Internet Functioning as a Surveillance Machine: A Detailed Report

This report provides a comprehensive overview of communication technologies, focusing on the functioning of the internet. It begins with an introduction to the internet, explaining its global network structure and diverse uses. The report delves into the history of the internet, detailing the TCP/IP protocol and the evolution of web access, websites, and e-commerce. A significant portion is dedicated to the World Wide Web, including hypertext, resource identifiers, the client-server model, and markup language. The report also examines the internet's role as a surveillance machine, discussing surveillance methods and the impact on privacy, including threats like identity theft, malware, and phishing. Finally, it explores the internet's function as a public sphere, highlighting its role in information sharing and community building.

Running head: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
Communication Technologies
[Name of the Student]
[Name of the University]
[Author note]

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.......................................................................................................................................4
1. Understanding of the functioning of internet from its background history:............................4
 Web access:.......................................................................................................................5
 Web Sites:.........................................................................................................................5
 E-commerce:.....................................................................................................................5
1.2 World Wide Web:..................................................................................................................5
1.2.1 Hypertext:.......................................................................................................................6
1.2.2. Identifiers of resources:.................................................................................................6
1.2.3. The client server model of computing:..........................................................................6
1.2.4. Markup language:..........................................................................................................6
1.3 Internet functioning as the nearest thing to a perfect surveillance machine:.........................6
1.3.1 Internet in surveillance:..................................................................................................7
1.3.2 Internet in the privacy:....................................................................................................7
1.4. Internet functioning as a public sphere:................................................................................8
1.5 Internet and web services:...................................................................................................10
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11
References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
Internet is the global set of networks that are interconnected by the use of “Internet
Protocol Suite” for the purpose of linking devices present around the world. Internet acts as a
wide platform for providing different information’s. mostly everyone in this world uses the
internet for different purposes like gaming, chatting, messaging, file sharing and many more.
There is no centralized governance over the internet in technological implementations along with
the policies for access and usage. Internet called also be termed as “net” which is a worldwide
system of computer networks that is used by individuals to get information about something by
the use of an electronic devices by mobile, computer, tablets and many more (Spada 2014). With
the advancement in technology the internet has also developed making the lives of people much
easier like instant email service instead of the conventional postal service system. Many social
networking sites has also been formed like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and many more which
has helped in bringing people much closer. World Wide Web or WWW is one of the important
feature of internet which consists of hypertext that refers to the method of cross referencing. This
report mainly focuses on the way how the internet is used and the process involves looking into
the background history of internet. Along with this the report also discusses about the internet
working as a surveillance machine and how it works as a public sphere (Andersson and Nickolai
2014). This report as briefs about the effects of the internet which includes the undervaluing of
the personal details to a ridiculous level in the social media. The discussion has been briefly
discussed by the use of suitable examples. Accessing the internet is possible in a variety of ways.
The hustle of going to crowded places like malls, markets has been greatly decreased due to
development of online stores which makes use of the internet. Internet is not owned by a single

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individual or an organisation. Internet totally depends on the physical infrastructure which helps
in connecting networks to other networks.
Discussion:
1. Understanding of the functioning of internet from its background history:
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)/IP (Internet Protocol) protocol is an essential
feature of the internet. Internet helps in allowing the devices to send, receive, interpret and
describe any type of data in an electronic form over the network. TCP is used for the purpose of
breaking down of each piece of data into the form of smaller packages (Leamer, Edward and
Michael 2014). Whereas, the IP is totally responsible for ensuring the travelling of data from the
source to the destination by travelling through a number of routers. The devices that are
connected to the network has a unique IP address which has a range from 0 to 255 and it is in the
form of “nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn” where the n is representing the numbers which is in between the
stated range. In cases if the devices are connected to the internet by the use of the “Internet
Service Provider” or ISP then what the ISP do is it assigns the device with a temporary IP
address which last as long as the dial-up session is running. And for the devices that are
connected by the LAN have a permanent IP address. Almost every computer is connected on the
net doing various works (Berthon 2012). There are different types of server in the internet like
the mail server which hold the peoples mail, computer holding ordinary data are called file
servers and many more. The computers are referred to as clients if they make use of the servers.
This can be simply explained by the use of a suitable example that is when a mail server is being
connected to access the mails by the use of ISP then the computer is identified as the client
whereas the ISP is referred to as the server. In the year of 1844 Samuel Morse was the first
person to transmit an electronic message which initially lead to the beginning of sending

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messages in any part of the world within a fraction of time. TCP/IP acts as the fundamental
“control system” of the internet (Milinovich et al. 2014). In the world of internet, the word
protocol is used which simply refers to the doing of different things in a standard way. There are
two ways of moving data in the internet and this includes “circuit switching” and “packet
switching”. The basic functioning of the internet can be divided into three parts and they are:
 Web access: This is the basic way in which we are able to see the contents in the
internet. Internet can be accessed by the use phone lines or modems. These devices help
the user to connect to the internet and after the connection is created the users are able to
send or receive mails, browse the internet and many more (Velasco et al. 2014).
 Web Sites: Web Sites are the main components that we see on the internet. Different
websites consist of different types of information’s about different things like a business,
a person and many more. Internet is an endless resource for information’s (Alsmirat et al.
2017).
 E-commerce: E-commerce generally refers to the selling or buying of products on
different websites. The sales process is totally automated in the internet. Each and every
individual customer are able to see the products of the company along with different
modes of selection. After selection comes the payment in which the customers are
provided with a facility of online payment which is also automated (Muessig 2015).
1.2 World Wide Web:
World Wide Web or www is a space for the information in which identification of the
documents and other web sources are done by the Uniform Resource Locators and this locater
are interlinked with the hypertext links which can be easily accessed by the internet. WWW acts
as the central portion for the development of the age of information. This is also the primary tool

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that helps in the interaction of the billions of peoples using the internet (Ionescu and Raul 2012).
Webpages mainly represents the formatted text documents which are annotated with the
Hypertext Markup Language or HTML. Embedded hyperlinks present in the Internet helps the
users to navigate between different web pages. One of the main components in internet are the
websites which are mainly made up of web pages with different or common themes or a common
domain name or both of this.
Components of World Wide Web:
The main components which make up the World Wide Web are listed below:
1.2.1 Hypertext: This are the texts which are displayed on the displays of any digital devices
which are related to the different texts that can be accessed by the user immediately.
1.2.2. Identifiers of resources: Particular resources are provided with a unique identifier so as to
locate them easily on the networks and this are commonly termed as URL or URI.
1.2.3. The client server model of computing: This is the type of system used by the client
software or client computer for the purpose of making requests for the server software or a server
computer so as to provide the clients with a resource or a service.
1.2.4. Markup language: This are the characters or codes that are embedded in a text for the
purpose of indicating a structure, semantic meaning or an advice to a presentation.
1.3 Internet functioning as the nearest thing to a perfect surveillance machine:
Along with the advancement in technology the world of communication has also
changed. With the invention of new technologies like the telegraph, radio, telephone and many
more has set a stage for the integration of capabilities that has been never seen before. Internet is

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nothing but a world-wide broadcasting mechanism used for the purpose of spreading different
information’s. (Marwick and Danah 2014) besides this internet also acts as a medium for
communication which helps in connecting peoples without considering the geographical location
of the individuals. Internet can act as a perfect surveillance machine besides that it also effects
the privacy of an individual.
1.3.1 Internet in surveillance:
Surveillance refers to the close observation on the activities of an individual person or a
group. Relation of surveillance with the use of internet or any type of computer network by
monitoring the computer activities and the data that are being stored on the hard drives of the
computer. It also refers to the monitoring of the data that are being transferred over the network.
It can be seen that most of the people who uses the internet are unaware of the surveillance and
they do not care about it also. Almost every activity on the internet are monitored for the purpose
of identifying any type of illegal activities and for this purpose many computer and network
surveillance programs has been developed.
1.3.2 Internet in the privacy:
Privacy can be defined in simple words as the right of someone to be left alone or free
from any type of monitoring or surveillance. With independence on what someone is doing on
internet there are also many risks because of the reason that internet can be accessed by anyone
making internet a dangerous place (Sánchez, Avner and Alissa 2012). Every user in the internet
should be aware of the things they are dealing with on internet because their carelessness can
cause a great amount (Madejski, Maritza and Steven 2012) of problem and can be advantageous
for cyber criminals, bullies, and corrupt businesses. Most important threats related to internet
privacy are:

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 Identity thieves: This refers to the stealing of an identity of a user for the purpose of
hacking. What the hackers do is they make use of all the information’s of an individual
thereby ruining their bank accounts and their credit ratings. Malwares: Malware or malicious software’s are those which are used for the purpose of
describing any type of software’s that are responsible for the damage of a single system
or a number of systems. This types of malwares includes Trojan horses, viruses, and
many more. Spyware: This type of software refers to that software’s that are used for the purpose of
obtaining information from the system of a user without (Wagner, Andrea and Andreas
2014) any knowledge of the user. Web bugs: This are the objects that are embedded on the webpage or email for the
purpose of checking whoever is using the webpage or the email. This type of bugs is
generally invisible.
 Phishing: This is another process of using of using the information of the user for the
purpose of creating problems and to use the details in illegal activities.
1.4. Internet functioning as a public sphere:
The research conducted on the habits of the people using computer and internet has
shown that the cultural spaces are much more easily occupied by the internet. Besides acting as a
place for providing necessary information’s internet also acts a place where people are able to
share their ideas, opinions and many more (Bambauer and Derek 2017). Initially this public
sphere will help in creating a new community on the internet. According to German sociologist
Jürgen Habermas or father of public sphere described it as” an arena, independent of government
(even if in recite of state funds) and also enjoying autonomy from partisan economic forces,

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which is dedicated to rational debate (to debate or discuss which is not “interest”, “disguised”, or
“manipulated”) and which is both accessible to entry and open to inspection by the citizenry. It is
here in the public sphere, that public opinion is formed” on his book named as “The Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society”. Use of
internet by people for different purposes has given rise to the question if the internet has become
a public sphere or not (Kellner 2014). According to Haberman public sphere is a basic functional
principle in a democratic society and mainly refers to the ideal of democratic communication.
The following principles are followed by public sphere:
 People can take part in public debates which are free and anyone can take part in it
 The peoples or the participants of the debate are considered to be equal.
 None of the subjects or topics are excluded from the debate.
 The results of the public debates are dependent on the types of arguments that are made.
Internet acts an important media which allows equal opportunities for every participant to
share information. This makes internet an important mass medium with no limitations imposed
by any other type of mass media (Huws 2013). Internet acts a much flexible medium for the
purpose of fostering public discourse on a larger variety which issues that are related to the good
of the common peoples. The main reason for the establishment of internet was to act as a
cooperative, non-hierarchical system of communication so as to facilitate the sharing of the
information’s between an individual or a group of individuals (Gettys and Kathleen 2012). Along
with this internet also has the capability of supporting different types of multimedia
communications making it an interactive medium for almost every people. The development of
internet along with its growing popularity has made people turn towards online media. Most of
the contents in the internet are free of cost making it more demanding than the traditional medias

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(Cotten et al. 2012). During the process of getting news or any information from the internet
people can also ask questions, give comments, ask questions and even can express their opinion.
Along with this people can take part in debates, communicate with other peoples, making
internet much more appealing to the people. All the criteria of social networking are meet (Fuchs
et al. 2013).
1.5 Internet and web services:
Internet acts as a medium for providing of information’s from different parts of the
world. Internet makes the availability of various data from emails, instant chat and many more
very easily. A revolution has been brought in the world of communication by the internet. Along
with this internet also has a great contribution towards the sharing of information. Due to easy
availability of internet in free or a very cheap rate has greatly helped in increasing (Anderson et
al. 2012) the interaction between peoples. The web is mainly designed for the purpose of sharing
or exchanging of unstructured information’s. Besides that, people are able to read the contents
present on various webpages and are able to understand their meanings but the computers are
unable are do so. In cases when an organisation wants to conduct their business using the internet
then it becomes mandatory for the humans to get involved in it due to the lack of understanding
by the computers. Some of the important that are played by the web services present in the
internet are listed below:
 In today’s world a complementary and dominant role is played by the web services in
building of the global information system.
 Being self-contained, modular application web services can be described and published
along with locating it and invoking it over a network.

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 By the use of raging from any type of simple requests to complicated business processes
is performed by the web services.
 For the purpose of leverage, the advantages associated with the use of web as a platform
for applying it in the services itself and not only for the static information the idea of web
service is used.
 The services provided by the web are referred to as the components and the services that
are offered for the purpose of using it in building of larger service applications.
 The making of service based architecture without the applications being locked-in to a
particular software vendor product is done by the web services.
 A strong return is provided to the investors and it has been proven by the web services.
Along with this making computer based systems to become more adaptable has been
done by the web services. The web based services also brings more flexibility,
productivity and low maintenance cost for the purpose of developing (Epstein 2013) the
information system using integrin components from the various products of the third
party vendor.
Email is one of the popular applications of internet. This is an application which is
used by over 90% of the internet users. Email or electronic mail is a process which involves
the sharing of messages between two individuals (Livingstone, Leslie and Anke 2012) or by
two organisations for the purpose of communicating. Email can be accessed by the use of the
internet.
Inter also acts as a medium for entertainment. People are able to watch videos, films
and are also provided with the facility of listening to songs and play games (Trossen and

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George 2012). There are many online games which work with the help of internet and these
types of games are very much eye catching for different users.
Conclusion:
The evolution of technology has also resulted in the development of the internet. Along
with the evolution of the internet various methods have been developed by the researchers for the
purpose of using the internet and using it on a worldwide basis. A great revolution has been
brought by Internet in the field of the global market along with this internet the productivity of
the technology is also increased in the field of communication. In addition to this internet has
also effected the educational, commercial, personal and governmental fields. Along with the
advantages of the internet it also has some disadvantages like the internet frauds, transmitting of
the items that are illegal, and also harassments. There are certain technologies which are
responsible for the advancement and plays a very important role. The advancement in the
internet has dazzled the consumers and helped a lot in overcoming many challenges. Another
important aspect of internet is privacy. Privacy is a very important factor in internet as there are
various applications, services, scams and viruses that are present on the internet and are waiting
for any chance of stealing of personal data. By the use of certain software’s and by taking certain
measures the people can make their data safe and will be able to make it difficult for the
cybercriminals to steal their data as well. internet has greatly helped in the increase of
communication between businesses as well as business but it also has given rise to multiple
problems. Internet has greatly helped in gaining knowledge by the students on various topics
along with this internet can also be used by the individuals for the purpose of finding jobs and
the employers can also use the internet to select the candidates. Use of internet by the cyber
criminals is also common in today’s world. Internet has favoured the growth of various social