THE INTERNET & THE WORLD
WIDE WEB
(Exploring Cyberspace)
Objectives
Connecting to the Internet: Narrowband, Broadband, & Access
Providers
How Does the Internet Work?
The World Wide Web
Email, Instant Messaging, & Other Ways of Communicating over
the Net
The Online Gold Mine: Telephony, Multimedia, Webcasting,
Blogs, E-Commerce, & Social Networking
The Intrusive Internet: Snooping, Spamming, Spoofing, Phishing,
Pharming, Cookies, Spyware, & Malware
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“The immensity of the changes wrought and still to come
cannot be underestimated,” says futurist Graham Molitor.
“This miraculous information channel, the Internet, will
touch and alter virtually every facet of humanity, business,
and all the rest of civilization’s trappings”
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Graphical history of Telecommunications and
the Internet
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Graphical history of Telecommunications and
the Internet
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Graphical history of Telecommunications and
the Internet
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How do you connect to this
network of networks?
• You need three things
– An access device, such as a personal computer with a
modem;
– A means of connection, such as a telephone line, cable
hookup, or wireless capability;
– An Internet access provider, such as an Internet service
provider (ISP), a commercial online service provider, or a
wireless Internet service provide
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Wired and wireless networks
• A wired network is one where the devices in the network are
connected using cables. Most wired networks are ethernet
network
• Wireless networks use radio waves to connect devices. There
are a range of wireless technologies, but the most common
are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
• Many networks include both wired and wireless connections.
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CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET:
Narrowband, Broadband, & Access Providers
Note: However you connect to the Internet, the bandwidth will
determine the speed of your connection
• Bandwidth , or channel capacity , is an expression of how
much data, text, voice, video, and so on can be sent through a
communications channel in a given amount of time
– The type of data transmission that allows only one signal at
a time is called baseband transmission
– When several signals can be transmitted at once, it’s called
broadband transmission.
Broadband : high-speed connections include various kinds of
high-speed wired connections, such as coaxial and fiber-optic
cable as well as DSL and wireless connections, such as
satellite, discussed shortly.
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DATA TRANSMISSION SPEEDS
• Data is transmitted in characters or collections of bits
• A bit, is the smallest unit of information used by computers.
– Today’s data transmission speeds are measured in bits, kilobits, megabits,
and gigabits per second:
• bps: A computer with an old modem might have a speed of
56,000 bps, which is considered the minimum speed for visiting
websites with graphics.
• The bps stands for bits per second (8 bits equals 1 character
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DATA TRANSMISSION
SPEEDS
• Kbps: Kilobits per second , or Kbps , are 1 thousand bits per
second. The speed of a modem that is 56,000 bps may be
expressed as 56 Kbps
• Mbps: Faster means of connection are measured in megabits per
second, or Mbps—1 million bits per second.
• Gbps: At the extreme are gigabits per second , or Gbps—1
billion bits per second.
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Internet Access Providers
• Internet service provider (ISP): a local, regional, or national
organization that provides access to the Internet for a fee. Eg,
Vodafone, Mtn etc
• A wireless Internet service provider (WISP): enables users
with computers containing wireless modems—mostly laptops,
tablets, and smartphones—to gain access to the Internet.
• A WISP offers public wireless network services and Internet
access. WISPs typically install Wi-Fi wireless hotspots in
airports, hotels, cafés, and other public business places.
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HOW DOES THE INTERNET
WORK?
• The international network known as the Internet consists of
hundreds of thousands of smaller networks linking
educational, commercial, nonprofit, and military
organizations, as well as individuals.
• Central to this arrangement is the client-server network
• When the client computer’s request for example, for
information on various airline flights and prices gets to a
server computer, that computer sends the information back to
the client computer
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Internet Communications:
Protocols, Packets, & IP Addresses
• PROTOCOLS
– How do computers understand the data being transmitted?
– The key lies in the protocol, or set of rules, that computers
must follow to transmit data electronically.
– The protocol that enables all computers to use data
transmitted on the Internet is called Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP,
– TCP/IP determines how the sending device indicates that it
has finished sending a message and how the receiving
device indicates that it has received the message
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Internet Communications:
Protocols, Packets, & IP Addresses
• PACKETS
– A network packet is a basic unit of data that's grouped
together and transferred over a computer network,
typically, the internet.
– Each packet or chunk of data forms part of a complete
message and carries pertinent address information that
helps identify the sending computer and intended recipient
of the message.
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Internet Communications:
Protocols, Packets, & IP Addresses
• IP ADDRESSES
– An Internet Protocol (IP) address uniquely identifies each
computer and device connected to the Internet.
– An IP address consists of four sets of numbers between 0
and 255 separated by decimals (called a dotted quad) for
example, 1.160.10.240 (IPv4)
• Dynamic IP addresses
• Static IP addresses
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Who Runs the Internet?
• Although no one owns the Internet, everyone connected with it
adheres to standards overseen by the Internet Society and
follows naming rules set by the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers
• Read about
– The Internet Society
– The Internet Corporation For Assigned Names & Numbers
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The World Wide Web
• The Internet and the World Wide Web, are not the same.
• The Internet is the global interconnection of networks,
connecting millions of computers via protocols, hardware, and
communications channels
• The part of the Internet called the web is a multimedia-based
technology that enables you to access more than just text.
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Discussion Question
• What are the Benefits of the
Internet to Business?
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Browsers: Software For Surfing The
Web
• A web browser , or browser, is software that enables you to
find and access the various parts of the web
• A website , or simply site, is a location on a particular
computer on the web that has a unique address
• A website is composed of a web page or collection of related
web pages. A web page is a document on the World Wide Web
that can include text, pictures, sound, and video
• The first page you see at a website is like the title page of a
book. This is the ?__________________
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URLs: Addresses For Web Pages
• The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a string of characters
that points to a specific piece of information anywhere on the
web.
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The Nuts & Bolts of the Web: HTML &
Hyperlinks
• The communications protocol used to access that part of the
Internet called the World Wide Web, we pointed out, is called
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• Hypertext markup language (HTML): is the set of special
instructions (called “tags” or “markups”) that are used to
specify document structure, formatting, and links to other
multimedia documents on the web
• Hypertext links :also called hyperlinks, hotlinks, or just links
are HTML connections to other documents or web pages that
contain related information; a word or phrase in one document
becomes a connection to a document in a different place.
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Search Services & Search Engines & How
They Work
• Search services are organizations that maintain databases
accessible through websites to help you find information on
the Internet. E.g. Google, Ask.com, Yahoo, Bing etc
• Search engines : programs that enable you to ask questions or
use keywords to help locate information on the web
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Email, Instant Messaging, & Other Ways Of
Communicating Over The Net
• You can use email via software on your own computer or via web-based
services, with a browser.
• Instant messaging (IM) lets users communicate instantly—that is, in real
time—over an email system with one or more persons who are logged onto
that system at the same time.
• A mailing list is an email discussion group on a special-interest topic, in
which all subscribers receive email messages sent to the group’s email
address.
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Email, Instant Messaging, & Other Ways Of
Communicating Over The Net
• Newsgroup is a giant electronic bulletin board on which users conduct
written discussions about a specific subject.
• Message board is a web-based discussion group that does not require a
newsreader. Sometimes called a web forum.
• .A collection of messages on a particular subject is called a thread or
threaded discussion.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet standard for uploading and
downloading files between computers, including those with different
operating systems
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Telephony, Multimedia, Webcasting, Blogs,
E-Commerce, & Social Networking
• Telephony: The Internet Telephone
– Whereas conventional telephone voice lines carry a conversation
over a single path,
– the Internet can move a lot more traffic over a network than the
traditional telephone link can.
– Internet telephony, or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) , uses
the Internet to make phone calls, either one to one or for
audioconferencing
– The benefit of VoIP (such as Skype) is that you can make long-
distance phone calls that are surprisingly inexpensive or even
free
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Telephony, Multimedia, Webcasting, Blogs,
E-Commerce, & Social Networking
• Multimedia
– is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration
of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving images (Video),
animation, audio, and any other media where every type of
information can be represented, stored, transmitted and
processed digitally.
– Multimedia on the web is usually handled by plug-ins and small,
special programs (software)
– A plug-in (add-on) is a program that adds a specific feature or
function to a browser, allowing it to play or view certain files.
Examples of plug-ins are Flash, QuickTime, and RealPlayer
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Telephony, Multimedia, Webcasting, Blogs,
E-Commerce, & Social Networking
• PUSH TECHNOLOGY & WEBCASTING
– Push technology, software that automatically downloads information to
personal computers
– One result of push technology was webcasting (“web broadcasting”),
in which customized text, video, and audio are sent to you
automatically on a regular basis or live on demand.
– The idea here is that webcasting companies, called subscription
services, offer you choices of categories of websites that will
automatically send you updated information, saving you from having
to search it out.
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Telephony, Multimedia, Webcasting, Blogs,
E-Commerce, & Social Networking
• RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary ) was built to be
simpler than push technology
• RSS newsreaders, or RSS aggregators, are programs that scour the web,
sometimes hourly, sometimes more frequently, and pull together in one
place “feeds” from several websites.
• RSS is based on XML, or extensible markup language, a web-document
tagging and formatting language that is an advance over HTML and that
two computers can use to exchange information
• Now RSS has morphed into the blogosphere, the total universe of blogs.
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PODCASTING
• Podcasting involves delivering Internet music, radio, or video from
the Internet to a computer
• Unlike webcasting, podcasts do not use streaming technology; the
music or media files must first be downloaded and saved to your
computer or mobile device
• Delivers a program in a compressed digital format via the Internet to
a subscriber for playing back on computers or portable digital audio
player
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E-Commerce
• E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is the buying and selling of
goods and services over the Internet
– Business-to-business commerce, or B2B commerce,
– Business-to-consumer commerce, or B2C commerce
• Online shopping:
• Online banking
– Consumer-to-consumer commerce, or C2C commerce
• Person-to-person auctions:
• Tonaton
• Many so-called brick-and-mortar retailers have lost business to
such online “e-tailers” as Amazon
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Reading Assignment
• Web 2.0
• Web 3.0
• The Social Web
• Social Networking
• Media Sharing,
• Social-Network Aggregation
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• Snooping, in a security context, is unauthorized access to another
person's or company's data
• spam refers to unsolicited email, or junk mail, in the form of
advertising or chain letters
• Spoofing is the forgery of an email sender name so that the message
appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than
the actual source
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• Phishing is
– (1) the sending of a forged email that
– (2) directs recipients to a replica of an existing web page, both
of which pretend to belong to a legitimate company.
– The purpose of the fraudulent sender is to “phish” for, or entice
people to share, their personal, financial, or password data
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• In pharming,
• Thieves implant malicious software on a victim’s computer that
redirects the user to an impostor web page even when the individual
types the correct address into his or her browser
• One way to protect yourself is to make sure you go to special secure
web pages, which begin with https rather than the standard http and
which use encryption to protect data transfer
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• Cookies
– are little text files such as your username, password, and
preferences left on your hard disk by websites you visit. The
websites retrieve the data when you visit again
• A website that welcomes you by name uses cookie
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• THE DRAWBACKS OF COOKIES
– Cookies are not necessarily dangerous they are not programs,
and they can’t transmit computer viruses,
– However, some websites sell the information associated with
your ID number on their servers to marketers, who might use it
to target customers for their products
– This can lead to spyware
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• Spyware is deceptive software that is surreptitiously installed on a
computer via the web; once installed on your hard disk, it allows
outsiders to gather confidential information without your knowledge
• Adware, or pop-up generator, is a kind of spyware that tracks web
surfing or online buying so that marketers can send you targeted and
unsolicited pop-up and other ads.
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• More damaging kinds of spyware are
– Browser hijackers, which change settings in your browser without
your knowledge, often changing your browser’s home page and
replacing it with another web page,
– Search hijackers, which intercept your legitimate search requests
made to real search engines and return results from phony search
services designed to send you to sites they run.
• How do you know if your browser has been hijacked?
– The home page or other settings change on your computer
– Links are added that point to websites that you’d usually avoid.
– A seemingly endless barrage of ads pops up on your screen
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THE INTRUSIVE INTERNET
• KEY LOGGERS
– Or keystroke loggers, can record each character you type and
transmit that information to someone else on the Internet,
making it possible for strangers to learn your passwords and
other information
– For instance, some may secretly record the keystrokes you use to
log into online bank accounts and then send the information off
to who knows where
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Malware: The Viciousness of Viruses
• Malware, for “malicious software” that can attack your computer
systems and mobile devices
• A virus is a rogue program that migrates through the Internet or via
operating systems and attaches itself to different programs that
spread from one computer to another, leaving infections
• Antivirus software, :scans a computer to detect viruses and,
sometimes, to destroy them
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Tips for Avoiding Spyware
• Be careful about free and illegal downloads
• Don’t just say “I agree”; read the fine print
• Beware of unsolicited downloads
• Don’t open, download, or execute any files, email messages, or
email attachments if the source is unknown or if the subject line of
an email is questionable or unexpected.
• Don’t start your computer with a flash drive, USB thumb drive
• Back up your data files regularly, and keep at least one backup
device in a location separate from your computer or use an online
back up service
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Passwords
• A password, is a special combination of letters and/or numbers that
limits access to information
– The best kind of password is one that is easy for you to
remember but can’t be guessed by anyone else
– Don’t use passwords that can be easily guessed, such as “12345”
or “password.”
– Avoid any word that appears in a dictionary. Instead, mix letters,
numbers, and punctuation marks in an oddball sequence of no
fewer than eight characters,
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Passwords
• Don’t use the same password for multiple sites, so that if someone
obtains the password to one account, that person won’t have access
to your entire online life
• Don’t write passwords on sticky notes or in a notebook or tape them
under your keyboard
• Example of good passwords
– @Kqdj#A197
– Aa%12#NPk
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Quiz
• The sending of phony email that pretends to be from a credit-card
company or bank, luring you to a website that attempts to obtain
confidential information from you, is called?
A. spoofing.
B. phishing.
C. spamming.
D. key logging.
E. cookies
• A location on the Internet is called a?
A. network.
B. user ID.
C. domain.
D. browser.
E. web
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