Chapter 11 Terms and Definitions

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

The organization responsible for coordinating the general pool of IP addresses and providing them to Regional Internet Registries.

Email header

The part of an email that provides identifying information for both sender and receiver of the message.

Static IP address

The permanent address of a specific computer on the Internet.

Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC)

The regional Internet registry for this part of the Southern Hemisphere.

African Network Information Center (AfriNIC)

The registry of Internet number resources for Africa.

Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC)

The registry responsible for IP address allocation and registration in the Asia-Pacific region.

American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

The registry responsible for assigning and registering IP addresses in the North American region.

Regional Internet Registry for Europe (RIPE)

The registry that assigns and registers IP addresses from Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia.

Received-SPF field

A header field used in spam-filtering purposes.

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol; a protocol used to transmit files. including webpages, across the Internet or a network.

Anonymity

The ability of individuals to conduct their lives without making their activities known to others.

Domain name

The assigned unique name for each network or network segment on a TCP/IP based network, used to address email, access a website or otherwise address that segment. Examples are erau.edu, whitehouse.gov, redcross.org, and berlin.de.

X-Originating-IP field

A header field that reveals the IP address of the computer from which an email was originally sent.

X-Mailer field

A header field that specifies the email system used to send a message.

PING command

A command used to validate an IP address found in an email header that checks the accessibility of the IP address.

Message ID field

A header field consisting of the name of the server and a unique string that the sending email server assigned to the message.

MIME-version field

A header field indicating that an email was composed in compliance with RFC 1341, MIME.

Authentication-Results field

A header field that decides and/or makes a recommendation to the user as to the validity of the origin of the message and the integrity of its content.

Content-type field

A header field that indicates the type of data included in an email message, such as text, image, audio, video, and multipart.

Return-Path field

A header field that indicates where the email should be returned if it fails to reach the recipient.

Received field

A header field that provides information on the recipient of an email, and sometimes on the sender of the email.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

A protocol that standardizes the header and body of emails.

WHOIS

A query tool that allows a user to find out the contact and location information of the owner of an IP address.

Proxy server

A server that acts as an intermediary for client requests for resources from other servers.

American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

A standardized character set used in computers.

Blocking moves

A strategy to subvert surveillance in which an individual physically blocks access to the communication or render it unusable.

Avoidance

A strategy to subvert surveillance in which individuals' actions are displaced to "times, places, and means in which the identified surveillance is presumed to be absent."

Piggybacking

A strategy to subvert surveillance in which information that needs to be passed on to a third party undetected is attached to a legitimate object and transmitted over the Internet.

Dynamic IP address

A temporary IP address that is assigned from a pool of available IP addresses when the user logs on and is released when the user logs off.

Tor

An anonymous Internet Communication system that provides individuals (and organizations) the ability to share information and communicate over public networks without compromising their privacy.

Web-based email

An email system in which email accounts are accessed through a Web browser and emails are stored in the email service provider's server.

Client/server email

An email system where the server holds and transmits the email messages, which are download by and presented to the end-user through a client. For example, Microsoft Exchange is an email server platform which is commonly accessed via the Outlook client.

Ciphertext

An encrypted message.

Plaintext

An unencrypted message.

EHLO

Extended Hello; a means by which a sending server identifies when it initiates the transfer of email to a receiving server.

ESMTPA

Extended SMTP with SMTP Authentication; a protocol used to transmit email.

Octet

Four groups of 8 bits, for total of 32 bits.

IMAP

Internet Message Access Protocol. A network communication protocol for sending and receiving email through an email server.

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)

Organizations that administer and register IP addresses in a defined region.

POP3

PPost Office Protocol. A network communication protocol for receiving e-mail.

SMTP

Simple Mail Transport Protocol. A network communication protocol for sending e-mail.

Pizzini

Small slips of paper-either tiny handwritten or typewritten notes-used for high-level communications to evade fax or phone taps.

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 seeks to regulate unsolicited commercial emails by requiring such messages to include opt-out instructions for recipients and prohibiting the use of deceptive subject lines and false headers in these messages. This Act additionally provides severe penalties for violation of its provision.

Decryption

The transformation of ciphertext (encrypted text) into plaintext (unencrypted text).