Buyers Beware offers a new perspective for critical inquiries about the practices of consumption in (and of) Caribbean popular culture. The book revisits commonly accepted representations of the Caribbean from “less respectable” segments of popular culture such as dancehall culture and 'sistah lit' that proudly jettison any aspirations toward middle-class respectability. Treating these pop cultural texts and phenomena with the same critical attention as dominant mass cultural representations of the region allows Patricia Joan Saunders to read them against the grain and consider whether and how their “pulp” preoccupation with contemporary fashion, music, sex, fast food, and television, is instructive for how race, class, gender, sexuality and national politics are constructed, performed, interpreted, disseminated and consumed from within the Caribbean.

Well-settled principles of law, such as those encompassing fraud in its various forms, have long maintained their vitality, adapting to changes in the legal and business environments through judicial and legislative interpretation and intervention. Many of these changes have manifested themselves in the world of commerce. The creation and development of the Internet has resulted in significant changes in the way people engage in commerce. The increasing popularity of the Internet as a medium of commerce has generated an increase in Internet fraud, raising new and challenging legal issues in areas including online auctions. Under current law, a defrauded participant in an online auction transaction has no recourse against the online auction site that facilitated and controlled the auction transaction and claimed a percentage of the transaction price as its fee. Online auction sites can and do legally disclaim any responsibility for fraud occurring on their sites. Because of the lack of meaningful consumer protection with respect to online auctions in the form of consumer education efforts and appropriate regulation and effective enforcement thereof, the rising numbers of online auction fraud victims are left with no meaningful avenues of relief. The increased popularity of the Internet and the huge volume of e-commerce transactions have generated opportunities for cyber crimes and torts, including various forms of Internet fraud. The Internet offers low-cost communication, the capacity to reach a global audience, and a presumptive veneer of credibility stemming from the anonymity of cyberspace. Thus, Internet users may find it hard to distinguish genuine sources of information from fraudulent sources, creating a fertile environment for all kinds of Internet fraud. This article examines the most commonly reported form of Internet fraud, online auction fraud. Part I discusses fraud in the context of online auctions, highlighting the increasing numbers of reported cases and the most common forms of online auction fraud. Part II examines two prominent online auction fraud cases, and illustrates the critical need both to protect consumers from being victimized by online auction fraud and to provide opportunities for meaningful relief in the event that consumers are so victimized. Part III offers suggested areas for regulation to protect consumers from online auction fraud, and further provides an examination and evaluation of the responses to online auction fraud by various consumer and law enforcement groups. Part IV examines the response of online auction sites to online auction fraud. Part V is an examination of some forms of online alternative dispute resolution. Because of the lack of meaningful consumer protection stemming from the lack of appropriate regulation and effective enforcement thereof, and the dearth of consumer education with respect to online auction fraud, online alternative dispute resolution remains one of the only available avenues of relief for victims of online auction fraud.

The authority on grammar, usage, and style.

With more than a thousand new entries and more than 2,300 word-frequency ratios, the magisterial fourth edition of this book-now renamed Garner's Modern English Usage (GMEU)-reflects usage lexicography at its finest. Garner explains the nuances of grammar and vocabulary with thoroughness, finesse, and wit. He discourages whatever is slovenly, pretentious, or pedantic. GMEU is the liveliest and most compulsively readable reference work for writers of our time. It delights while providing instruction on skillful, persuasive, and vivid writing. Garner liberates English from two extremes: both from the hidebound "purists" who mistakenly believe that split infinitives and sentence-ending prepositions are malfeasances and from the linguistic relativists who believe that whatever people say or write must necessarily be accepted. The judgments here are backed up not just by a lifetime of study but also by an empirical grounding in the largest linguistic corpus ever available. In this fourth edition, Garner has made extensive use of corpus linguistics to include ratios of standard terms as compared against variants in modern print sources. No other resource provides as comprehensive, reliable, and empirical a guide to current English usage. For all concerned with writing and editing, GMEU will prove invaluable as a desk reference. Garner illustrates with actual examples, cited with chapter and verse, all the linguistic blunders that modern writers and speakers are prone to, whether in word choice, syntax, phrasing, punctuation, or pronunciation. No matter how knowledgeable you may already be, you're sure to learn from every single page of this book.

The A-to-Z source on cyberethics—the responsible use of technology! What is safe and responsible behavior for using the Internet? Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds: A Book About Technology and Ethics provides a comprehensive look at the innovative—and sometimes unscrupulous—world of rapidly evolving technology and the people who use it. This encyclopedic source helps even the most technology-challenged understand various facets relating to the use and misuse of technology in today’s society. Topics are organized A-to-Z for easy reference, with selections chosen because of historical importance, present relevance, and the likelihood of future impact. Privacy, security, censorship, and much, much more are discussed in detail to reveal the ethical complexities of each issue. Harmful and illegal cyber behavior can manifest quickly in several ways in today’s digital world. Keeping up with the shifts and advances in technology, its applications, and how it affects you can be difficult. Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds reviews the latest trends in computer technology and the impact it has on the way we live. This extensive book provides easy-to-understand explanations of tech terms, while clearly examining the current ethical issues surrounding different aspects of technology and its use in positive or destructive actions. Discussions include issues concerning general use, business, entertainment, multimedia development, and education. The broad range of ethical topics in Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds includes: advertising in school the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its impact upon technology in schools blogging and free speech bride scams video voyeurism censorship and filtering cheating in school using technology Child Online Protection Act Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) computer addiction crackers, lamers, and phreaks cyberbullying cyberchondriacs disinhibition domain hijacking Online auction fraud elder care and technology Google Bombing identity theft pornography media and cognitive development movie duplication sharing audio files online gambling pyramid schemes the Patriot Act phishing podcasting Project Gutenberg RFID tracking spyware technolust Trojan horses and viruses much, much more! Cybersins and Digital Good Deeds is a perfect at-your-fingertips source for questions you may have on the jargon and the ethical use or misuse of technology. This book is perfect for business people; high school, public, and academic librarians; library science professors, education professors, students, or anyone needing clarification of issues related to technology and information ethics.