Setting Up A Streaming Subscription Site, Part 2

Privacy Issues: Users want to be protected too

We imagine that sometime down the line you’re going to be looking for new ways to garner revenue from your site and you may get the idea that you can sell your customer list. While we cannot dissuade you from doing something legitimate that will make you money let us caution you to create and adhere to a strict privacy policy.

With the advent of spam, Internet users have become rightfully concerned that their names and information are being sold to unscrupulous vendors who will bombard them with unwanted email. There are a number of watchdog agencies operating on the Web that are trying to create some order from the chaos. The Electronic Freedom Foundation (www.eff.org) and TRUSTe (www.truste.org) are two leading organizations in this field. Check out their recommended privacy policies and do everyone a favor and adhere to them. None of us really want to contribute to the flood of spam out there and you really don’t want the negative publicity that will come from not having had a privacy policy and then selling your customers names. Get their consent before you decide to sell that valuable mailing list.

Conclusion

So in the end, you will need to obtain copies of Apache, PHP, and MySQL. All are free and all have been modified to interact together in a well-behaved manner. This is a well-trodden path – many others before you have put this combination together to build cheap, reliable e-commerce sites. Reference the user communities for each product – you’ll almost assuredly find someone who has just completed this integration willing to help you do yours.

All in all, if your connection is decently fast (a DSL line would help) you should be able to complete the installation of all three applications in a couple of working days. Plan for another two or three days to make them all work together.

The best of luck and let us know when you have an implementation up and running. For a comprehensive list of all links and resources, please refer to the following page.

Page 4: Links and Resources >>