Essay - The Security Issues of Online Communities Introduction Online Communities Have...

THE SECURITY ISSUES OF ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Introduction

Online communities have emerged in recent years as a result of the r*****pid growth ***** the Internet, arousing intrigue in citizens, policy-makers and government officials. An online community is a group of people who interact in a virtual environment. They have a purpose, are supported by technology, ***** are guided by norms and policies. The problem with the term "***** community" ***** that it often refers to a wide range of online activities, ***** has as a result, been subject ***** different definitions. Although online communities exist predomin*****ntly online, they vary depending on the software environment supporting them, *****, size and duration of existence, culture of their members, and governance structure (Preece, et.al., 2003). ***** characteristics of an ***** ***** are de*****ined by the social *****ions ***** the members, ***** the policies ***** guide them, a concept known as sociability. Other characteristics include the economic and legal aspects of an online community. Attention to ***** policies and s*****tw***** design is therefore an important component in community development ***** evolution.

I. History of Online Communities & The *****

The Internet is unlike any other type of communications medium the world has ever experienced, defined as "a unique and wholly new ***** of ********** human communication (Jacobson, 1999)."

The ***** evolved from interactive computer ***** as part of a networked system that began as an outgrowth of a military program called "ARPANET" in 1969 (Djavaherian, 1998). The ***** was designed to enable military computers to communicate with each *****, even if some portions ***** the network were damaged dur*****g war, ***** communicating over redundant channels. This network, while no longer in operation, provided an example of the mass amounts of information that could be communicated over a ***** linking millions of people toge*****r. (*****, 1999). In recent *****, the Internet has experienced drastic growth, appearing in homes, schools, libraries, ***** the workplace.

*****, the first and currently remaining as the most frequently used communication tool on the Internet, w***** developed by ARPANET in 1972. Early systems were po*****t to point; one person could send a *****te ***** just ***** o*****r person (Preece, et.al., 2003). Listservers, which allow one to many postings, were not invented until 1975. ***** basic form ***** this technology ***** ***** changed much since that time, although email readers ***** improved greatly (Preece, at.al, 2003). Listservers are used in two ways: trickle through and digests. Trickle through systems distribute each message as it is received. Digests comprise a list of messages presented one after the other, usually in chronological order of receipt.

In the mid ***** late 1980s, ***** ***** improved graphical user interfaces started to appear. Bulletin boards, in existence for a similar time, are designed b*****ed on the metaphor of a physical bullet***** board (Preece, at.al., 2003). People post messages to ***** board ***** they are displayed in various ways. Usually the messages are threaded which means that messages on the same topic are associated with ***** other. The *****