Overview
One of the strengths of electronic communications media is that it costs virtually nothing to send a message. These media are not free of charge: setting up a cellular telephone network or an Internet e-mail service has substantial overhead costs in equipment and connectivity. However, once these costs are paid for, the cost to transmit a message to a single recipient is minuscule when compared with older media such as postal mail. Electronic messaging is cheap and fast. It is also easy to automate: computer programs can send out millions of messages via e-mail, instant message (IM), or Usenet netnews in minutes or hours at nearly no labor cost.
From these economic realities, a sort of tragedy of the commons emerges. Any communications mechanism which is cheap and easy to automate is easy to flood with bulk messages. To send instant messages to millions of users on most IM services, all one needs is a piece of scriptable software and those users' IM usernames. The ability to send e-mail from a computer program is built in to popular operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Unix -- the only added ingredient needed is the list of addresses to target.
Sending bulk messages in this fashion, to recipients who have not solicited them, has come to be known as spamming, and the messages themselves as spam. The etymology of the term is discussed below.
Spamming has been considered by various commercial, government, and independent entities to be one of the foremost social problems facing electronic media today. All manner of attempts have been made to curb this problem: technical measures such as e-mail filtering and the automated cancellation of netnews spam; contractual measures such as Internet Service Providers' acceptable-use policies; laws such as the Can Spam Act of 2003; and market pressures such as boycotts of those who use or support spam.
The costs of spam
Spam's direct effects include the consumption of computer and network resources, and the cost in human time and attention of dismissing unwanted messages. In addition, spam has costs stemming from the kinds of spam messages sent, from the ways spammers send them, and from the arms race between spammers and those who try to stop or control spam.
In part because of the bad reputation (and dubious legal status) which spamming carries, it is chiefly used to carry offers of an ill...
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... spam-blocking tools as a threat to free expression -- and laws against spamming as an untoward precedent for regulation or taxation of email and the Internet at large.
Two common refrains from spam-fighters address these concerns: First, spamming itself abridges the historical freedom of the Internet, by attempting to force users to carry the costs of material which they would not choose. Second, to treat spam as unlawful requires no new incursion of law into the online world, merely the application of existing laws against trespass and conversion.
An ongoing concern expressed by parties such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU has to do with so-called "stealth blocking", a term for ISPs employing aggressive spam blocking without their users' knowledge. These groups' concern is that ISPs or technicians seeking to reduce spam-related costs may select tools which (either through error or design) also block non-spam email from sites seen as "spam-friendly". SPEWS is a common target of these criticisms. Few object to the existence of these tools; it is their use in filtering the mail of users who are not informed of their use which draws fire.
Here the host sends a message to MTA,which follows a sequence of MTA's to reach the receiver mail. Here the spam message also follows a sequence of MTA's.
If anyone is offended by what is said on the internet, then they can remember to not visit the webpage next time and hold themselves accountable. This paper will examine the issue of internet censorship constituting a violation of the American people, individual rights, common good, and the constitution. Many laws were proposed to censor the internet, most fail in Congress but 3 have succeeded.... ... middle of paper ... ...
By doing this the message will go only to the original sender as opposed to the whole list of recipients. If replies are sent to all of the original recipients then each reply is also considered a mass mailing.
Part of the allure of the Internet has always been the anonymity it offers its users. As the Internet has grown however, causing capitalists and governments to enter the picture, the old rules are changing fast. E-commerce firms employ the latest technologies to track minute details on customer behavior. The FBI's Carnivore email-tracking system is being increasingly used to infringe on the privacy of netizens. Corporations now monitor their employees' web and email usage. In addition to these privacy infringements, Internet users are also having their use censored, as governments, corporations, and other institutions block access to certain sites. However, as technology can be used to wage war on personal freedoms, it can also be employed in the fight against censorship and invasion of privacy.
A major flaw of the proposed filter is the futility to prevent crime. The internet is a massive network of computers and web pages are just one use of thi...
People can "talk" to others by sending email messages, at the speed of pressing the send key. This information is instantly transmitted to the receiver, who can in turn, reply quickly. Today, one can even literally talk to someone else, just as if he/she were actually phoning someone over traditional phone lines. While the quality is not as clear as regular lines, the cost is considerably less.
As the Internet has become more widely recognized and used by people all over the world, it has brought a new medium in which information can very easily be broadcast to everyone with access to it. In 1995 there was a projected 26 million Internet users, which has grown to almost 300 million today. One major problem with this is that everyone represents different countries and provinces which have different outtakes on certain types of freedom of speech as well as different laws about it. This proposes a new type of law that would need to be written in order to determine whether or not something is illegal on the Internet. A person in one country can express what they want to, but that expression may be illegal in another country and in this situation whose laws are to be followed? What I propose to do accomplish in this paper is to discuss the freedom of speech laws of the United States of America and those of France, China, and Canada. I will examine what about them is similar and what about them is different. The bringing of the Internet has brought many new types of businesses as well as ways in order to communicate with the world, but as with each new endeavor or invention, there needs to be a way in order to govern its use and policies. There must also be ways in order to punish those not following the new laws and policies of use, since that the country that the person is in may allow what they did, but it may not be allowed on the Internet or in a different country. In other words, there is the need for international laws governing the Internet.
The 90's internet boom gave rise to new ways of writing in through access to cyberspace. What used to be printed or handwritten on physical surfaces such as paper, cardboard, or bulletin boards has changed to 0's and 1's, bits and bytes of digitized information that can be displayed thru the projections of computer screens. Moreover, the internet has made the process of publishing one's works, writing letters, or chatting with one another much easier and convenient for everyone around the globe. The internet became a universal tool, giving much freedom and flexibility to the users; it gave them opportunity to deliver their thoughts with little or no restrictions. Since it's impossible to regulate all cyber-activities, internet users are often unrestricted by the normal laws or authorities that would set boundaries around the various online transactions. More importantly, the fact that a net user can take on different identities in cyberspace brings about several ethical and social issues. These anonymous and unrestrictive characteristics of cyberspace often permite abusive users to easily involve themselves in serious cybercrimes such as cyberstalking, cyber-rape, and cyber-harassment through chatting services, emails, cyber communities, and other online communication.
In recent times we might consider that the right for privacy in one of our major achievements in our society. Unfortunately the same does not apply for the Internet. The Internet once considered a place for free information exchange and sharing, has the potential has becoming the biggest threat to its users. The commercialization of the Internet is one of the major reasons why the chances of a compromise of our privacy have increased. Customer profiling, address trading or simple lack of care with sensitive customer information are just some of the threats that this commercialization has bought to our ‘free’ Internet. Another reason being that with the increase of threats there is a regular change in technology to counter these threats. These changes make it harder for the already overstrained users to cope with the ever changing technology.
The Internet provides a gateway for an individual to speak freely and anonymously without being targeted to what he or she said. With this said, one of the biggest issues concerning the Internet today is freedom of speech. The issue of free speech on the Internet has been a topic of discussion around the world within the past years. It is a unique communication medium and is powerful than the traditional media[2]. Because the Internet can not be compared equally to other mediums of communication, it deserves the utmost freedom of speech protection from the government. The restriction of speech on the Internet takes away from individual's rights and freedom from experiencing the Internet's benefits and uses. Information found on the Internet is endless and boundless and this poses the question, "should the government be allowed to regulate the information and content being transmitted or posted online?"
The Internet is a connection of computers across the world through a network. Its origin dates back to the 1960s when the U.S Military used it for research, but it became more available to the public from the late 1980s. The World Wide Web was created in 1989 and browsers began appearing in the early 1990s. Over the last 24 years, the Internet has enabled people to shop, play, do research, communicate and conduct business online. It has also become cheaper and faster in performing different tasks. As much as the Internet has done immeasurable good to society, it has also dominated people’s lives and brought with it an array of cybercrimes. According to Nicholas Carr in his book The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way we Think, Read and Remember (Carr, 2010). He debates on whether the Internet has done more harm than good. People use the Internet daily to exchange accurate information and constantly personal data such as credit cards, passwords and Social Security numbers are travelling through the network from one computer to another. With security measures put in place on the Internet, personal information remains confidential. But unfortunately, criminals have adapted to innovations in technology, and today, more people are increasingly becoming victims of cybercrime. The Internet has had profound effects on the public, both positive and negative. In this paper we will examine how access to personal information has led to an increase in online and offline crimes. The essay will particularly focus on ecommerce and hacking.
Electronic Mail, a means of communication that is growing at a very rapid rate. In this paper, I will write about introduction of e-mail, the advantage and disadvantage of e-mail, mailing lists, sending an e-mail message, sending attachments, e-mail improvement, and security features. Introduction of Electronic Mail Electronic mail (E-mail) has become popular and easy way of communication in this decade. E-mail is a method of sending and receiving document or message from one person to another. E-mail is not only replacement for postal mail and telephones, and also it is a new medium. E-mail send plain text, images, audio, spreadsheets, computer programs can attach to an e-mail message. Using the e-mail, you must have a computer on a network. The computer must require a modem and phone line. Sending and receiving e-mail needs an e-mail program. Every e-mail user requires an e-mail address. This e-mail address is similar to a postal address. E-mail address is written as username@domain, for instance, PCLEE@juno.com. The username is used for sending and receiving e-mail.
Since the development of the Internet in late 1980s, communication has changed enormously. The Internet has altered the lives of people in the world in a way that was never imagined before. As little as a decade ago, if someone tried to explain the Internet and World Wide Web, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to understand. Computers were just beginning to become popular and few individuals realized the capacity of one PC, let alone the power of a network of electronic technology. By linking together computers, users could remotely access others on the network, share information, and send electronic mail as easily as pushing a button. Millions of people with shared interests, exchange information and build communities through Web sites, email and instant-messaging software.
The speed in which the mail is transported is an important factor in sending mail by either E-mail or the postal system. E-mail easily has the leading edge in this field. With a click of a button, a message can be sent and received in a few seconds to several minutes. Whether you are sending E-mail to someone next door or across the world, the time it takes to send the message is usually the same. Data files can be easily sent to someone over E-mail; unfortunately, the larger the file is in size, the longer it will take to send and receive the E-mail. Data files can be mailed to people using the postal system if the data is copied to a floppy disk or a compact disc. The postal service can send any kind of package, from a simple letter to a computer, for a price depending on its size weight, and desired shipping speed. The speed of the postal service is a problem though. A single letter can ta...
Despite this new capability, Gmail has raised concerns from Internet users and privacy groups around the world. Another feature that Google plans to implement in the email service is targeted advertising. Google’s engines will search the content of a person’s email and display advertisements that are relevant to key words pulled from the messages.