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Communication
In this chapter you will learn about:
★ communication via emails, including:
 Uses and constraints
 Security
 Netiquette
 Making copies
 Language used
 Attachments
 Spam
★ effective use of the internet:
 Differences between the World Wide Web (WWW) and the internet
 Intranets
 Extranets
 Blogs and wikis
 Forums
 Social networking
★ internet service providers (ISP)
★ search engines (including the evaluation of information found)
★ internet protocols
★ internet risks.

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Communication with other ICT users using email

Characteristics, uses and constraints

Emails are one of the most common ways of communicating between people.

There are many rules we need to follow while using the Emails, why?
to ensure the security of the messages sent, and to prevent people writing
anything that is unacceptable.

We will consider the following concepts and constraints for communicating

between people:
1) Legislation
2) Acceptable language
3) Guidelines set by an employer
4) Copyright and Security of Emails
5) Security and Password Protection
6) Netiquette

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1- Legislation
Many countries have laws to protect people against the misuse of emails.
These guidelines are used when sending out emails.

Emails Law and constraints:

1. Many countries require senders of emails to obtain ‘opt-in’ permission be-
fore emails are sent out.
2. A company or individual must have a clear way for recipients to ‘opt out.
3. Companies must provide subscribers with a very clear way to unsubscribe
from their listings.
4. Companies and organisations must make their privacy policy very clear to
subscribers – who must be made aware of such policies.
5. Many countries don’t allow companies or organisations to harvest email ad-
dresses (this is the process of capturing lists of email addresses).
6. A valid postal address must accompany emails from companies or organi-
sations.
7. It is important that emails are not sent out with false or misleading subject
lines.

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2- Acceptable language
The language used when writing emails should follow an acceptable code.
The following is a list of unacceptable content to be used in emails, text mes-
sages and online forums (it does not cover everything, but gives some idea of
what is not acceptable when sending emails):
● Obscene images
● Language regarded as: abusive, profane, inflammatory, etc..
● Racist, exploitative or violent messages
● Using illegal materials or messages.
Basicly anyone writing emails, or posting messages, etc. must be aware of
the above constraints.

3- Guidelines set by an employer

Company (small or large) publishes guidelines for using of emails and other
electronic communications for employers.
Guidelines must follow the laws in the country in which the company oper-
ates.
Companies must ensure that all of their staff are following the rules.

Examples for compamy email policy and guidelines:

● All employees should only assume they can use a company’s email sys-
tem for business use; it is up to companies to decide if personal emails
should be permitted on their systems
● Companies may specify which company devices are allowed to be used
for sending and receiving emails
● The acceptable style and tone of emails should be made clear (see sec-
tions on acceptable language and netiquette); there needs to be a com-
pany standard style when sending emails
● It must be made clear what email content is not permitted
● Employees should be told to only use their own accounts when sending
emails (and these accounts should be password protected)
● There must be clear rules regarding confidentiality of information and
that all staff must be aware of their contractual obligations
● Staff need to be aware of the method and duration of storing emails
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● Incoming emails should only be read by the recipient; they can only be
read by another member of staff if so nominated
● The company policy on how to deal with and prevent viruses (and other
security threats) must be clearly laid out (these could include use of anti-
virus software, filtering of incoming and outgoing email traffic, use of
auto-responders when staff are not in work, and so on)
● Monitoring of emails may be carried out and staff must be aware that the
company has the right to read all emails
● Suitable ongoing training will take place to ensure staff follow company
policy at all times and that the company policy on emails will be enforced
at all times.

4- Copyright and Security of Emails

Remember, emails are subject to copyright laws.

Because it is easy to forward an email or any attachments sent with an email.
Which made it -sometimes- illegal according to its contents.
The copyright in an email (like: web pages) is determined by its content. How
is that?
When the sender clearly indicates that the message is confidential or its a
subject of copyright law.
So, Printing, copying or forwarding emails is generally not considered a
breach of copyright unless the sender has indicated that clearly in his email.

Basicly the recipient must check this before forwarding emails to somebody
else.
Most companies or organisations will clearly set out their policies on sending
emails and the material that they contain.

By making the sender’s email address as a part of the company’s name, for
example, A.N.User@company_name.com.
Emails and attachments from companies and organisations will usually con-
tain some copyright statement (in the email message).

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5- Security and Password Protection

To increase the security of emails:
1) Use strong passwords when logging on.
2) Change passwords on a regular basis.
3) Use spam filters.
4) Use anti-virus and anti-spam software.

Emails can be affected by both: passive and active attacks.

Passive attacks are the sending of email material to other users without your
permission.
Active attacks e the sending of email material to other users without your per-
mission involving the modification of your messages or stopping of a service.
Active attacks can also involve viruses or phishing attacks.
.
6- Netiquette
Netiquette (form: interNET etiquette) refers to the respect of other users’
views when posting views in online discussion groups or when sending
emails.

You must always consider what you write, because the reader cannot see
your facial expressions or body language.

Always be aware of netiquette rules when posting messages or sending

emails.

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Rules of netiquette:
1) Do not be abusive (do not threaten people).
2) Do not send.
3) Be clear and succinct with your message.
4) Remember public posts can be read by anyone.
5) Check your spelling and grammar.
6) Respect people's privacy.
7) Forgive people’s mistakes or errors.
8) Do not use CAPITAL LETTERS to highlight comments (seen as ‘shouting’
in emails, text messages and online forums).
9) Do not plagiarise – always acknowledge quotes used in any messages
you write.
10) Do not use too many emoticons.

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Email groups
Email groups are used for a number of purposes, like:

1- To send the same message to a multiple emails’ addresses (under a sin-

gle name - use the single group name in the ‘to’ box).
2- Companies and organisations can group/classify people together for mar-
keting purposes.
3- Several thousand people can be sent spam at one time.
4- To set up meetings for the companies (By ensuring that everybody is in-
vited to attend the meeting)

Other email operations

When sending an email to a person, there are other options available, such
as:
 Carbon copies (cc)
 Blind carbon copy (bcc)
 Forward
 Attachments.

Carbon copies (Cc) and Blind carbon copies (Bcc)

They are both are ways to send tha same email to many recipients (ad-
dresses).
The difference between carbon copies (Cc) and blind carbon copies (Bcc) is
that the Bcc address details are invisible to everyone receiving the email.
But, all recipients in a Cc list, can see all other recipients.
The use of Cc is really just netiquette.
On the ‘To’ box these are the main recipients, and those in the ‘Cc’ list are in-
terested ones.
Bcc is often used as a security measure when using email groups, why?
Because the Bcc address details are invisible to everyone receiving the
email.

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Comparison between (Cc) and (Bcc):

Carbon copies (Cc) Blind carbon copies (Bcc)

send tha same email to many recipi- send tha same email to many recipi-
ents (email addresses). ents (email addresses).
Email address details are visible to Email address details are invisible
everyone receiving the email. to everyone receiving the email.
Using as just netiquette. Used as a security measure when
using email groups.

To keep the addresses of everyone safe (added as a security), when sending

an email to many recipients, do the following:

1) Put all email address in the (To) field.

2) Create an email group containing all the recipients and name it (store it).
3) Type the named email group in the (Bcc) field.
4) This is an additional protection; all address details are invisible to everyone
receiving the email (authorised or unauthorised).

Forwarding of emails
Forwarding of emails should be treated with great care.

Two problems exist here:

1) Some internet service providers (ISPs) do not recognise (identify) the true
source of emails.
2) Some ISPs have spam filters (some emails may considerd as spams).

Both problems are undesirable, because there will now be an increased risk
that many of the emails sent to the email address will be spam.
You could end up being blacklisted by your ISP.
So, many web hosts stopped the email forward feature.

Attachments
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Attachments are files that sent with your email.

Always be care with the attachments, why?
Because they can potentially contain malicious attachments (Spam and
phishing).
Your computer can be infected if the attachment contains an executable file
(files that ends with: .exe, .msi, .bat, .cmd, and so on).

When sending attachments that remember the ISP will have a limit on the
size of file.
Emails do not intend to include large files.
You can use alternative methods 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. Then sendthe link in an email and the recip-
ient can then download very large files by clicking on it).

Characteristics and effects of spam

Any unknown / unwanted email sent over the internet is regarded as spam.
Spam can affect both computer users and mobile phones.
In mobile phones it is usually text messages being send to multiple phones.
It refers to as (m-spam, mobile spamming or spam SMS).

It is often sent to multiple recipients. It is dangerous, because spam can con-

tain viruses or be part of a phishing scam.

Spam can affect many online operations by links (are called spambots).
These links are posted within videos which send users to another website (for
example, YouTube).

Spam is a cheap way of advertising to many people at the same time.

The disadvantages of spam are:

● It uses up people’s time.
● It disturbs people.
● It uses up a used bandwidth on the internet (slowing it).
● It can have viruses attached.
● It can fill users’ inboxes.

Effective use of the internet

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We will consider the internet, intranets and extranets. This will include many
of the features of each type of network.

Characteristics, uses, advantages and disadvantages of the internet

The differences between the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW)
Internet comes from INTERconnected NETwork, because it is a worldwide
collection of interconnected networks.
The internet as a whole is actually a concept rather than something we can
touch (hardware or equipments).
It relies on a physical infrastructure that allows networks and individual de-
vices to connect to other networks and devices.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a part of the internet in which users can ac-
cess using web browser software.
The World Wide Web consists of a collection of web pages, and has been
based on the hypertext transfer protocol (http) since 1989.
The World Wide Web is a way of accessing information using the internet.
So, the internet and the World Wide Web are different. The following TABLE
summarises the differences.
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Summary of differences between the internet and the World Wide Web

internet World Wide Web (WWW)

Users can send and receive It is a collection of web pages
emails and other information on web-
sites
Allows online chatting (via Uses http(s) protocols to send
text, audio and video) (HTML) documents
Makes use of transmission Uses Uniform resource locators
protocols (TCP) and internet (URLs) to specify the location of
protocols (IP) web pages
It is a worldwide collection of Web resources are accessed by
interconnected networks and web browsers
devices
WWW uses the internet to ac-
cess information from web
servers

Intranets and extranets

Many companies use both intranet and the internet.
An intranet is a computer network based on internet technology and designed
to meet the company needs for sharing information.
Intranet can be accessed by the company or organisation itself (is not avail-
able to the general public, not like the internet).
Intranets uses a firewall and can be only accessible by:
 internally to members of the company.
 to people given different levels of access (they are external to the com-
pany).

Why companies prefer intranets rather than the internet?

Reasons depending on intranets rather than the internet:
1) Intranets are safer (because by using firewalls there no external hacking
or viruses).
2) Easier to prevent external links.
3) Companies can ensure that the information available belongs to their in-
ternal audience’s needs.
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‫‪4) Easier to send out sensitive messages in the knowledge that they will re-‬‬
‫‪main within the company.‬‬
‫‪5) Intranets offer better bandwidth than the internet, therefore there are‬‬
‫‪fewer connection limits than with the internet (that is, the number of bits‬‬
‫‪per second that can be transmitted are usually higher within an intranet).‬‬

‫‪It is also possible to create extranets that allow intranets to be extended out-‬‬
‫‪side the organisation, but with the same advantages as an intranet; this al-‬‬
‫‪lows, for example, trading partners to have controlled access to some infor-‬‬
‫‪mation (commercially-sensitive information is password protected).‬‬

‫اإلنترانت والشبكات الخارجية تستخدم العديد من الشركات شبكة اإلنترانت وكذلك‬

‫اإلنترنت‪ .‬يتم تعريف اإلنترانت على أنها "شبكة كمبيوتر تعتمد على تقنية اإلنترنت ولكنها‬
‫مصممة لتلبية االحتياجات الداخلية لمشاركة المعلومات داخل مؤسسة أو شركة‬
‫واحدة"‪.‬‬
‫عادًة ما يقتصر الوصول إلى اإلنترانت على شركة أو مؤسسة ‪ ،‬وعلى عكس اإلنترنت ‪،‬‬
‫فهو غير متاح لعامة الناس‪ .‬توجد الشبكات الداخلية خلف جدار حماية ويمكن الوصول‬
‫إليها فقط‪» :‬داخليًا ألعضاء الشركة ‪ ،‬أو »لألشخاص الذين تم منحهم مستويات مختلفة‬
‫من الوصول والذين هم خارج الشركة (انظر الحًقا)‬

‫‪ .‬هناك عدد من األسباب العتماد الشبكات الداخلية بدًال من استخدام اإلنترنت‪» :‬‬
‫تعتبر الشبكات الداخلية أكثر أماًنا نظًر ا لوجود فرصة أقل للقرصنة الخارجية أو‬
‫الفيروسات‬
‫‪» .‬من األسهل منع الروابط الخارجية ‪ ،‬على سبيل المثال ‪ ،‬بعض المواقع اإللكترونية‬
‫‪» .‬يمكن للشركات التأكد من أن المعلومات المتاحة خاصة باحتياجات جمهورها‬
‫الداخلي‬
‫‪» .‬من األسهل إرسال رسائل حساسة مع العلم بأنها ستبقى داخل الشركة‬
‫‪» .‬توفر الشبكات الداخلية نطاًقا ترددًيا أفضل من اإلنترنت ‪ ،‬وبالتالي هناك حدود اتصال‬
‫أقل من اإلنترنت (أي أن عدد البتات في الثانية التي يمكن نقلها يكون عادًة أعلى داخل‬
‫شبكة إنترانت)‪ .‬من الممكن أيًض ا إنشاء شبكات خارجية تسمح بتوسيع شبكات‬
‫اإلنترانت خارج المؤسسة ‪ ،‬ولكن مع نفس مزايا الشبكة الداخلية ؛ يسمح هذا ‪ ،‬على‬

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‫سبيل المثال ‪ ،‬للشركاء التجاريين بالتحكم في الوصول إلى بعض المعلومات‬

‫(المعلومات الحساسة تجارًيا محمية بكلمة مرور)‪.‬‬

‫‪Figure 10.6 shows how intranets, extranets and the internet can all be con-‬‬
‫‪nected together. Access to servers behind a firewall is limited for external‬‬
‫‪users.‬‬

‫يوضح الشكل ‪ 10.6‬كيف يمكن توصيل جميع الشبكات الداخلية واإلكسترانت واإلنترنت‬
‫مًعا‪ .‬الوصول إلى الخوادم خلف جدار الحماية محدود للمستخدمين الخارجيين‪.‬‬

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What are the differences between the internet and an intranet?

A table displays the differences between the internet and an intranet
Internet Intranet
Internet comes from the phrase: IN- Intranet comes from the phrase: IN-
TERconnected NETwork. Ternal Restricted Access NETwork.
Used to give local information rele- Covers everything.
vant to the company or organization.
Can block out certain websites. More difficult to block out certain
websites.
Requires a password and user ID, Can be accessed by anyone from
and can only be accessed from anywhere (the user has an ISP ac-
agreed points/computers. count).
Behind a firewall, which gives some Less protection against hackers and
protection against hackers, viruses, malware.
and so on.
Information used in intranets is usu- Information used in intranets is usu-
ally stored on local servers, which ally stored on global servers, which
makes it more secure from outside makes it less secure from outside
users. users.

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Blogs, wikis, social networking sites and forums

1- Blogs
Web logs (Blogs) are personal internet journals where the writer (blogger) will
type on a topic (or may provide links to some relevant websites).
It’s always used/posted by the author (one user).
Generally, Blogs focusing on small projects (topics) through to important so-
cial issues.
The comments made on blogs are under subject of the law (bloggers can be
judged when writing offensive material).
Features of blogs:
 Updated on a regular period by the author.
 Usually organised in descending order (from recent to last entry).
 Normally public (anyone can read them).
 Entries always are from a single author.
 Internet users cannot change blogs (they can only read them).

Microblogs are similar to blogs, but are used on social networking sites to
make short, frequent posts.
In microblogs the posts can be done using instant messaging, emails or use
other social networking vehicles (such as tweets).
Social networking sites use microblogs to allow members to update their per-
sonal profiles.
(For example: B-blog (short for business blog) used by businesses to pro-
mote themselves on the internet).

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2- Wikis
Wikis are web applications or websites that allow any user to create and edit
their web pages using any web browser.
A wiki can involve hyperlinks and uses a very simple syntax called wiki
markup to create pages. Can be described as ‘web pages with an <edit> but-
ton’.
Features of wikis:
 Anyone can edit, delete or modify the content.
 Many authors can be involved in a wiki.
 Pages can be organized by any way the author(s) wish(es).
 Shows/Keeps track of all entries (stores a document history).
 Can be easily edited using a web browser.
 Allows large documents to be seen by many people (easier than email-
ing several people).

3- Social networking sites

Social networking sites used to build online communities of users who share
the same interests and activities.
The members can create public profiles and thus form relationships with other
users.
They made people able to share photos, videos and music and so on.
The potential dangers of such sites by sending viruses.

Features of social networking sites:

 Each member has free web storage space.
 Each member can build their own private and public profiles.
 Can upload content (like: text messages, photos and videos).
 Can write on other’s walls.
 Members has free instant messaging and video chatting.
 Can email other members within the community.
 Members can create pages so they can post photos, articles, and so
on.
 Can invite people to become friends.

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 Members control who can access their private or personal data.

4- Forums
A forum is an online discussion website where many people can post and dis-
cuss many topics.
There are two types of forums:
1- Moderated
2- Unmoderated
A moderated forum refers to an online discussion forum in which all the posts
are checked by an administrator before they are allowed to be posted.
An unmoderated forum refers to an online discussion forum in which all the
posts are not checked by an administrator before they are allowed to be
posted.
Many users prefer moderated forum, because administrator can:
1) Prevent spam.
2) Filter out any posts that are inappropriate.
3) That wander off the main topic.

The internet is a huge unmoderated forum, because no one ‘owns’ the inter-
net, and it is essentially not policed or managed.
The only protection in the internet is a voluntary company between the users
and the network operators.
Social forums or networking groups have a set of rules or protocols that mem-
bers must follow or they will be deleted.

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