Survival in cyberspace

The immune system response of the vertebrates demonstrates an extremely adaptive and resilient defensive capability against a broad spectrum of pathogenic attacks. The field of artificial immune systems (AISs) aims to replicate this capability in the digital environment. In particular, we would like to understand adaptive survivability and defence in large-scale computing networks. In this paper we discuss some of the background concepts to AIS and focus on one specific aspect required to achieve a digital immune system, i.e. the social dynamics of competitive and co-operative defence. In particular, the ability of an information network to maintain itself in the face of continuous perturbation raises more complex issues related to system metabolism and network topology.In order to investigate these processes a multi-agent simulation model has been developed that demonstrates a self-organising group formation capability and a collective immune response. In this model each agent is susceptible to viral infections passed between the agents and has local sensors and a complex metabolic state that reflects its current health. We then introduced an artificial immune system to each agent that allowed learned ‘antibody’ solutions to be exchanged between the agents within a social group. The health of a co-operative group was observed to improve by over 90%, relative to isolated agents or non-cooperative groups. The specific solutions advocated are therefore to utilise distributed defence mechanisms and the monitoring of metabolic processes to detect intrusions. Finally, the paper considers the problem of how we might utilise such knowledge to develop greater security and robustness in real-world networks using distributed agent systems.     

Learning in cyberspace:shaping the future

Proponents of multimedia and Internet based educational tools have long claimed their potential, but the absence of broad based quantitative research from controlled experimental use, continues to mitigate the transfer of that potential to reality. This paper reports on experimental work in Singapore, which was designed to establish a supportable theoretical foundation for the hypothesis that the use of information technology (IT) resources in education, does improve pedagogic outcomes. The authors reach a positive conclusion, and attribute those improved outcomes to the use of IT resources through the conduit of improved student motivation. The paper also draws the important distinction between using multimedia and the Internet as a facilitator of learning rather than teaching, and reports upon the research project in detail, particularly improvements in student understanding and results, quantified at 11% in one semester. There were also productivity gains of 16% for educators as a result of effective use of Internet resources and use of the Internet to deliver course material for learning. Based on the research work done, this paper draws the statistically valid conclusion that use of IT resources does improve student learning.     

Motion sick in cyberspace

The author discusses the problem of simulation sickness, first noticed in flight simulators. The problem now affects many more people due to the availability of immersive virtual reality systems and video arcade games. Published estimates suggest that 10 to 60 percent of the population experiences some adverse effects from computer displays of motion. The author considers how this has serious implications for the ultimate applicability of virtual reality. He investigates the symptoms and causes of motion sickness     

Internet economics: when constituencies collide in cyberspace

Computer engineering, economics and public policy offer different perspectives on the problem of sustaining Internet growth without abandoning the technological innovations that underpin the infrastructure-and culture-of global information. This article offers a framework for addressing this interdisciplinary challenge. We examine how the often conflicting and overlapping interests of different Internet constituencies are beginning to yield to a rough consensus. In particular, we believe these constituencies are beginning to recognize that the growth of the Internet can be explained by a combination of three features: its technical characteristic of statistical sharing, its economic feature of positive network externalities, and its policy objective of interoperability     

E-judiciaries: a model for community policing in cyberspace

Online harassment is a significant and growing problem. Under current conditions, however, economic pressures and constitutional restrictions make actionable change unlikely. This Article proposes a model for community self-governance that may be termed ‘e-judiciaries,’ in which online community members participate in a process of reviewing and disciplining alleged participant misconduct. In support of this model, the Article examines quantitative and qualitative data from a major online community that has adopted this approach to self-regulation. Empirical analysis suggests that this regulatory design leads community members to adopt an aggressive approach to policing harassment. Such a system, expanded more broadly into other online communities entailing high amounts of user-generated content and activity, has the potential to work as an effective anti-harassment countermeasure.     

Opening up horizons: Providing on-line course material in cyberspace

Distance learning course providers world-wide are looking to new technology to enhance the presentation of their courses. Projects investigating how tutors teach and students learn when courses adopt new technology methods are of paramount importance. M205-STILE (Students' and Teachers' Integrated Learning Environment) is one such project which piloted the use of conferencing and World Wide Web (WWW) with nine tutors and 110 distance learning computer science students in the United Kingdom and Europe. The main aim of the project was to improve the presentation of the course by providing structured access to on-line facilities. This paper describes the students and tutors preferred form of presentation of course material, either conferencing or WWW It also reports which software was easier to install and how the materials were actually used and makes recommendations about how future on-line courses can benefit from the findings of this study.     

Building dynamic agent organizations in cyberspace

The Karma-Teamcore framework focuses on rapidly integrating distributed, heterogeneous agents and tasking them via an abstract team-oriented program. The framework provides wrappers that encapsulate general teamwork reasoning and automatically generate the necessary coordination for robust execution of this abstract program. We describe the Karma-Teamcore framework and present an example of its successful application, namely, the simulated evacuation of civilians stranded in a hostile area     

Sex work in cyberspace: who pays the price?

In January 2006, the UK government launched its long-term prostitution strategy. The strategy aims to produce better enforcement of laws against kerb-crawling and seeks to create more opportunities for women to leave prostitution. The approach of UK government focuses on 'street sex', yet in the cyber age we have seen a growth in the number of escort sites and a rise in the number of commercial pages on dating and networking sites. This article will consider the strategy two years on and seek to explore the potential impact of the government's proposals on prostitution and the growing number of socio-legal issues that are emerging from the rise in cyber-prostitution.     

Information mediation in cyberspace: Scalable methods for declarative information networks

An end-to-end discussion, from logical architecture to implementation, of issues and design decisions in declarative information networks is presented. A declarative information network is defined to be a dynamic and decentralized structure where value-added services are declared and applied as mediators in a scalable and controlled manner. A primary result is the need to adopt dynamically linked ontologies as the semantic basis for knowledge sharing in scalable networks. It is shown that data mining techniques provide a promising basis upon which to explore and develop this result. Our prototype system, entitled Mystique, is described in terms of KQML, distributed object management, and distributed agent execution. An example shows how we map our architecture into the World Wide Web (WWW) and transform the appearance of the WWW into an intelligently integrated and multi-subject distributed information network.     

Modern Management's Role in the Demise of Sustainable Society

This paper examines the development of modern strategic management and portrays it as a major problem-causer in modern society, rather than a problem-solver. Frederick Taylor's philosophy and practice of scientific management is alive and well, and stronger than ever, in the final decade of the 20th century. Although scientific management is a vital underpinning to strategic development in a highly competitive, productivity-conscious, organizational world, its intense, single-minded and tunnelvisioned application raises the paradox of it being at one and the same time, “saint and sinner”. Its “saint” role is that of an economic productivity enhancing, competitive capability bestower. Its “sinner” role arises because of the adverse, and potentially dangerous impact it has on rank and file personnels’commitment to, or acceptance of, the way things are in organizations and society. The paper is intended to give an airing to significant problems which are emerging in a practical and theoretical managerial world which seems otherwise to be blindly, and extremely, embracing scientific management as the rightfully dominant paradigm for modern day management strategy. It suggests tha nature of changes which might need to be made to mainstream management paradigms. The challenge is to create a society based, at least in part, on cultural values of opposite dimensions to those which underpin scientific management.     

Controlling fantasy in cyberspace: cartoons,imagination and child pornography

This article explores the extent to which cyberspace has made possible the control and regulation of fantasy. In particular it takes the example of two recent cases that considered the applicability of child pornography laws to cartoons circulated over the Internet. While such laws often seek their justification in the need to protect children, it is argued that they can also lead to outcomes which in effect place our fantasies and thoughts under state surveillance.     

网域空间电子身份管理方案研究

首先介绍了各国在网域空间电子身份管理采用的三种组织方案, 然后从安全、隐私、易用、互操作方面分析了电子身份管理现状和不足并指出未来研究方向, 最后对我国电子身份管理进行分析并提出可信电子身份管理方案。     

Internet banking: The digital voyage of banking and money in cyberspace

Extensive globalizing processes and technological innovation have transformed cyberbanking from a sci‐fi dream to a demanding reality unfolding in the infinite geography of cyberspace. After approaching Internet banking as the most revolutionary stage of the evolutionary process of banking so far, this paper will try first to identify both its positive and negative implications. Second, it will detect the technical vulnerabilities of the Internet banking system and suggest security measures and controls which could contribute substantially to the creation of a secure operational environment where banking activities and the issuance of electronic money would safely take place. A large part of the paper will deal specifically with legal issues focusing mainly on privacy and crime in cyberbanking, consumer protection concerns and the examination of the contractual relationship between banks and their consumers in cyberspace. The last part of the paper will analyse the implications of Internet banking for central banks which are called to reconsider their monetary and supervisory policies and reform the regulatory framework within which cyberbanking will evolve. It is in this context that, finally, the paper will attempt to answer the crucial question of whether and how Internet banking should be regulated.