Evolution of the Internet
EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET AND WWW
Evolution
World Wide Web was created
by Timothy Berners Lee in
1989 at CERN in Geneva. World Wide Web came into
existence as a proposal by him, to allow researchers to work together
effectively and efficiently at CERN. Eventually
it became World Wide Web.
The following diagram briefly defines
evolution of World Wide Web:
WWW Architecture
WWW architecture is divided into several
layers as shown in the following diagram:
Identifiers and
Character Set
Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI) is
used to uniquely identify resources on the web and UNICODE makes it possible to built web pages that can be read
and write in human languages.
Syntax
XML (Extensible
Markup Language) helps
to define common syntax in semantic web.
Data Interchange
Resource
Description Framework (RDF) framework helps in defining core representation of
data for web. RDF represents data about resource in graph form.
Taxonomies
RDF Schema (RDFS) allows more
standardized description of taxonomies and
other ontological constructs.
Ontologies
Web Ontology
Language (OWL) offers
more constructs over RDFS. It comes in following three versions:
OWL Lite for taxonomies and simple
constraints.
OWL DL for full description logic support.
OWL for more syntactic freedom of RDF
Rules
RIF and SWRL offers rules beyond the
constructs that are available from RDFs and OWL. Simple Protocol and RDF Query Language (SPARQL) is
SQL like language used for querying RDF data and OWL Ontologies.
Proof
All semantic and rules that are executed at
layers below Proof and their result will be used to prove deductions.
Cryptography
Cryptography means such as
digital signature for verification of the origin of sources is used.
User Interface and
Applications
On the top of layer User interface and Applications layer
is built for user interaction.
WWW Operation
WWW works on
client- server approach. Following steps explains how the web works:
User enters the URL (say, http://www.tutorialspoint.com) of the
web page in the address bar of web browser.
Then browser requests the Domain Name Server
for the IP address corresponding to www.tutorialspoint.com.
After receiving IP address, browser sends the
request for web page to the web server using HTTP protocol which specifies the
way the browser and web server communicates.
Then web server receives request using HTTP
protocol and checks its search for the requested web page. If found it returns
it back to the web browser and close the HTTP connection.
Now the web browser receives the web page, It
interprets it and display the contents of web page in web browser’s window.
Future
There had been a rapid development in field
of web. It has its impact in almost every area such as education, research,
technology, commerce, marketing etc. So the future of web is almost
unpredictable.
Apart from huge development in field of WWW,
there are also some technical issues that W3 consortium has to cope up with.
User Interface
Work on higher quality presentation of 3-D
information is under deveopment. The W3 Consortium is also looking forward to
enhance the web to full fill requirements of global communities which would
include all regional languages and writing systems.
Technology
Work on privacy and security is under way.
This would include hiding information, accounting, access control, integrity
and risk management.
Architecture
There has been huge growth in field of web
which may lead to overload the internet and degrade its performance. Hence more
better protocol are required to be developed.
Web Page
web page is a document
available on world wide web. Web Pages are stored on web server and can be
viewed using a web browser.
A web page can cotain huge information
including text, graphics, audio, video and hyper links. These hyper links are
the link to other web pages.
Collection of linked web pages on a web
server is known as website. There
is unique Uniform Resource Locator
(URL) is associated with each web page.
Static Web page
Static web pages are also known
as flat or stationary web page. They are loaded on the client’s browser as
exactly they are stored on the web server. Such web pages contain only static
information. User can only read the information but can’t do any modification
or interact with the information.
Static web pages are created using only HTML.
Static web pages are only used when the information is no more required to be
modified.
Dynamic Web page
Dynamic web page shows different
information at different point of time. It is possible to change a portaion of
a web page without loading the entire web page. It has been made possible
using Ajax technology.
Server-side dynamic
web page
It is created by using server-side scripting.
There are server-side scripting parameters that determine how to assemble a new
web page which also include setting up of more client-side processing.
Client-side dynamic
web page
It is processed using client side scripting
such as JavaScript. And then passed in to Document Object Model (DOM).
Scripting Laguages
Scripting languages are like programming
languages that allow us to write programs in form of script. These scripts are
interpreted not compiled and executed line by line.
Scripting language is used to create dynamic
web pages.
Client-side
Scripting
Client-side
scripting refers
to the programs that are executed on client-side. Client-side scripts contains
the instruction for the browser to be executed in response to certain user’s
action.
Client-side scripting programs can be
embedded into HTML files or also can be kept as separate files.
Following table describes commonly used
Client-Side scripting languages:
|
S.N.
|
Scripting
Language Description
|
|
1.
|
JavaScript
It is a prototype based scripting language. It inherits its naming conventions from java. All java script files are stored in file having .js extension. |
|
2.
|
ActionScriptIt is an object
oriented programming language used for the development of websites and
software targeting Adobe flash player.
|
|
3.
|
Dart
It is an open source web programming language developed by Google. It relies on source-to-source compiler to JavaScript. |
|
4.
|
VBScript
It is an open source web programming language developed by Microsoft. It is superset of JavaScript and adds optional static typing class-based object oriented programming. |
Server-side
Scripting
Sever-side
scripting acts
as an interface for the client and also limit the user access the resources on
web server. It can also collects the user’s characteristics in order to
customize response.
Following table describes commonly used
Server-Side scripting languages:
|
S.N.
|
Scripting
Language Description
|
|
1.
|
ASP
Active Server Pages (ASP)is server-side script engine to create dynamic web pages. It supports Component Object Model (COM) which enables ASP web sites to access functionality of libraries such as DLL. |
|
2.
|
ActiveVFP
It is similar to PHP and also used for creating dynamic web pages. It uses native Visual Foxpro language and database. |
|
3.
|
ASP.net
It is used to develop dynamic websites, web applications, and web services. |
|
4.
|
Java
Java Server Pages are used for creating dynamic web applications. The Java code is compiled into byte code and run by Java Virtual Machine (JVM). |
|
5.
|
Python
It supports multiple programming paradigms such as object-oriented, and functional programming. It can also be used as non-scripting language using third party tools such as Py2exe or Pyinstaller. |
|
6.
|
WebDNA
It is also a server-side scripting language with an embedded database system. |
Web Browser
web Browser is an
application software that allows us to view and explore information on the web.
User can request for any web page by just entering a URL into address bar.
Web browser can show text, audio, video,
animation and more. It is the responsibility of a web browser to interpret text
and commands contained in the web page.
Earlier the web browsers were text-based
while now a days graphical-based or voice-based web browsers are also available.
Following are the most common web browser available today:
|
Browser
|
Vendor
|
|
Internet Explorer
|
Microsoft
|
|
Google Chrome
|
Google
|
|
Mozilla Firefox
|
Mozilla
|
|
Netscape Navigator
|
Netscape Communications Corp.
|
|
Opera
|
Opera Software
|
|
Safari
|
Apple
|
|
Sea Monkey
|
Mozilla Foundation
|
|
K-meleon
|
K-meleon
|
Architecture
There are a lot of web browser available in
the market. All of them interpret and display information on the screen however
their capabilities and structure varies depending upon implementation. But the
most basic component that all web browser must exhibit are listed below:
Controller/Dispatcher
Interpreter
Client Programs
Controller works as a
control unit in CPU. It takes input from the keyboard or mouse, interpret it
and make other services to work on the basis of input it receives.
Interpreter receives the
information from the controller and execute the instruction line by line. Some
interpreter are mandatory while some are optional For example, HTML interpreter
program is mandatory and java interpreter is optional.
Client Program describes the
specific protocol that will be used to access a particular service. Following
are the client programs tat are commonly used:
HTTP
SMTP
FTP
NNTP
POP
Starting Internet
Explorer
Internet explorer is a web browser developed
by Microsoft. It is installed by default with the windows operating system
howerver, it can be downloaded and be upgraded.
To start internet explorer, follow the
following steps:
Go to Start button and click Internet Explorer.
The Internet Explorer window will appear as shown in the
following diagram:
Accessing Web Page
Accessing web page is very simple. Just enter
the URL in the address
bar as shown the following diagram:
Navigation
A web page may contain hyperlinks. When we click on these
links other web page is opened. These hyperlinks can be in form of text or
image. When we take the mouse over an hyperlink, pointer change its shape to
hand.
Key Points
In case, you have accessed many web pages and
willing to see the previous webpage then just click back button.
You can open a new web page in the same tab,
or different tab or in a new window.
Saving Webpage
You can save web page to use in future. In
order to save a webpage, follow the steps given below:
Click File > Save As. Save Webpage dialog box appears.
Choose the location where you want to save
your webpage from save in: list
box. Then choose the folder where you want to save the webpage.
Specify the file name in the File name box.
Select the type from Save as type list box.
Webpage, complete
Web Archive
Webpage HTML only
Text File
From the encoding list box, choose the character set which will be
used with your webpage. By default, Western European is selected.
Click save button and the webpage is saved.
Saving Web Elements
Web elements are the pictures, links etc. In
order to save these elements follow the steps given below:
Right click on the webpage
element you want to save. Menu options will appear. These options may vary
depending on the element you want to save.
Save Picture As: This option let
you save the picture at specific location with its name. When you click this
option, a dialog box is opened where you can sepcify its name and location.
Favourites
The Favourites option helps to save addresses
of the webpages you visited oftenly. Hence you need not to remember long and
complex address of websites you visit often.
In order to open any webpage, you just need
to double click on the webpage that you have marked from bookmarks list.
Adding a web page
to your Favourites
In ordered to add website to your favourite
list, follow the steps given below:
Open webpage that you want to add to your
favourite.
Click on favourite menu and then click on Add to Favourites opton. Addfavourites dialog box appears.
You can also click Favourites button available in
the toolbar. Favourites panel will open in the left corner of the internet
explorer window. Click add button, AddFavourites dialog box will
apppear.
In AddFavourites dialog box, the Name: text box will contains the name of the web page that
you want to add to favourites.
Click the Create in button, Favoutites folder will appear. Move to the
folder where you want to store the favourites by clicking on the folder name.
Now click OK button to save the favourites.
Opening Favourites
In order to open favourites, follow the steps
given below:
In the Favourite Panel, take the mouse over
the site that you want to open. Now click on the address to open that site.
Favourite can also be opened from the Favourites menu by selecting the
appropriate one.
Organizing
Favourites
Favourites can be organized by categorizing
web pages, creating folder for each category and then storing web pages into
them. In order to organize favourites, follow the steps given below:
Click Favourites menu > Organize Favourites. Organize favourites
dialog box will appears.
In order to organize the webpages, drag the
individual webpage to the respective folder. Similarly to delete a favourite,
Click on delete button.
The characteristics of the Internet that are
clearly of importance in cyberlibel proceedings are:
its global nature;
interactivity;
its potential to shift the balance of power
in the offline world;
accessibility;
anonymity;
its facilitation of republication;
the prominence of intermediaries;
its reliance on hyperlinks/hypertext;
its long-term impact — the use of permanent
archives;
its multimedia character; and
its temporal indeterminacy.
1) Global Nature:
The first feature of the Internet is its
truly global nature. Presently, more than 1.9 billion people in more than 190
countries are linked through this massive interconnected web of computer
networks.[1]
This feature immediately raises several
interesting conflicts of law questions for the libel lawyer, such as:
a. In which jurisdiction did the
publication of the defamation occur?
Theoretically, every time a third party
accesses a defamatory posting on the Internet, publication has occurred.
b. In what jurisdiction should the
plaintiff sue?
Where the plaintiff resides?
Where the defendant resides?
Wherever publication has occurred?
Where the defendant resides?
Wherever publication has occurred?
Defamation laws vary from country to country
and in countries such as Australia, Canada, and the US, it can vary from
province to province and state to state. Therefore, plaintiffs may have the
luxury of “forum shopping” or choosing the jurisdiction in which the laws are
most favourable.
The High Court of Australia heard a
defamation claim instituted by a plaintiff, who was a resident of the State of
Victoria in Australia, against Dow Jones, an American corporation, for
allegedly defamatory statements made in articles published by Dow Jones on its
website, which was maintained on servers located in the State of New Jersey,
USA. Dow Jones brought a motion to have service of the claim set aside or the
action permanently stayed on the basis that the courts in Australia did not
have jurisdiction. The High Court of Australia rejected that argument and
allowed the action to proceed. The majority of the High Court said at para. 44:
“In defamation, the same considerations that
require rejection of locating the tort by reference only to the publisher’s
conduct, lead to the conclusion that, ordinarily, defamation is to be located
at the place where the damage to reputation occurs. Ordinarily that will be
where the material which is alleged to be defamatory is available in
comprehensible form assuming, of course, that the person defamed has in that
place a reputation which is thereby damaged. It is only when the material is in
comprehensible form that the damage to reputation is done and it is damage to
reputation which is the principal focus of defamation, not any quality of the
defendant’s conduct. In the case of material on the World Wide Web (web), it is
not available in comprehensible form until downloaded on to the computer of a
person who has used a web browser to pull the material from the web server. It
is where that person downloads the material that the damage to reputation may
be done. Ordinarily then, that will be the place where the tort of defamation
is committed.
c. Whose laws should apply?
For example, should the First Amendment
protection and the public figure defence available in the US apply? Or should
the common law of the commonwealth apply? Or the civil law?[2]
d. Will it be possible to enforce any
judgment obtained?
Currently, despite legislation allowing
reciprocal enforcement of civil judgments, some courts in the US are unwilling
to enforce defamation judgments from other jurisdictions because of First
Amendment protection of freedom of expression.
e. What is the quantum of damages?
Theoretically, damages could be very large as
a publication on the Internet potentially reaches millions of people. In
practice, however, it is unlikely that millions of people will actually view
each particular publication. In any event, publication on the Internet will
generally be larger than in all but the largest print or broadcast media
outlets.
The global nature of the Internet also raises
some interesting procedural questions for the libel lawyer. In traditional
libel law, there are three different types of defamatory statements:
a. A statement that is defamatory on
its face and which is obviously defamatory.
b. A statement which contains false
innuendo. False innuendo is a defamatory statement that has an inferential
meaning, therefore only persons with the necessary contextual knowledge
appreciate that the statement is defamatory. Since statements on the Internet
are published globally, their inferential meanings may vary depending on the
geographic or cultural location of the reader or the newsgroups or the Usenet
group involved.
c. A statement of legal innuendo. While
not defamatory on their face, these statements are defamatory when viewed
together with extrinsic circumstances. Once again, contextual knowledge may
render a statement defamatory in one jurisdiction but not in another.[3]
The geographical indeterminancy of the
technology of the Internet collides regularly with the stark reality of the
geographical determinacy of defamation actions. This reality is above and
beyond the conflicts of law questions that bedevil all international
litigation. It is an example of a larger problem facing other areas of the law
and the Internet, as stated by Binnie J. in the Supreme Court of Canada
decisions of Society of
Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Canadian Assn. of Internet
Providers, 2004 SCC 45, [2004] 2 S.C.R. 427 at para. 41:
“The issue of the proper balance in matters
of copyright plays out against
the much larger conundrum of trying to apply national laws to a fast-evolving
technology that in essence respects no national boundaries. Thus
in Citron v. Zundel (2002),
41 C.H.R.R. D/274, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal wrestled with
jurisdiction over an alleged hate Web site supplied with content from Toronto
but posted from a host server in California. In Reference re Earth Future Lottery, 2003
SCC 10 (CanLII), [2003] 1 S.C.R. 123, 2003 SCC 10, the issue was whether sales
of tickets from an Internet lottery in Prince Edward Island constituted
gambling “in the province” when almost all of the targeted on-line purchasers
resided elsewhere. The
“cyber libel” cases multiply. In Braintech, Inc. v. Kostiuk 1999 BCCA 169
(CanLII), (1999), 171 D.L.R. (4th) 46, the British Columbia Court of Appeal
refused to enforce a Texas judgment for Internet defamation against a B.C.
resident where the B.C. resident’s only connection with Texas was “passive
posting on an electronic bulletin board” (para. 66). There was no proof that
anyone in Texas had actually looked at it. On the other hand, in Dow Jones & Co. v. Gutnick (2002),
194 A.L.R. 433, [2002] HCA 56, the High Court of Australia accepted
jurisdiction over a defamation action in respect of material uploaded onto the
defendant’s server in New Jersey and downloaded by end users in the State of
Victoria. The issue of global forum shopping for actions for Internet torts has
scarcely been addressed. The availability of child pornography on the Internet
is a matter of serious concern. E-commerce is growing. Internet liability is thus a vast
field where the legal harvest is only beginning to ripen. It is
with an eye to this broader context that the relatively precise questions
raised by the Copyright Board must be considered. [Emphasis added].
Emphasis on reputation and freedom of speech
varies greatly even within the English-speaking common law world.[4] Jurisdictions
such as the UK provide remedies for defamation but, until recently, only
limited recourses for invasion of privacy,[5] while the converse is true in other
jurisdictions such as France.
The use of legal innuendos, community
standards for defamatory meaning, local procedural rules, and jurisdiction
arguments accentuate the geographical determinacy of defamation law. This clash
has several consequences, for example:
jurisdictional disputes are a common feature
of cyberlibel cases,
there are limited extraterritorial
applications for injunctions against cyberlibel statements published globally
(see Barrick Gold Corp.
v. Lopehandia, 2004 CanLII 12938 (ON C.A.));
abuse of process motions based on limited
publications in the jurisdiction are used in UK cases (see “abuse of process,”
below Chapter 9, section F; Chapter 11, sections E, F, and G; and Chapter 15,
section C (2)); and
a very uneven “landscape” for the liability
or immunity of intermediaries. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996,
47 U.S.C.A. (CDA)
provides complete immunity for the Internet Service Provider (ISP). No
legislative protection exists for the ISP in defamation claims in Canada.
2)
Interactivity:
The interactive character of the Internet
utterly changes the libel playing field. It is completely different from the
Industrial Age paradigm where newspapers and television stations had dominant
if not monopolistic relationships with readers and viewers.
Someone who is damaged by the press has
limited remedies. In the Internet Age a person whose reputation is attacked now
has a wide range of offensive and defensive remedies, including juridical,
technological, and public relations options. In many cases, the scope of
re-publication is as wide or can even be wider than the original publication.
The ease with which users of the Internet can
access bulletin boards and Usenets and communicate with each other has
engendered in its users a false sense of freedom in their communications. This
is exemplified by the prevalence of activities such as “spamming”[6] and
“flaming”[7] in Internet communications. As a
result, the Internet is qualitatively different from any other medium.
Consequently, Mike Godwin, counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says
that “the public figure defence” should apply to statements made on the
Internet. The ability to reply, he claims, is much more gratifying, immediate,
and potent than launching a libel action.[8]
Some American commentators[9] have proposed that when a libel
plaintiff has been defamed by a message posted on an electronic bulletin board
and she has access to the bulletin board to post a reply, the First Amendment
requires that the plaintiff prove that the defendant acted with “actual malice”
in defaming the plaintiff.[10] They argue that “Libel Plaintiffs
who have been defamed by bulletin board speech and who have both access to the
bulletin board on which the defamatory material appeared and a history of
participation on the bulletin board are functionally equivalent to public
figures.”[11] This proposal raises numerous
questions such as:
Should the conceptual basis of this defence
be the First Amendment or the technological ease of reply on the Internet?
What will be the reactions of courts outside
the US to a defence based on the First Amendment?
Should the elements of such a defence
include: (i) access to the Internet? (ii) access to the Internet and a
particular bulletin board system where the defamatory statement was published?
(iii) participation in the discussion?; (iv) a previous history of
participation and discussions in that particular bulletin board system?
More broadly, counsel must consider: (i) what
subject matters should be covered? (ii)how to define issues of public interest
on a global medium of communication?
Is this defence only available to the
operators of bulletin board systems or to the original publishers as well?
Should this concept be a defence or simply a
mitigation of damages?
These issues have not yet been decided by the
courts, but they need to be addressed as the Internet does provide a unique
means of a quick and responsive reply to an attack on a person’s reputation.
3) Shifting the
Balance of Power in the Offline World[12]
In some situations the Internet can actually
change the balance of power that exists normally in the offline world. Any
enterprise that has been the target of a concerted cyber-attack comes to
realize that the terms of the debate are not what it is accustomed to, where,
for example it is able to gain favourable attention for its press releases. On
the contrary, the attackers are the persons with the power. The ferocity,
ubiquity, and tenacity of cyblerlibel attacks often stun their targets.
Secondly, the motions judge failed to
appreciate, and in my opinion misjudged, the true extent of Mr. Lopehandia’s
target audience and the nature of the potential impact of the libel in the
context of the Internet. She was alive to the fact that Mr. Lopehandia “[had]
the ability, through the Internet, to spread his message around the world to
those who take the time to search out and read what he posts” and indeed that
he had “posted messages on many, many occasions.” However, her decision not to
take the defamation seriously led her to cease her analysis of the Internet
factor at that point. She failed to take into account the distinctive capacity
of the Internet to cause instantaneous, and irreparable, damage to the business
reputation of an individual or corporation by reason of its interactive and
globally all-pervasive nature and the characteristics of Internet
communications.
Had the motions judge taken these
characteristics of the Internet more fully into account, she might well have
recognized Barrick’s exposure to substantial damages to its reputation by
reason of the medium through which the Lopehandia message was conveyed.
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