Internet Law Terms and Definitions

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Telecommunications Act of 1996 A law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Clinton that extensively revises and updates the 1934 Communications Act, heretofore the principal law governing U.S. communications industries. Cyber-cash On the Internet, customers often purchase products or services by giving their credit card information to a supplier, who then submits a debit to the customer's account with a credit card agency. Cyber-cash provides a new alternative, for which no one standard approach is dominant. Cable modem A modem supplied by a cable television operator that allows users to access the Internet or other information services over cable television networks, which comprise broadband coaxial cables and are capable of much greater speed than conventional twisted pair copper telephone lines. DNS Domain Name Server – Used to map names to IP addresses and vice versa. Domain Name Servers maintain central lists of domain name/IP addresses and map the domain names in your Internet requests to other servers on the Internet until the specified web site is found. See Also: IP Address Go to top Fiber optic cable A type of wire-line transmission media that converts information into light pulses that travel down hollow glass tubes the diameter of a human hair. Fiber optic cables are used in broadband networks, and are capable of carrying an enormous amount of information in all its forms --sound, graphics, data, and video, or a multimedia combination thereof -- with much greater speed, accuracy, and security than conventional copper wires and coaxial cables. Viruses & trojans These sciripts can be used to change or destroy data through email or through files Cellular overlay network A cellular telecommunications network that transmits information through the airwaves across a series of geographically defined "cells" via low-power transmitters. SOFTWARE COPYRIGHT Computer programs are considered "literary works" for the purpose of copyright law. The 1980 amendments to the Copyright Act define a computer program as a "set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result." Bit A "binary digit," the smallest unit of measurement having values of 0 or 1. Bits are used to record the size of a data file on a computer, the capacity per second of a network, and so on. Redirecting the URL A URL can be further obscured by using a redirection service. Some fraudsters have even gone to the effort to redirect their URL twice.

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	Did You Know?
	1996 Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments (EFOIA) The 1966 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) permits any person to request access to federal agency records or information. Federal agencies are required to disclose records upon receipt of a written request, except for records that are protected from disclosure by nice exemptions or three exclusions in the Act. Persons are also able to request documents in an electronic format under the 1996 Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments (EFOIA).