New Perspectives on The Internet, Fifth EditionComprehensive, 2005 Update

1
Emerging Technologies
TechBuzz
2
Internet Growth, Use and Connectivity

• Rapid growth rates will continue due to more
  non-computer devices being connected to the
  Internet every day.
• Rapid growth in parts of the world experiencing
  high rates of economic development.
• Asian governments are encouraging businesses in
  their countries to develop new Internet enabled
  devices.
• Sony will begin selling variety of IPv6-enabled
  devices in U.S. technology markets in early 2006.

3
Connecting to the InternetMore Choices, More
Users

• Increasing need for faster connections.
• Broadband home connections expected to increase
  approximately 30 by 2006.
• Increased competition between cable companies,
  DSL providers, and satellite providers have kept
  prices constant or lowered them.
• Some governments subsidize broadband home
  connections, attempting to grow productive
  participants in the technology-based businesses
  of the future.

4
Connecting to the InternetMore Choices, More
Users

• More people using the Internet for entertainment
  purposes which requires a broadband connection.
• Downloading music and video files
• Playing online video games in real time
• Broadband providers offering variety of
  connection speeds and prices.
• Faster speeds being marketed as gamers
  connections or power user specials.

5
Ricochet Service

• Cellular data network combined with radio
  transmission and wired connections.
• Gives customers continuous connection as they
  move around a metropolitan area.
• Provides connection speeds in 150-200 Kbps range.
• Lower operating frequency signals travel through
  walls and building structures better.
• More reliable and longer distance connections
  than Wi-Fi.

6
The Buzz on Browsers

• Other Internet browsers began to make a dent in
  Microsofts dominant position in 2004.
• Security flaws in Internet Explorer increasingly
  exploited by worm and virus writers.
• Organizations and individuals began to doubt
  reliability of a single browser.

7
Mozilla Open Source Project

• The Mozilla project is the open source browser
  software project that manages development of
  software used in Netscape Navigator.
• Browser rendering engine a complete rebuild of
  the internal workings of the browser.
• Gecko engine browser rendering engine used in
  Netscape Navigator, the Mozilla browser and the
  Mozilla Firefox browser.

8
Mozilla Open Source Project

• Bugzilla a bug tracking system that helps teams
  manage large software development projects of all
  kinds.
• Operated on a volunteer basis by programmers
  working in their spare time since 1999.
• Mozilla Foundation created in 2003 with
  contribution of 2 million from Time Warners AOL
  division.

9
Security of Open Source SoftwareAn Open Question

• Many experts believe the open source approach to
  software development reduces hidden security
  flaws.
• Source program code is posted online and is
  publicly available.
• Wide variety of programmers worldwide identify
  and resolve potential problems in the software.
• Closed source software can only be debugged by
  the programmers working for the company that owns
  the source code.
• Internet Explorer is closed source software.

10
Mozilla Suite

• A combination of software applications developed
  by the Mozilla open source project.
• Web browser
• E-mail client and newsreader Mozilla Messenger
• HTML editor Mozilla Composer
• Instant messaging chat client ChatZilla
• Time Warners AOL division distributes most of
  the Mozilla Suite under the Netscape brand name.

11
Mozilla Firefox

• Mozilla Firefox standalone browser released by
  Mozilla open source project in 2004.
• Takes up less disk space and runs faster than
  other browsers.
• Designed to easily customize appearance or
  functionality by giving programmers an easy way
  to write program extensions.
• Program extension a small program that works
  with an existing program to give it extra
  capabilities.
• Program extensions may add new buttons to
  toolbars, alter the way existing buttons work, or
  make it easier to create and add other program
  extensions.

12
Browsers for HireOpera and iRider

• Internet Explorer, Navigator, Mozilla, and
  Firefox are all available at no cost.
• Some browsers, such as Opera and iRider, charge a
  license fee

13
Opera

• Started out as research project at Telenor,
  Norways state telecommunication company.
• Program code written independently and is not
  affected by security flaws exploited by those
  attacking Gecko-based browsers or IE.
• First Web browser to offer tabbed browsing, a
  button to toggle on and off the download of
  images with a Web page, and a search window that
  the user could configure to run searches in
  specific search engines automatically.

14
Opera Web Browser Main Screen
15
iRider

• Designed for power users.
• Can open and manage multiple Web pages at once.
• Can view thumbnail images of all open Web pages
  displayed in a hierarchical map called a Page
  List.
• Keeps all open Web pages in memory until the user
  deletes them.
• User can run several searches simultaneously and
  compare the results.
• Security flaws have not been identified. It does
  use some parts of the IE code when it runs so
  weaknesses may be found.

16
Multiple Searches in the iRider Web Browser
17
New Options, Improvements, and Problems for
E-mail Users

• A default e-mail client is usually installed when
  you install a browser on your computer.
• An e-mail client manages your incoming and
  outgoing e-mail messages and any newsgroups to
  which you have subscribed.
• You can use any e-mail program to manage your
  e-mail messages.
• Web-based e-mail addresses must be accessed
  through the sponsors Web site unless it has an
  option to manage it using a program such as
  Outlook Express.

18
New Options, Improvements, and Problems for
E-mail Users

• Most people have more than one e-mail address.
• Primary e-mail address for personal and/or
  business correspondence.
• Secondary e-mail addressed for online
  subscriptions, online purchases, and mailing
  lists.
• Being careful about distribution of primary
  e-mail address may lessen amount of spam and junk
  email that you receive.
• You should become familiar with the different
  e-mail programs available before you decide which
  one to use.

19
Mozilla Thunderbird

• Part of the Mozilla open source project.
• Must be downloaded separately from the Mozilla
  Web site.
• Can import items from other e-mail programs on
  your computer such as the address book entries.
• Has a spell checker and allows you to encrypt or
  digitally sign messages.
• A powerful feature of Thunderbird is its adaptive
  spam and junk mail filters.
• Saved search folders make it easy to find
  messages based on criteria that you specify.

20
Mozilla Thunderbird

• Has the ability to subscribe to and receive
  newsfeeds automatically using Really Simple
  Syndication (RSS).
• Really Simple Syndication (RSS) an XML file
  format that makes it possible to share updates
  such as headlines and other Web site content via
  a newsfeed.
• Most RSS newsfeeds must be read through a program
  called an aggregator that lets you receive
  newsfeed content.
• When you subscribe to a newsfeed, you can choose
  a frequency on which to download messages.
• Can be used to manage your Usenet newsgroup
  subscriptions.

21
Thunderbird Inbox Window
22
Opera M2Client

• Installed with the Opera Web browser.
• Can import information from Outlook Express,
  Netscape Mail, Eudora, and earlier versions of
  Opera into Opera or create a chat account for
  Internet relay chat.
• Messages are stored in a single database (instead
  of folders) so that messages are easy to search
  and retrieve.
• Has the ability to subscribe to RSS newsfeeds
  automatically.
• You can use Operas M2e-mail client to manage
  messages from newsgroups.

23
Opera Mail Tag
24
Gmail from Google

• Google received a lot of publicity when the test
  program for Gmail was released.
• Gmail promises one gigabyte of storage space for
  every user, causing other online Web-based e-mail
  services to increase their free storage space.
• Paid for by adding advertisements to e-mail
  messages based on searches of those messages
  causing concerns about the privacy of e-mail
  messages.
• Because Google performs routine maintenance on
  its servers, such as backups and archives, your
  messages might be stored forever in these files,
  making your private messages part of a permanent
  archive.

25
Google Gmail Inbox Window
26
Web Logs

• Web logs, blogs, have been around for awhile, but
  were catapulted into mainstream media during the
  2004 presidential campaigns.
• Used as a way for candidates to discuss campaign
  issues in an unfiltered way.
• Howard Dean, Senator John Kerry, and President
  George W. Bush used blogs to communicate with
  supporters and respond to stories in the media.
• Blogs are not subject to the same ethical
  guidelines of professional reporters, so
  information contained in them should be
  considered personal opinion, not hard news.

27
Youve Got Spam!

• Spam unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or bulk
  mail.
• Includes unwanted solicitations, advertisements,
  or e-mail chain letters sent to an e-mail
  address.
• Spam wastes peoples time and their computers
  disk space.
• Spam can consume large amounts of Internet
  capacity.
• It is estimated that the amount of spam received
  by the average company will increase from
  approximately 1 in 1995 to 80 in 2005.

28
Youve Got Spam!

• Many grassroots and corporate organizations are
  fighting spam aggressively.
• Most companies find it more effective and less
  costly to eliminate spam before it reaches users.
• An increasing number of approaches have been
  devised or proposed to combat spam, such as the
  passing of laws and technical changes in the mail
  handling systems of the Internet.

29
Reducing Spam

• Reduce the likelihood that a spammer can
  automatically generate your e-mail address
• Control the exposure of your e-mail address so
  software robots searching the Internet for e-mail
  addresses cannot easily obtain them. (They search
  for strings containing _at_.)
• Use multiple e-mail addresses such as one for
  your Web site, another to register for access to
  Web sites, another for shopping accounts, etc.

30
Reducing Spam

• Other approaches use one or more techniques that
  filter e-messages based on their contents.
• Many U.S. jurisdictions have passed laws that
  provide penalties for sending spam.
• The CAN-SPAM Law is the first U.S. federal
  government effort to legislate controls on spam.

31
CAN-SPAM Law

• Regulates all e-mail messages sent for the
  primary purpose of advertising or promoting a
  commercial product or service.
• Unsolicited e-mail messages must identify the
  sender, contain an accurate message subject and a
  notice that the message is an advertisement or
  solicitation, make it possible for the recipient
  to opt out of future mailings within 10 days of
  receipt of the request, include the senders
  physical postal address, and prohibit the sender
  from selling or transferring an e-mail address
  with an opt out request to any other entity.

32
CAN-SPAM Law

• Each violation is subject to a fine of up to
  11,000.
• Additional fines are assessed for those who
  violate one of these provisions and also harvest
  e-mail addresses from Web sites, send messages to
  randomly generated addresses, use automated tools
  to register for e-mail accounts that are
  subsequently used to send spam, and relay e-mail
  messages through a computer or network without
  the permission of the computer's or networks
  owner.
• Enforcement is a problem because spammers can
  move their operations from one server to another
  in minutes.

33
The New Frontier for Wireless Networking WiMAX

• New advancement in wireless networking is called
  WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
  Access).
• 802.16e wireless network standard being developed
  for use in metropolitan areas.
• Will have a range of up to 31 miles.
• Will not require building cabled third-generation
  networks and purchasing expensive FCC licenses to
  send signals in the 3G radio spectrum.

34
The New Frontier for Wireless Networking WiMAX

• First WiMAX network launched in England in
  January 2005. Other WiMAX networks will be
  launched in Europe, Japan, and the United States
  in 2005.
• Technology manufacturers are working to develop
  standards and equipment being tested in different
  metropolitan areas.
• WiMAX technology is expected to be in wide use in
  the United States in the year 2007.

35
New Developments in Virtual Communities

• The Internet has become an important tool that
  enables communication among members of the
  community.
• Online Social Networks
• Online Business Networks
• Online Political Networks
• Software for Educational Communities

36
Online Social Networks

• New virtual communities exist for the sole
  purpose of being a community.
• Useful tools for persons who want to make new
  local friends, establish acquaintances before
  moving to a new location, or obtain advice of
  various kinds.

• craigslist
• Friendster
• LinkedIn
• MySpace

• Ryze
• Tribe.net
• ZeroDegrees

37
Online Business Networks

• Focus on business networking.
• Users log on to seek jobs, find potential
  business partners, recruit workers, and engage in
  other business development activities.
• Users are looking for specific solutions to their
  problems.
• Online business networks tend to use categories
  that reflect specific interests and try to make
  it easy for business persons to find exactly the
  connections they need, quickly and efficiently.

38
Online Political Networks

• Used in the 2004 U.S. elections to rally
  supporters, raise funds, and get their messages
  out to voters.
• Provide a place for people interested in a
  candidate or an issue to communicate with each
  other.
• These sites allow people to discuss issues, plan
  strategies, and arrange in-person meetings called
  meetups.

39
Software for Educational Communities

• Many colleges and universities use learning
  platforms such as Blackboard or WebCT to deliver
  instruction over the Internet.
• Distance learning platforms include tools such as
  bulletin boards, chat rooms, and drawing boards
  that allow students to interact with their
  instructors and each other.
• Blackboard and WebCT are commercial software
  packages that schools must pay for.

40
Software for Educational Communities

• Many schools that have come to rely on
  distance-learning platforms to deliver a large
  part of their instruction have faced budget
  cutbacks in recent years.
• Schools in developing countries struggle to find
  money to pay the licensing fees charged.
• Several groups of universities and individuals
  have sponsored the development of open source
  distance-learning platforms.
• Two of the most widely used open source
  distance-learning platforms are Moodle and
  JA-SIGs uPortal.

41
Moodle Home Page
42
New Challenges for Online Security

• Security is broadly defined as the protection of
  assets from unauthorized access, use, alteration,
  or destruction.
• The Internet brings certain risks to both users
  and their computers.
• New threats emerge and old threats become more
  invasive as technology gets better and more users
  are connected to the Internet.

43
Viruses, Worms, and Spyware

• Some of the biggest threats to online users come
  in the form of e-mail messages.
• Two of the best ways to prevent your computer
  from becoming infected are having current
  antivirus software and a firewall.
• Most major ISPs distribute free antivirus and
  firewall software to their subscribers because
  the lack of security by their subscribers results
  in problems for the providers.
• More powerful antivirus and firewall programs
  with additional features can be purchased.

44
Viruses, Worms, and Spyware

• Identity theft is an increasing threat on the
  Internet.
• ISPs and credit agencies are creating new ways to
  deal with online identity theft.
• Avoid giving sites information about yourself
  unless you are confident that the Web site is
  both legitimate and secure.
• Many credit cards offer free services in which
  they alert their customers by e-mail when they
  exceed their credit limits or have more than a
  preset number of transactions in a single day.

45
Viruses, Worms, and Spyware

• Another way to protect yourself from online
  attacks is your choice of operating system and
  Web browser.
• Most browsers have security features that let you
  set options to prevent ActiveX controls and
  pop-up windows from running on your computer.
• You should keep your Microsoft updates and
  service packs current.
• Other Web browsers are considered safer because
  they have less market share than Internet
  Explorer, and hackers spend less time trying to
  find ways to uncover and exploit vulnerabilities
  in those programs.

46
Phishing Expeditions

• A type of security attack in which people are
  sent e-mail messages that seem to originate from
  a legitimate sender in an effort to gain
  information about the recipient.
• Phishing has become one of the biggest Internet
  e-mail problems in recent history.
• Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) is an industry
  association that works to eliminate the identity
  theft and fraud that result from Internet
  phishing.

47
Phishing Expeditions

• Phishing is such a large problem because some
  people do not verify the source of messages that
  they receive and then respond to them, assuming
  they are legitimate.
• Some ISPs are providing software that alerts
  customers when they are about to enter a spoofed
  site.
• DomainKeys create a digital signature that lets
  the recipient or recipients server authenticate
  the message to verify that it originated from the
  source that it claims it is from.

48
Defense Against Phishing

• The best defense against phishing attacks is to
  make consumers aware of the problem and prevent
  them from visiting phishing sites.
• Call and check the legitimacy of a message BEFORE
  responding.
• Never click the links in a message that you
  suspect is spoofed.
• Check your bank statements and credit card
  statements carefully when you receive them.

49
Defense Against Phishing

• Phishing attacks reduce consumer confidence in
  electronic commerce and the institutions and
  organizations that are victims of spoofing.
• Many banks try to educate their customers about
  phishing.
• The U.S. House of Representatives passed two
  bills related to spyware in October 2004
• Internet Spyware Prevention Act (I-SPY)
• SPY ACT (Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber
  Trespass)