List of key terms and relevant definitions Key terms Sleutelwoorde

• Author: Leani Marlie Van Schalkwyk
• DOI: 10.10520/EJC74037
• Published date: 01 January 2005
• Date: 01 January 2005
• Pages: 103-107
• publishedBy: University of the Free State

LIST OF KEY TERMS AND RELEVANT DEFINITIONS

Cookies

Cookies (or “little brothers” as they are sometimes called) are

HTTP headers that consist of a text-only string.The string is usu-

ally a set of random-looking letters long enough to be unique to

every user.The cookie is sent from the server of the web site the

user accessed the first time and is saved on the user’s hard drive.

When the user accesses that site again, a copy of the cookie is

sent with the request to that site. In this way the remote server knows

who the user is and that he or she visited the site before and it can

keep track of items purchased.392

Cyberspace

“‘Cyber’ is the prefix used to indicate Internet-related entities.The

realm of the Internet is often referred to as ‘cyberspace’.”393

E-commerce

E-commerce or electronic commerce is the process of doing com-

mercial transactions electronically.394

ECT

This abbreviation is used when referred to the Electronic Commu-

nications and Transactions Act (Act 25 of 2002) that commence on

20 August 2002.

E-mail

E-mail or electronic mail is messages, usually text, sent from one

person to another via computer. E-mail can also be sent automat-

ically to a large number of addresses (mailing list).395

Hacking and cracking

The unauthorised access to computers is commonly known as

“hacking”. “Hacker” is “a digital-era term often applied to those in-

terested in techniques for circumventing protections of computers

and computer data from unauthorized access. The so-called hacker

community includes serious computer-science scholars conducting

research on protection techniques, computer buffs intrigued by the

challenge of trying to circumvent access-limiting devices or per-

103

392 Buys 2000:385; FTC privacy policy, available at www.ftc.gov/ftc/pri-

vacy.htm

393 Ebersöhn 2002:10.

394 Buys 2000:462.

395 Buys 2000:462.