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Creative entrepreneurs for years have found ways to earn money through Internet jobs. Whether by capturing ad revenues, selling goods and services, or working via home-based data entry jobs, Internet jobs offer a variety of income streams for one to choose from.

A popular way to earn money passively is by collecting revenue from online ads. The owner of a website can successfully drive traffic to the site where visitors then click on the ads. A portion of revenues collected from click-throughs are paid from the advertiser back to the site owner. The owner need only to maintain the website and, of course, drive traffic to it and generate revenue.

Active income streams include popular Internet business models like the online store. This method was made popular through online auction sites, and can be quite effort-intensive. Since it involves constant listing, invoicing and shipping of physical goods, the cost of doing business is higher than the purely passive strategy. And if the goods are fragile or bulky, or if there is a high rate of returns or exchanges, the costs can climb and impact the bottom line.

Job sites on the internet are now offering an increasing number of telecommuting jobs of various kinds, most of them entry level jobs for low salaries. Most of these jobs are not full time. They include data entry positions (for below market rate) and contractor work, which may pay below minimum wage under Internal Revenue Code Section 1099.

The Internet is of recent development and hardly a decade old. The labor laws in many countries are yet to address the impact of Internet on a large quantum of workers across the globe along with the Internet's rapid spread. For example, in China a section of workers known as "gold farmers", many of them teenagers, harvest virtual resources in massive multiplayer online role-playing games. These persons work 12-hour shifts with a meager income of a few cents an hour.

As the Internet has become an ever greater presence in our workplaces and lives, the number of jobs available over the Internet has steadily grown. You need only an internet connection and the dedication to do steady work to land one of these jobs and make steady income, all without ever setting foot in an office or going to work.