian Business Number (ABN). This is important if something goes wrong, for example, if your package doesn't arrive or your credit card is charged incorrectly.
2. Description of product
Make sure the goods or services you are buying have been clearly described and they suit your need. Confirm this with the business (e.g. by email or phone).
3. Cost and currency
It is important that you know the final cost, especially if the business is going to charge your credit card. Clarify that delivery and handling costs have been included and check there are no ongoing fees. Check if there any applicable taxes or import duties. You should also clarify the currency-even an Australian company might list prices in US dollars.
4. Privacy
Many websites have privacy policies stating how they will deal with personal information. It's important that you read these policies as your name could end up on mailing lists that receive unsolicited email from online marketers. In many countries, including Australia, there is now privacy legislation.
5. Payment mechanism
You need to satisfy yourself that any online payment by credit card is secure. Many online payment systems use secure sockets layer (SSL). The site should tell you that you are entering a secure online environment before you start to provide your credit card details. Usually an unbroken key or lock will appear in the bottom of your browser window to indicate you are sending information via a secure connection, or the web address will begin with https//:
7. Refunds and warranties
If you can't find any policies on the website, contact the business via email or telephone and ask them to explain their procedures. Remember that goods bought at auction are not covered by statutory warranty rights other than those relating to clear title, quiet possession and owning the goods outright. (from http://www.accc.gov.au)
KEY: a, c, d, i, k
LEVEL B1.5 - B.2
This Week: US Elections and the Internet
Political campaigns in the USA include important debates live on the Internet. Read the text and decide if such a format would suit the Polish elections, then choose the correct meaning for the phrases in bold.
The YouTube Generation Tackles Debates
Nothing has charged the under-30 electorate more than the Internet and come July 23rd, the web and politics will reach some kind of milestone when YouTube and CNN jointly host a debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates. The coolest part of the whole event is the Q and A from the audience, which in this case will be submitted in the form of YouTube videos.
It's hard to imagine what people are dreaming up for these video questions simply because with video, anything goes. The videos might contain anything, from talking heads to mash-ups to protest mixes. Unlike traditional boring questions from folks standing up in the audience, these "questions" could serve as political statements on their own.
The video format opens the door for originality and spontaneity - elements usually foreign to the controlled environment of presidential image-making. Because visual images can be more powerful than words, the videos have the potential to elicit emotional responses from the candidates and frame the election in new ways.
Moreover, because of YouTube and the Internet, the video questions are bound to have a long afterlife.
[The] videos being aired during this debate will likely magnify the audience because some of them will be picked up, linked to, replayed and commented upon by the mainstream media.
So, come July 23, grab your laptop and sit in front of the TV to watch political history in the making. My only hope is that the networks and YouTube (and the Democratic party) don't totally weed out the more, ahem, interesting video questions.
from: http://www.ipdemocracy.com
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1.charged
a. made less interesting
b. made more difficult
c. made more interesting
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7. mash-ups
a. pictures of cooked potatoes
b. fights
c. mixed data
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2. jointly
a. together
b. with difficulty
c. separately
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8. folks
a. politicians
b. people
c. parents
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3. submitted
a. sold
b. sent
c. broadcast
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9. to elicit
a. to encourage
b. to hide
c. to record
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4. dreaming up
a. writing down
b. planning
c. editing
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10. bound
a. obliged
b. certain
c. created
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5. anything goes
a. everything is possible
b. things change regularly
c. it is hard to record things
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11. aired
a. broadcast
b. recorded
c. destroyed
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6. talking heads
a. puppets speaking
b. people speaking
c. potatoes speaking
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12. mainstream
a. popular
b. unusual
c. private
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KEY: 1. c; 2. a; 3. b; 4. b; 5. a; 6. b; 7.c; 8. b; 9. a; 10. b; 11. a; 12. a
LEVEL C1
This Week: The Internet
This weekend, millions of people worldwide will log on to the internet and start or continue a second life in, well, "Second Life". Decide if the following statements are true or false, then read to confirm your answers.
a) You can only make virtual money in Second Life, and cannot cash it in for real money.
b) Entrepreneurs are rare in Second Life - they prefer real money.
c) Big companies have been attracted to Second Life and actually invested money in it.
d) Second Life is significantly different from other online games.
e) Intellectual copyright applies in Second Life.
f) You can buy real estate in Second Life.
Find out what entrepreneurial opportunities the virtual world of Second Life has to offer.
By Laura Tiffany | January 09, 2007
A million dollars of virtual loot. It's a concept that's difficult to wrap your head around, but in November, that's exactly what virtual real-estate developer Anshe Chung accomplished in the 3D virtual world Second Life, in which users live "second" lives as avatars. When her entrepreneurial success story hit the press, it spread like wildfire, leading many to ask: What exactly are the business opportunities available in Second Life? Are people really turning their love for Second Life into a full-time business?
Marketers have already been exploring the world, with big-name businesses like American Apparel, Starwood Hotels, Scion and Cisco setting up virtual areas for their products--a store for American Apparel, a hotel for Starwood--in Second Life. Even Reuters has assigned a bureau chief specifically to the site.
If you've never visited Second Life--or even heard of it-here's a quick look at it. Second Life is a 3D virtual world where people use avatars to explore and commune with other people. It's often lumped in with such online games as World of Warcraft or Star Wars Galaxies (which insiders refer to as "massively multiplayer online role playing games" or MMORPGs), but it's a different beast. There's no slaying of dragons to level up a character or collecting weapons to prepare for battle, but you can buy and develop online real estate, import images to craft your own in-world creations, or attend a drum circle with avatars created by users from all over the world.
It's the work element--the embrace of entrepreneurship--that's perhaps most unique to Second Life. Linden Labs, the creator of Second Life, has welcomed the entrepreneurial inclinations of its community in two important ways. First, Linden dollars, the in-world currency, are easily traded for U.S. dollars at an official currency site. Second, Linden has taken the remarkable step of allowing players to retain the copyright for their in-game creations. It's these aspects of Second Life that attract entrepreneurs.
Based on the futuristic Metaverse from Neal Stephenson's seminal sci-fi novel Snow Crash, Second Life aims to truly be a second life for users, with opportunities for both work and play.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessideas/article172768.html
KEY: a) F; b) F; c) T; d) T; e) T; f) T
Prepared by:
ACT Advanced Corporate Training
Szkolenia językowe i biznesowe
www.act.edu.pl
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