CHAPTER 10:

COMMUNICATION
By Jeongmo Kang

10.1 Communication with other ICT users using email

10.1.1 Characteristics, uses and constraints
● Most common ways to communicate between people.

Legislation
○ Many countries have laws to protect people against misuse of emails.

Acceptable Language
○ Must be within acceptable code of practice
○ Unacceptable contents which can be used in email, SMS and online forum:
■ Obscene images
■ Abusive, profane, inflammatory, defamatory, coercive & blasphemous
content
■ Racist, exploitative, violent messages
■ Use of illegal materials in messages

Guidelines set by an employer

● Any company needs to publish guidelines regarding employee use of emails and other
electronic communications.
● Guidelines must follow the laws in the country where the company operates.
● Companies must indicate how they will ensure that all of their staff are following the
rules.
● Text book => Figure 10.2 Company email policy and guidelines

Copyright and security of emails

● Emails are subject to copyright laws.
 ● Just because it is relatively easy to forward an email does not mean it is always legal to
do so - also true with any attachments sent with an email
● For web pages, the copyright in an email is determined by its content
● Printing, copying or forwarding emails is generally not considered a breach of copyright
unless the sender has clearly indicated that the message is confidential or the subject of
copyright law

Security and Password protection

● To increase security in emails :
○ Use a strong password (e.g. contain a combination of letters, numbers &
symbols)
○ Change password on a regular basis
○ Use spam filters to remove suspicious emails.
○ Run antivirus and anti-spam software at all times
● Emails can be exposed to passive and active attacks
● Passive attacks - release of email content to other users without sender’s consent
● Active attacks - the modification of messages or even denial of service (spam mail -
overloading your system by sending thousands of emails - will ‘clog up’ your computer &
makes internet access almost impossible; also involve viruses or phishing attacks)

Netiquette (Internet Etiquette)

● Netiquette is the need to respect other users’ views and display common courtesy when
posting in online discussion/email

Email Group
● Used for the following purposes:
○ Easier to send out multiple emails if all addresses are grouped together.
○ Marketing purposes - companies and organisations can group people together
and make specific target groups
○ Spamming - ‘spammers’ create groups by buying people’s addresses from
companies
○ Meetings - companies use it to set up meetings. Ensures that everybody is
always invited to attend.
Other email operations
● Carbon copies (cc)
● Blind carbon copy (bcc)
● Forward
● Attachments

Carbon Copies (CC) and Blind Carbon Copy (BCC)

● Difference between CC and BCC
○ All recipients in a CC list can be seen by all other recipients.However, the BCC
address details are invisible to everyone receiving the email, apart from the
recipients in the BCC list
● The use of CC is really just netiquette - those on the ‘To’ are the main recipients and
those in the ‘CC’ list are interested parties
● Bcc is often used as a security measure when using email groups
● When sending an email to many recipients, the following is used as added
security:
○ Put your own email address in the ‘To’ field
○ Set up an email group containing all the recipients with a group name then store
it
○ Put this named email group in the ‘Bcc’ field.
○ Will provide some additional protection because anyone seeing the email
(authorised or unauthorised) will not be able to see the email addresses of the
individual recipients
Forwarding Email
Example:
● You have a company email address box : [email protected]
● You have decided to forward all of your emails to [email protected]
● This means that all your emails, including spam, will be sent to this yahoo address.
● Two problems exist here:
○ Some ISP do not recognize the true source of emails & regard all emails as
actually coming from the hothouse-design.co.uk domain, including spam,
because they will have been forwarded from that domain.
○ Some ISPs have spam filters in place based on email volumes from just one
address.
● Both outcomes are undesirable:
○ Increased risk that many of the emails sent to the Yahoo address will be
considered spam.
○ Could end up being blacklisted by the ISP.
● Many web hosts have banned the email forward feature.

Attachments
● Spam & phishing (Chap 8) emails potentially contain malicious attachments.
● Your computer may be infected if the attachment contains an executable file. (e.g.
executable files are those ending in: .exe, .msi, .bat, .cmd, and so on)
● Remember when sending attachments, the ISP will have a limit on the size of file that
can be sent.
● Emails were never intended to include large files. Better to look at alternatives when
sending large files, such as:
○ File compression (zip files)
○ Selecting a web service that allows files to be transferred: upload the file(s) and
then create a link. This link can be sent in an email.

Characteristics and effects of spam

● Any unsolicited email sent over the internet is regarded as spam
● Often sent to multiple recipients & can range from being simply annoying to dangerous
(spam can contain viruses or be part of a phishing scam)
● Can affect many online operations (e.g. YouTube) - links (called ‘spambots’) are posted
within videos which send users to another website.
● The main disadvantages of spam:
○ It uses up people’s time
○ It generally annoys people
○ It uses up valuable bandwidth on the internet, slowing it down
○ It can have viruses attached or even be part of a phishing scam
○ It can clog up users’ inboxes
● Spam can also affect mobile phones (e.g text messages being sent to multiple phones -
sometimes referred to as ‘m-spam’, ‘mobile spamming’ or ‘spam SMS’)
 ● At the basic level it just annoys people. However, some mobile phone providers charge
users for each message they receive.
● It then affects the person financially which is more than just an annoyance

10.2 Effective use of internet

10.2.1 The internet
Allows users to:
● Send and receive email
● Chat online
● Transfer files
● Browse the World Wide Web

Characteristics, uses, advantages and disadvantages of internet

The differences between the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW):

Intranets and Extranets

● An intranet is defined as a computer network based on internet technology but
designed to meet the internal needs for sharing information within a single
organisation/company
● Access to an intranet is confined to an organisation/company (not available to general
public)
● Intranets reside behind a firewall and are only accessible:
○ internally to members of the company
○ to people given various levels of access who are external to the company

Why use Intranet:

● Safer (less chance of external hacking/viruses)
● Possible to prevent external links (certain websites)
● Can ensure that information available is specific to their users’ needs
● Easier to send out sensitive messages (remains within the company)
● Offer better bandwidth compared to internet (num of bits per second that can be
transmitted is usually higher)
 ● Possible to create extranets – allows intranets to be extended outside the organisation
with the same advantages as an intranet BUT with the same advantages as an intranet;
e.g. it will allow trading partners to have controlled access to some information
(commercially-sensitive information is password protected)

The differences between Internet and Intranet

10.2.2 Blogs, Wikis, Social networking sites and Forums
Web Blogs (Blogs)
● Personal internet journals - bloggers type in their observations on a topic (e.g. a review
about the latest movie release) and may provide links to some relevant websites.
● Blogs tend to range from minor projects to important social issues.
● Comments made on blogs are NOT immune from the law (bloggers can still be
prosecuted for writing offensive material)

Features of blogs:
● Regularly updated by the author
● Organised in reversed order (most recent on top)
● Normally public (anyone can read them)
● Normally from one author only
● Other internet user cannot modify blogs (they can only read)

Microblogs
● Similar to blogs, but are most often used on social networking sites to make short,
frequent posts.
● The posts can be done using instant messaging, emails or use other social networking
means (such as tweets)
● E.g. Social network sites use microblogs to allow members to update their personal
profiles.

B-blog
● Another version is a b-blog (short for business blog)
● Used by businesses to promote themselves on the internet

Wikis
● Websites that allow users to create & edit web pages using web browsers.
● Will support hyperlinks
● Use very simple syntax to create pages

Features of wiki:
● Anyone can edit/delete content
● Many authors can be involved
● Possible to organise a page according to author’s wish
● Shows and keeps track of all entries.
● Can be easily edited using a web browser.
● Allows large documents to be seen by many people

Social Networking Site

● Focuses on building online communities of users who share the same interests and
activities.
● They enable people to share photos, videos, music, hobbies, favourite eating places etc.
 ● They do this by creating public profiles and thus form relationships with other users.

Features of social networking site:

● Each member given free space
● Each member can build their own private & public profiles
● Possible to upload content (text message, videos, photos)
● Possible to ‘write on each other’s wall’
● Members are given free sms & video chatting
● Possible to email members within the same community.
● Members can create pages (to post photos, articles, etc.)
● Can invite people
● Members have control over who can access their private data

Forums
● Moderated forum - an online discussion forum in which all the posts are checked by an
administrator before being posted
● Many users prefer this type of forum - the moderator doesn’t only prevent spam, but can
also filter out any posts that are inappropriate, rude/offensive, or not-related
● Unmoderated forum - No one ‘owns’ the internet, and it is essentially not policed. The
only real safeguards are voluntary cooperation between the users & the network
operators.
● However, most social forums or networking groups on the internet have a set of rules

10.2.3 Functionality of the Internet

Internet service provider (ISP)
● A company that provides users with access to the internet - normally pays a monthly fee
for this service.
● Upon registration with an ISP, an account is set up & login details (user ID & password)
will be provided.
● An ISP has the equipment & telecommunications lines necessary to access the internet
– usually broadband connections which use fibre optic cables.

Web browser
● Software that allows a user to display a web page on their computer screen.
● It interprets or translates the HTML from websites and shows the result of the translation.
This can often be in the form of videos, images or sound.

10.2.4 Web addresses, URLs, Hyperlinks

● Uses uniform resource locators (URLs) to access websites, retrieve files and etc.
Example:
● http://109.108.158.1
OR
● protocol://website address/path/filename
● Protocol - usually http or https
 ● Website address
○ Domain host (www)
○ Domain name (name of website)
○ Domain type (.com, .org, .co, .gov, .net)
○ Sometimes a country code (.uk, .my, .kr)
● Path - directory
● Filename - the item on the webpage

Opening a website from URL

Opening a website with a search engine

● Search engines are useful if you do not know the URL of the website, or if you want to
find some information but do not know where to look.
● The more detailed or specific your search string, the more accurate the results (known
as ‘hits’) will be.
10.2.5 Searching the internet for information
2 Ways to locate information:
● Type the URL
● Use search engine (if URL is not known)

Once information is found:

● It can be saved as favourite
● Add hyperlink to a document
● Can take screenshot (print screen)
● Copy and paste information into another document

Advantages of using internet to find information:

● Information on the internet tends to be up-to-date (easier to amend web pages than to
reprint books)
● Has a big, almost limitless, amount of information.
● Search - using search engines is fast & easy.
● Can search for information from anywhere – no travelling required.
● Information on the internet usually free
● Information in multimedia format - more interested learning

Disadvantages of using internet to find information:

● Not regulated - anything can be posted (bias info or incorrect)
● Risk of accessing inappropriate websites
● Too easy to be distracted when searching the internet.
● Information overload - if the user lacks necessary experience when using search
engines.
● Huge risk of plagiarism.
● Some research skills are lost when using the internet (a search engine can do all the
work)

Why internet search not always fast?

● Possible information overload.
● Might take a long time to find the right information (unless the user narrows down the
search criteria)

Why finding reliable information not always easy?

● No guarantee the material listed is accurate & unbiased.
● Material posted on websites doesn’t have to be checked by other people.
● Websites might be out of date (information will be irrelevant or no longer correct)

How to evaluate information found on the internet?

6 criteria to consider when evaluating information found on internet:
● Does the information come from a reliable source that can be verified?
 ● Verified information from another source; is it grammatically correct and free of spelling
mistakes?
● Is the article objective? No evidence of bias (e.g links to organisations to support the
‘bias’ in the article & contain any advertising which reinforces the bias in the article
● Is the information dated? - when was it last reviewed and by whom?
● Does the article cover all aspects and are all arguments fully supported either by
information supplied/references to external experts/external links to well-respected
organisations (e.g. universities)?
● Does the website look legitimate? Do all the links in the website still work?

10.2.6 Internet Protocols

● Protocol - set of rules agreed by the ‘sender’ & ‘recipient’ when data is being transferred
between devices.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http and https)

● http – set of rules that must be obeyed when transferring data across the internet. (e.g.
‘http://’ – tells the web browser that http rules for communication are to be obeyed)
● If HTTP is omitted from the address, most web browsers now default to HTTP.
● For some form of security (e.g. SSL), certification or encryption is used
● Then the protocol is changed to HTTPS (this is often seen along with the padlock
symbol). The letter ‘S’ in https refers to secure

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

● File Transfer Protocol – a network protocol used when transferring files from one
computer to another computer over the internet.
● Similar to :
○ http – used for transfer of web pages & data.
○ smtp – simple mail transfer protocol used for transferring emails

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)

● Secure Sockets Layer – protocol that allows data to be sent & received securely over
the internet.
● Designed to work with communication protocols like HTTP and FTP
● When used with HTTP, a user logs onto a website as normal but SSL encrypts the data
– only the user’s computer & the web server are able to understand the information
being transmitted.
● SSL is being applied when the user sees HTTPS, or a small padlock in the status bar
● The address window in the browser when HTTPS protocol is being applied, rather than
just HTTP protocol, is quite different

SSL would be used in:

● Online banking & all online financial transactions
● Online shopping/commerce
● When sending software out to a restricted list of users
 ● Sending & receiving emails
● Using cloud storage facilities
● Intranets & extranets (as well as the internet)
● Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) when carrying out video chatting and/or audio
chatting over the internet
● Used in instant messaging
● When using a social networking site.

10.2.7 Internet Risks

● The internet does contain inappropriate material - some of which is criminal in nature.
● Many users seem to think that prosecution is unlikely due to the internet being unpoliced
- untrue
● To prevent inappropriate material finding its way onto the internet, should there be some
form of control?

Arguments in favour of internet control:

Arguments against
internet control: