Internet Law Terms and Definitions

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Bandwidth The capacity of a telecommunications network measured in terms of the amount of information it can carry in analog "hertz" or digital "bits" per second. 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. Browser software The multimedia software employed by users to access the World Wide Web, the aspect of the Internet that transmits pictures, sound, etc. At present, the most popular "browsers" include Mosaic, Netscape, and Microsoft Explorer. Users can download these "browsers" from computer "servers" that are connected to the Internet. E-mail address law SB1506 California file sharers who trade songs or films without providing an e- mail address will be guilty of a misdemeanor, under the first-in-the-nation measure that could make it easier for law enforcement to track down people who illegally download copyrighted material. Ports Web pages are accessed on servers through ports. A port can be specified by following the URL with a colon and the port number. If no port is specified, the browser uses port 80 SSL Certificates A URL that begins with “https://” (instead of “http://”) indicates that information is being transmitted over a secure connection and the company has been issued an Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. On-line A "live" connection to a computer network over telecommunications lines, in which a user interacts with other computers on a network to send electronic mail, read information stored on another system, or download information to his or her own terminal. Analog The transmission of sound and visual information in the form of waves in the frequency spectrum. For example, in an analog telephone transmission the human voice is transmitted as sound waves that can be detected by the ear. 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. 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."

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	Did You Know?
	Spam is unsolicited "junk" email Spam is unsolicited "junk" email sent to large numbers of people to promote products or services. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. The reason spam is so prominent on the Internet is the fact that spam costs the sender so little to send; in fact, most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or their Internet Service Provider (ISP).