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. 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." 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. 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 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. 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. 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. 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. Bundling The combining of either network functionalities or end-user services into one integrated package for provision by a supplier to a customer. In the former case, major operators of public networks have often required that competing service providers seeking inter-network connection purchase all the necessary functionalities (e.g., switching and signalling) in one package, rather than providing some of these elements on their own.

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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).