Electronic Communication Timeline
Morse code 1810
Telecommunications Lines1839
Transatlantic Line 1866
Prototype Telephone 1876
Conventional Telephone 1878
Fax Machine 1861
Radio Communication 1893
Television 1925
Teletype 1940
Walkie Talkie 1940
Cellular Communication 1960
E-Mail 1965
Instant Messaging Mid 1960s
SMS messaging 1980
Bluetooth 1998
Skype 2003
Monday, 9 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Computer misuse act 1990
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if:
a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in a computer;
b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorized; and
c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that this is the case. 1(2) the intent a person has to commit an offence under this section need not be directed at
a) any particular program or data
b) a program or data of any particular kind; or
c) a program or data held in any particular computer. 1(3) a person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5, on the standard scale or both.
2(1) a person is guilty of an offence under this section if he commits an offence under section 1 above ("the unauthorized access offence") With intent
a) to commit an offence to which this section applies; or
b) to facilitate the commission of such an offence (whether by himself or by any other person) and the offence he intends to commit or facilitate is referred to below in this section as the further offence. 2(2) this section applies to offences
a) for which the sentence is fixed by law; or
b) for which a person of twenty one years of age or over (not previously convicted) may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of five years (or in England and Wales might be so sentenced but for the restrictions imposed by section 33 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980). 2(5) a person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable
a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both; and
b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to a fine, or both.
3(1) A person is guilty of an offence if
a) he does any act in a way which causes the unauthorized modification of the contents of any computer; and
b) at the time when he does so the act he has the requisite intent and the requisite knowledge. 3(2) for the purposes of subsection 3(1)b above the requisite intent is an intent to cause a modification of the contents of any computer and by so doing
a) to impair the operation of any computer;
b) to prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in any computer; or
c) to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data. 3(3) the intent need not be directed at
a) any particular computer;
b) any particular program or data or a program or data of any particular kind; or
c) any particular modification or a modification of any particular kind. 3(4) For the purpose of subsection 1b above, the requisite knowledge is knowledge that any modification he intends to cause is unauthorized. 3(5) it is immaterial for the purposes of this section whether an unauthorized modification or any intended effect of it of a kind mentioned in subsection (2) above is, or is intended to be, permanent or merely temporary
The Act was created to criminalise unauthorized access to computer systems (the s1 offence) and to deter the more serious criminals from using a computer to assist in the commission of a criminal offence or from impairing or hindering access to data stored in a computer (the ss2 and 3 offences). The basic offence is to attempt or achieve access to a computer or the data it stores, by inducing a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access. Hackers that program their computers to search through password permutations are therefore liable, even though all their attempts to log on are rejected by the target computer. The only precondition to liability is that the hacker should be aware that the access attempted is unauthorized. Thus, using another person's username or identifier (ID) and password without proper authority to access data or a program, or to alter, delete, copy or move a program or data, or simply to output a program or data to a screen or printer, or to impersonate that other person using e-mail, online chat, web or other services, constitute the offence. Even if the initial access is authorized, subsequent exploration if there is a hierarchy of privileges in the system, may lead to entry to parts of the system for which the requisite privileges are lacking and the offence will be committed. But looking over a user's shoulder or using sophisticated electronic equipment to monitor the electromagnetic radiation emitted by VDUs ("electronic eavesdropping") is outside the scope of this offence.
The ss2 and 3 offences are aggravated offences, requiring a specific intent to commit another offence (for these purposes, the other offences are to be arrestable, and so include all the major common law and statutory offences of fraud and dishonesty). So a hacker who obtains access to a system intending to transfer money or shares, intends to commit theft, or to obtain confidential information for blackmail or extortion. Thus, the s1 offence is committed as soon as the unauthorized access is attempted, and the s2 offence overtakes liability as soon as specific access is made for the criminal purpose. The s3 offence is specifically aimed at those who write and circulate a computer virus or worm, whether on a LAN or across networks. Similarly, using phishing techniques or a Trojan to obtain identity data or to acquire any other data from an unauthorized source, or modifying the operating system files or some aspect of the computer's functions to interfere with its operation or prevent access to any data, including the destruction of files, or deliberately generating code to cause a complete system malfunction, are all criminal "modifications".
a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in a computer;
b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorized; and
c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that this is the case. 1(2) the intent a person has to commit an offence under this section need not be directed at
a) any particular program or data
b) a program or data of any particular kind; or
c) a program or data held in any particular computer. 1(3) a person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5, on the standard scale or both.
2(1) a person is guilty of an offence under this section if he commits an offence under section 1 above ("the unauthorized access offence") With intent
a) to commit an offence to which this section applies; or
b) to facilitate the commission of such an offence (whether by himself or by any other person) and the offence he intends to commit or facilitate is referred to below in this section as the further offence. 2(2) this section applies to offences
a) for which the sentence is fixed by law; or
b) for which a person of twenty one years of age or over (not previously convicted) may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of five years (or in England and Wales might be so sentenced but for the restrictions imposed by section 33 of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980). 2(5) a person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable
a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both; and
b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to a fine, or both.
3(1) A person is guilty of an offence if
a) he does any act in a way which causes the unauthorized modification of the contents of any computer; and
b) at the time when he does so the act he has the requisite intent and the requisite knowledge. 3(2) for the purposes of subsection 3(1)b above the requisite intent is an intent to cause a modification of the contents of any computer and by so doing
a) to impair the operation of any computer;
b) to prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in any computer; or
c) to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data. 3(3) the intent need not be directed at
a) any particular computer;
b) any particular program or data or a program or data of any particular kind; or
c) any particular modification or a modification of any particular kind. 3(4) For the purpose of subsection 1b above, the requisite knowledge is knowledge that any modification he intends to cause is unauthorized. 3(5) it is immaterial for the purposes of this section whether an unauthorized modification or any intended effect of it of a kind mentioned in subsection (2) above is, or is intended to be, permanent or merely temporary
The Act was created to criminalise unauthorized access to computer systems (the s1 offence) and to deter the more serious criminals from using a computer to assist in the commission of a criminal offence or from impairing or hindering access to data stored in a computer (the ss2 and 3 offences). The basic offence is to attempt or achieve access to a computer or the data it stores, by inducing a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access. Hackers that program their computers to search through password permutations are therefore liable, even though all their attempts to log on are rejected by the target computer. The only precondition to liability is that the hacker should be aware that the access attempted is unauthorized. Thus, using another person's username or identifier (ID) and password without proper authority to access data or a program, or to alter, delete, copy or move a program or data, or simply to output a program or data to a screen or printer, or to impersonate that other person using e-mail, online chat, web or other services, constitute the offence. Even if the initial access is authorized, subsequent exploration if there is a hierarchy of privileges in the system, may lead to entry to parts of the system for which the requisite privileges are lacking and the offence will be committed. But looking over a user's shoulder or using sophisticated electronic equipment to monitor the electromagnetic radiation emitted by VDUs ("electronic eavesdropping") is outside the scope of this offence.
The ss2 and 3 offences are aggravated offences, requiring a specific intent to commit another offence (for these purposes, the other offences are to be arrestable, and so include all the major common law and statutory offences of fraud and dishonesty). So a hacker who obtains access to a system intending to transfer money or shares, intends to commit theft, or to obtain confidential information for blackmail or extortion. Thus, the s1 offence is committed as soon as the unauthorized access is attempted, and the s2 offence overtakes liability as soon as specific access is made for the criminal purpose. The s3 offence is specifically aimed at those who write and circulate a computer virus or worm, whether on a LAN or across networks. Similarly, using phishing techniques or a Trojan to obtain identity data or to acquire any other data from an unauthorized source, or modifying the operating system files or some aspect of the computer's functions to interfere with its operation or prevent access to any data, including the destruction of files, or deliberately generating code to cause a complete system malfunction, are all criminal "modifications".
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Civil rights in the information age
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK. Although the Act does not mention privacy, in practice it provides a way in which individuals can control information about themselves. Most of the Act does not apply to domestic use,[1] for example keeping a personal address book. Anyone holding personal data for other purposes is legally obliged to comply with this Act, subject to some exemptions. The Act defines eight data protection principles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998
The Key points of the Data Protection Act are:
Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected.
Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation.
Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions (for example, information held for the prevention or detection of crime).
Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.
Personal information may not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place, for example by the use of a prescribed form of contract to govern the transmission of the data.
Subject to some exceptions for organisations that only do very simple processing, and for domestic use, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Entities holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place. Those include technical measures (such as firewalls) and organisational measures (such as staff training).
Subjects have the right to have factually incorrect information corrected (note: this does not extend to matters of opinion)
It is there to protect the privacy of people who submit information online so it is not missused or abused. It also means that sites cannot share the information unless you give tem permission to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Protection_Act_1998
The Key points of the Data Protection Act are:
Data may only be used for the specific purposes for which it was collected.
Data must not be disclosed to other parties without the consent of the individual whom it is about, unless there is legislation or other overriding legitimate reason to share the information (for example, the prevention or detection of crime). It is an offence for Other Parties to obtain this personal data without authorisation.
Individuals have a right of access to the information held about them, subject to certain exceptions (for example, information held for the prevention or detection of crime).
Personal information may be kept for no longer than is necessary and must be kept up to date.
Personal information may not be sent outside the European Economic Area unless the individual whom it is about has consented or adequate protection is in place, for example by the use of a prescribed form of contract to govern the transmission of the data.
Subject to some exceptions for organisations that only do very simple processing, and for domestic use, all entities that process personal information must register with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Entities holding personal information are required to have adequate security measures in place. Those include technical measures (such as firewalls) and organisational measures (such as staff training).
Subjects have the right to have factually incorrect information corrected (note: this does not extend to matters of opinion)
It is there to protect the privacy of people who submit information online so it is not missused or abused. It also means that sites cannot share the information unless you give tem permission to.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
ebook readers
Amazon.com sells the Kindle ebook reader for $279. It can store up to 1500 books, it is thin as most magazines, it uses 3G technology which means you do not need a computer to download books to your kindle. It has no glare technology, a battery which lasts days with no recharging. It fetures an experimental text to speach software which can read the book to you. Books range for $9.99 for a new book and $1.99 for an older one. Gadgets such as smart phones can read many file types and be used as a book reader along with many other aplications.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Entertainment in the Digital Age
Movies: Millions of movies are downloaded or streamed to computers every year.
"Roughly 18 percent of the U.S. online population has illegally downloaded a full-length movie at some point in the past, according to a telephone and online study of 2,600 Americans. A typical movie downloader is 29 years of age, while 63 percent of all downloaders are male, and 37 percent are female. Kaan Yigit, director of the study, observes, 'There is a Robin Hood effect — most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal. The current crop of 'download to own' movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services — otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive.'" http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/25/236224
Ken Fisher of Ars Technica explains:
“…the study matched an extensive sample of music downloads to American music sales data in order to search for causality between illicit downloading and album sales. Analyzing data from the final four months of 2002, the researchers estimated that P2P affected no more than 0.7% of sales in that timeframe.”
http://richohanian.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/stats-on-illegal-file-sharing-and-legal-music-sales/
an examination of the RIAA’s marketing and sales charts shows that the real decrease in CD sales actually began in earnest after Napster ceased operating. In fact, during the 2 1/2 years that Napster was operating, CD sales increased by over $500 million dollars from what they were in 1998. Since 2001, CD sales have continued to decrease steadily.
http://www.besttechie.net/2008/04/14/illegal-music-dowloading-look-at-the-facts/
Four men behind a file-sharing website that has hundreds of thousands of British users were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay £2.5 million in damages yesterday for helping internet users to download music, films and computer games.
In a big victory for the entertainment industries, Fredrik Neij, 30, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 24, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, 30, and Carl Lundström, 49, were found guilty of breaching copyright law in Sweden, where The Pirate Bay site was founded.
The court ordered a payment of £900,000 in compensation for 21st Century Fox and £500,000 each for MGM and Columbia Pictures.
Despite the verdicts, the four announced that The Pirate Bay, which is used by 25 million people, would continue to operate from computers based in various countries around the world. The men, who plan to appeal, will not begin their sentences or have to pay compensation until the end of the legal process.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6111777.ece
Daniel Petric, 17, was found guilty by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge in the aggravated murder of his mother and the attempted aggravated murder of his father. Petric’s defense was his addiction to the video game Halo. He shot his parents after they took the game from him. http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/01/halo_video_game_murder_suspect.html
The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.
The man had not slept properly, and had eaten very little during his marathon session, said police.
Multi-player gaming in South Korea is extremely popular thanks to its fast and widespread broadband network.
Games are televised and professional players are treated, as well as paid, like sports stars.
Professional gamers there attract huge sums in sponsorship and can make more than $100,000 a year.
They are the types of games that completely engross the player. They are not games that you can play for 20 minutes and stop
Professor Mark GriffithsThe man, identified by his family name, Lee, started playing Starcraft on 3 August. He only paused playing to go to the toilet and for short periods of sleep, said the police.
"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official told the Reuters news agency. He was taken to hospital following his collapse, but died shortly after, according to the police. It is not known whether he suffered from any previous health conditions.
They added that he had recently been fired from his job because he kept missing work to play computer games.
Small minority
Online computer games are some of the most popular and largest growth areas in interactive entertainment.
Players can easily get immersed and feel compelled to play for hours at a stretch, particuarly in massively multiplayer online role playing games - MMORPGs - in which thousands of gamers play and interact in shared fantasy or science fiction worlds.
Reports of gamers spending 10 to 15 hours a day in front of video games, such as the highly popular World of Warcraft and EverQuest, are becoming more frequent. Experts say gamers should take regular screen breaks.
Psychologist Professor Mark Griffiths, author of several in-depth studies into online gaming and gambling addiction, told the BBC News website that, according to his research, playing excessively was not problematic in any shape or form for the majority of gamers.
He said: "It does seem to be the case that online gaming addiction for a small minority is a real phenomenon and people suffer the same symptoms as traditional addictions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm
"Roughly 18 percent of the U.S. online population has illegally downloaded a full-length movie at some point in the past, according to a telephone and online study of 2,600 Americans. A typical movie downloader is 29 years of age, while 63 percent of all downloaders are male, and 37 percent are female. Kaan Yigit, director of the study, observes, 'There is a Robin Hood effect — most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal. The current crop of 'download to own' movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services — otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive.'" http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/25/236224
Ken Fisher of Ars Technica explains:
“…the study matched an extensive sample of music downloads to American music sales data in order to search for causality between illicit downloading and album sales. Analyzing data from the final four months of 2002, the researchers estimated that P2P affected no more than 0.7% of sales in that timeframe.”
http://richohanian.wordpress.com/2007/03/06/stats-on-illegal-file-sharing-and-legal-music-sales/
an examination of the RIAA’s marketing and sales charts shows that the real decrease in CD sales actually began in earnest after Napster ceased operating. In fact, during the 2 1/2 years that Napster was operating, CD sales increased by over $500 million dollars from what they were in 1998. Since 2001, CD sales have continued to decrease steadily.
http://www.besttechie.net/2008/04/14/illegal-music-dowloading-look-at-the-facts/
Four men behind a file-sharing website that has hundreds of thousands of British users were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay £2.5 million in damages yesterday for helping internet users to download music, films and computer games.
In a big victory for the entertainment industries, Fredrik Neij, 30, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 24, Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, 30, and Carl Lundström, 49, were found guilty of breaching copyright law in Sweden, where The Pirate Bay site was founded.
The court ordered a payment of £900,000 in compensation for 21st Century Fox and £500,000 each for MGM and Columbia Pictures.
Despite the verdicts, the four announced that The Pirate Bay, which is used by 25 million people, would continue to operate from computers based in various countries around the world. The men, who plan to appeal, will not begin their sentences or have to pay compensation until the end of the legal process.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6111777.ece
Daniel Petric, 17, was found guilty by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge in the aggravated murder of his mother and the attempted aggravated murder of his father. Petric’s defense was his addiction to the video game Halo. He shot his parents after they took the game from him. http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/01/halo_video_game_murder_suspect.html
The 28-year-old man collapsed after playing the game Starcraft at an internet cafe in the city of Taegu, according to South Korean authorities.
The man had not slept properly, and had eaten very little during his marathon session, said police.
Multi-player gaming in South Korea is extremely popular thanks to its fast and widespread broadband network.
Games are televised and professional players are treated, as well as paid, like sports stars.
Professional gamers there attract huge sums in sponsorship and can make more than $100,000 a year.
They are the types of games that completely engross the player. They are not games that you can play for 20 minutes and stop
Professor Mark GriffithsThe man, identified by his family name, Lee, started playing Starcraft on 3 August. He only paused playing to go to the toilet and for short periods of sleep, said the police.
"We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official told the Reuters news agency. He was taken to hospital following his collapse, but died shortly after, according to the police. It is not known whether he suffered from any previous health conditions.
They added that he had recently been fired from his job because he kept missing work to play computer games.
Small minority
Online computer games are some of the most popular and largest growth areas in interactive entertainment.
Players can easily get immersed and feel compelled to play for hours at a stretch, particuarly in massively multiplayer online role playing games - MMORPGs - in which thousands of gamers play and interact in shared fantasy or science fiction worlds.
Reports of gamers spending 10 to 15 hours a day in front of video games, such as the highly popular World of Warcraft and EverQuest, are becoming more frequent. Experts say gamers should take regular screen breaks.
Psychologist Professor Mark Griffiths, author of several in-depth studies into online gaming and gambling addiction, told the BBC News website that, according to his research, playing excessively was not problematic in any shape or form for the majority of gamers.
He said: "It does seem to be the case that online gaming addiction for a small minority is a real phenomenon and people suffer the same symptoms as traditional addictions. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4137782.stm
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
LITIA: education
Has education been improved with the use of ICT and the internet? I beliveve that it has due to the way the learning has changed from coppying out of a book to being able to vary your work with your own reaserch and personalised settings. Writing skills have also, it can be aurgued, become better due to auto check on the computers. Also the variaty and volume of information has been widely increased as the number of sites can be accesed. You can also go on courses online so you can get qualifications online.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Life in the information age: working styles
Teachers now have alot of work based in IT, and so do have less paper work. People can now work form home which will increase productivity when people wtake time off work, for things such as broken bones. It has created lots of new job types which did not exist 20 years ago, however more jobs have been lost such as typists.
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