As this page has shown you thus far, there are many issues which surround the topic of concern. View points differ from person to person and from what I have learned, each one contains something valid. Because this is such a new concept, and because it effects such a major part of our lives (the economy),  there is speculation about what works. Fortunately, the consequences are self induced. Each individual investor makes his/her own decisions about where they will trade. As we learned in the previous pages of this site, one can go with a full-service broker, spending much more on commissions but benefiting from the knowledge and market support; or one can opt for the innovative internet trading services which pretty much leave you alone in your market decisions but guarantees much lower trading costs. After all the theories, perspectives, and hypothesis I have learned in my research, the sole issue that I am partial to is security.

    I feel that although we enjoy the effects of so many technological blessings, our on-line privacy and protection will always be an at risk situation. This tremendously affects internet trading. It is simple to figure out that when your dealing with trillions of dollars of investors money, interests from others become present. There are great concerns about what can happen to finances in the accounts of on-line brokerage firms. First of all there is no 100% way of protection from on-line theft. Sure the larger internet firms have the most advanced protection devices presently available (digital  fingerprinting and encryption technology), but there will always be possibilities of prying through. As long as laws allowing police and spy agencies to gain instant access to all my E-mail and other computer files exist, I will not feel safe having my finances available on-line.

    I would like to quote a released statement from CMPnet's Information Week Online about a related E-Trade incident.

        "Last week's outrage at E-Trade, however, went beyond the occasional delays customers faced in the past. One E-Trade customer, Dar Hay of Memphis, said he lost close to $12,000 last week when he was unable to cancel an order to buy 350 shares of brokerage company Siebert Financial. Hay, a former system analyst and now full-time day trader, said he put in the order at 9:50 EST/2:50 GMT on Thursday last week, but decided to cancel when the stock headed south. With E-Trade's trading site down, Hay tried to call the broker, but could not get through. He also sent an E-mail at 10:10 EST/5:10 GMT to cancel the order, to no avail. The order was executed at 60 a share at 11:05 EST/6:05 GMT. The next day he dumped the shares at an average price of 26 a share, for a total loss of $11,900. 'I had no means of getting a hold of them; I was powerless,' Hay told Reuters. E-Trade responded to his e-mail message four days later, he added."

    This is another reason there is a concern for safety among on-line investors. This gentleman was unable to make any contact with his company. The results, which can be seen above were significant and to no fault of his own. Or was it Mr. Hay's fault? Would this sort of incident occurred if his account was secure in the hands of a full-service brokerage firm?

    One final thought I would like to leave you with involves computer/internet virus's. Remember the Malissa virus which occurred in March of 1999. This virus was initiated by an average Joe from Syracuse who named it after a strip dancer in his home town. It affected the e-mail accounts of thousands of innocent bystander all over the country. It lasted for several days and caused an enormous conflict, especially to those whose main source of communication was temporarily destroyed. Could this happen to our beloved internet trading companies? I don't see why not. Embrace this innovation of on-line trading which is becoming so popular, but please BE CAREFUL.