Internet is viewed as the most vital digital technology in the globe. Eastern Africa has the least penetration of ICT per capita in the world. Internet is a valuable resource that has propelled enormous economic growth in many developed countries. In order for Eastern African governments to narrow the socio-economic divide between developed countries and themselves, there is need to overcome this digital handicap. Enormous investments in ICT infrastructure are essential. The governments must participate in making crucial decisions to wisely allocate the limited resources to improve the current infrastructure.This thesis investigates Internet use, access and penetration in Eastern Africa. Theoretical research has been carried out to elaborate on the subject matter. Through empirical study, we will come up with a fresh way to verify and understand the Internet situation in the region. / Program: Magisterutbildning i informatik

Provisioning Internet services remains an area of concern for Internet service providers. Despite investments to improve resources and technology, the understanding of sociotechnical factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle remains limited. The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the influence of sociotechnical factors associated with telecom service provisioning and to explore the critical success and failure factors, specifically in the telecommunication industry of Kuwait. Guided by sociotechnical systems theory, this qualitative exploratory case study approach examined a purposeful sample of 19 participants comprising of managers, engineers, and technicians who had the knowledge and experience of the service-provisioning life cycle. Semistructured interviews, project logs, and a self-created follow-up questionnaire were the primary sources of data. Thematic analysis techniques assisted in coding the data and developing themes, which resulted in a set of critical success and failure factors that influence the service-provisioning life cycle. Cross-functional communication, risk management practices, infrastructure availability, and employee skill development were among the emergent factors that influenced the service implementation. Internet service providers may use the results from this study to improve the service-provisioning life cycle. Successful implementations will promote an environment of positive social change that will increase employee motivation, productivity, and employee morale.

在二十世紀和二十一世紀交替的時期，資訊科技正以迅雷不及掩耳的方式快速發展。自從網際網路的出現，電腦的應用層次已呈現出另一種境界。短短幾年裡，網際網路已讓全球企業界深刻地體認到其所具有的高度商業價值；從而衍生出來的商業應用，更是為各行各業帶來新領域和新視野，亦為市場帶來無限商機。而在這一股網際網路的熱潮中，網際網路服務提供者（Internet Service Provider; ISP）扮演了一個相當重要的角色，因此很多企業相繼投入這個市場，但也因此造成了ISP產業中激烈的競爭。ISP業者如何在重重的困難中脫穎而出，進而取得更大的市場優勢？ 本研究先以探索式的研究方法，探討我國ISP業的競爭狀態及內外在條件影響各ISP業者市場優勢的關係模式。先談文獻，首先，針對幾家ISP業者，進行深度個案公司訪問調查，分析其內外在條件及市場優勢，將結果與文獻探討所得到的理論架構加以整合，以建立本研究之研究模式，並且依據研究模式擬訂研究假設，然後以實證研究法驗證研究假設，進行過程乃是以我國ISP業為對象，以問卷調查作為研究工具，搜集有關本研究計劃所需要的原始資料，運用多變量分析之統計方法進行資料分析，以驗證本研究計劃所提出之假設，並嘗試說明驗證之結果。

「餐桌變化多端，輕鬆管理菜籃。」是Chef Mommy帶給使用者的主要價值。 Chef Mommy為了解決有烹飪需求者在菜色變化與食材選購上的問題，透過網站與手機應用程式，應用雲端科技提供食譜搜尋引擎、食材庫存管理、食譜比對推薦、一週菜單規劃與採購清單管理等服務，為使用者提供方便省時，又可兼顧菜色變化與食材管理的料理解決方案。使用者藉由Chef Mommy的服務，能夠以家中庫存食材為基礎，得到原本沒想到的菜色建議，進而在備餐時搭配出更多菜色變化，為家人、朋友準備出豐盛而美好的一餐。 以台灣為例，行政院主計處2010年的家庭收支調查顯示，國內家庭花費在飲食相關採購上的支出，高達8,400億元，在這當中，國內整體食材供應市場規模粗估超過2,000億元。Chef Mommy除了在第一、二階段，針對網站與手機應用程式開發服務功能外，第三、第四階段更將規劃與食材供應業者或連鎖超市業者進行合作，將食譜推薦服務與食材購買進行連結，切入使用者的購買流程，並據此獲利。 藉著滿足使用者輕鬆管理食材與希望菜色天天有變化的需求，Chef Mommy將投入資源，培養使用者常用的習慣，以深入使用者的飲食體驗。透過使用者長期使用的歷程記錄，可了解使用者習慣購買的食材與偏好的食譜、料理方式等資訊，據此拓展出更大的飲食市場商機。 / In order to solve users’ problems of dish variety and ingredients purchase, Chef Mommy will provide services such as recipe search engine, ingredient inventory management, recommended recipes, weekly menu planning and shopping list management via its website and mobile app. As for these convenient services, Chef Mommy wants to provide a total cooking solution that can help users saving their time and giving consideration to dish variety and ingredients purchase at the same time. Based on ingredient inventory in home, Chef Mommy will recommend recipes that users may not expect or remember originally, and then with more dish variety, they can prepare a bountiful meal for family and friends. In Taiwan, 2010 Family Income and Expenditure Survey by the DGBAS shows that domestic household expenditures spent on diet-related purchase, up to NTD$ 840 billion, in which the overall food supply market size were roughly over NTD$ 200 billion. Chef Mommy will focus on developing services functions in the 1st and 2nd stages, and cut into the users’ buying process by recipes recommend service in the 3rd and 4th stages. By linking users’ recipe choice and ingredient purchase, Chef Mommy will cooperate with food supply companies or supermarket chains and gain profit from it. Chef Mommy will invest resources to training users’ habits of using Chef Mommy’s services. Via users’ long-term usage history, Chef Mommy will know users’ accustomed to buy ingredients, preferred recipes, cooking methods and other cooking information. According to this, Chef Mommy will be able to expand to a greater diet market.

Peer-to-peer (p2p) technology provides an excellent platform for the delivery of rich content and media that scales with the rapid growth of the Internet. This work presents a lookup service design and implementation that provides provable fault tolerance and operates in a cost-conscious manner over the Internet. <br><br> Using a distributed hash table (DHT) as a foundation, we propose a replica placement that improves object availability and reachability to implement a robust lookup service. We present a framework that describes tree-based routing DHTs and formally prove several properties for DHTs of this type. Specifically, we prove that our replica placement, which we call MaxDisjoint, creates a provable number of disjoint routes from any source node to a replica set. We evaluate this technique through simulation and demonstrate that it creates disjoint routes more effectively than existing replica placements. Furthermore, we show that disjoint routes have a marked impact on routing robustness, which we measure as the probability of lookup success. <br><br> To mitigate the costs incurred by multi-hop DHT routing, we develop an organization-based id assignment scheme that bounds the transit costs of prefix-matching routes. To further reduce costs, we use MaxDisjoint placement to create multiple routes of varying costs. This technique helps reduce cost in two ways: (1) replication may create local copies of an object that can be accessed at zero transit cost and (2) MaxDisjoint replication creates multiple, bounded cost, disjoint routes of which the minimal cost route can be used to resolve the lookup. We model the trade-off between the storage cost and routing cost benefit of replication to find the optimal degree to which an object should be replicated. We evaluate our approach using a lookup service implementation and show that it dramatically reduces cost over existing DHT implementations. Furthermore, we show that our technique can be used to manage objects of varying popularity in a manner that is more cost effective than caching. <br><br> By improving its robustness and cost effectiveness, we aim to increase the pervasiveness of p2p in practice and unlock the potential of this powerful technology.

Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) are crucial to the operation and development of the Internet. However, through the performance of their basic functions, they faced the great risk of civil and criminal liability for unlawful content posted by third parties. As this risk threatened the potential of the Internet, various jurisdictions opted to promulgate legislation that granted ISP’s safe harbours from liability. The South African (RSA) response is Chapter XI of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECTA). The protection it provides is however not absolute. It is limited to ISP’s that are members of an Industry Representative Body (IRB) and those ISP’s must perform particular functions in relation to third party content in a certain manner to obtain limited liability. Due to the ECTA’s limited application and a lack of authority, the question is raised as to what is the liability of ISP’s for unlawful content posted by third parties? This dissertation pays particular attention to ISP liability for third party defamatory statements, hate speech, and obscene and indecent material. The role and characteristics of ISP’s in the functioning of the Internet is described. It is determined that a wide legal definition would be required to encompass the many roles they perform. The definition provided by the ECTA is wide and many different types of ISP can fall underneath it. This may have unintended consequences as entities may receive protection that the legislature did not intend. The appropriate laws in the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom are surveyed and suggestions as to the extent of ISP liability in circumstances where the ECTA does not apply are made. It is established that their position is uncertain due to difficulties in applying the law to the Internet. This could result in the law being applied incorrectly and ISP’s erroneously found liable. The ECTA’s threshold requirements limit the availability of the safe harbor provisions to ISP’s that are members of a recognised IRB. The IRB must comply with an extensive set of requirements to obtain recognition. The purpose of these requirements is to ensure that only responsible ISP’s obtain the protection provided by the act. After an examination of these requirements, their necessity is questioned as their purpose appears to be contrary to the logic of the safe harbours provided by the ECTA. The safe harbours are analysed and comparisons made to similar legislation that exists in the USA and the European Union (EU). It was established that the ECTA is a hybrid of the USA and EU legislation, and to a certain extent improves on them. It was suggested that the extent of ISP liability in relation to certain unlawful content is clearer under the ECTA. However, exceptions may exist in relation to hate speech and obscene and indecent content as a result of legislation that does not properly take the technology of the Internet into account. It was recommended that certain action be taken to correct this position to prevent any negative effects on the Internet industry and conflict with the objectives of the ECTA. The provision of limited liability contained in the ECTA is balanced with a notice and takedown procedure, which provides relief to victims of unlawful content. This procedure is analysed and it appears to be effective in providing relief. However, through an examination of concerns raised in relation to this type of procedure as it exists in the USA and the EU, it is suggested that certain flaws exist. The take-down procedure negatively effects the freedom of expression and the third party’s rights to due process. Further, the threshold requirements result in not all the users of the Internet being provided with the same remedies. It is recommended that certain action be taken to correct these flaws. The solution provided by the ECTA should be favoured over the uncertainty that existed before it promulgation. It may be necessary to correct particular flaws that exist. Certain recommendations are suggested in this regard and the concluding chapter.

This thesis deals with specialized information systems for internet service providers. The aim of thesis is to compare specific information system of company Dupeto s.r.o. with an-other external systems. The first part of the thesis deals with the theoretical foundations, which is followed by the analysis of a market of this systems. After making choice of which systems are the propriet ones, the thesis gives a detailed description of these sys-tems. In conclusion there is a recommendation for Dupeto s.r.o. which system is the best for this company. This recommendation was achieved by the means of a multi-criteria de-cision making. This thesis is so helpful mainly for this company but it is helpful for other internet service providers too because it contains the analysis of the systems from various point of views.

Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию финансово-экономического обоснования инвестиционных решений по размещению линий связи на рынке интернет-услуг. Предметом исследования выступает экономическая выгода способов размещения линий слаботочных сетей в многоквартирных: жилых домах интернет-провайдерами. Основной целью магистерской диссертации является теоретическая и практическая оценка ситуации проведения линий слаботочных сетей с экономической точки зрения, а так же разработка финансово-выгодных методов доступа к размещению оборудования интернет-провайдеров. В заключении обозначены рекомендации и по финансово-выгодному совершенствованию способов установки оборудования слаботочных сетей интернет - провайдеров. / Final qualifying work (master's thesis) is devoted to the study of financial and economic justification of investment decisions on the placement of communication lines in the market of internet services. The subject of the study is the economic benefit of ways of placing low-current lines in apartment buildings by internet providers. The main purpose of the master's thesis is а theoretical and practical assessment of the situation of low-current network lines from an economic point of' view, as well as the development of financial and cost-effective methods of access to the placement of' equipment of internet providers. In conclusion, the recommendations on the financial and profitable improvement of methods of installation of equipment of low-current networks of internet providers are outlined.

Net Neutrality implicates that all data being transmitted online is treated equal by Internet Service Providers. In 2016, the public debate regarding Net Neutrality in Sweden started growing as two major Mobile Network Operators were investigated by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority for violation of European Union Net Neutrality regulations. Several studies have been conducted regarding Net Neutrality, most of them written in a legal, financial or technological perspective. This study takes another direction, aimed at understanding the consumer’s point of view regarding Net Neutrality. This study investigates whether or not consumers are aware of the subject and if so, how they value it. To measure this, an online survey was constructed, containing a total of 12 questions and statements. 77 people participated in the survey and out of these, 10 people participated in qualitative follow-up interviews. The interviews were semi-structured and individually designed according to each participant’s answers in the survey. This was done in order to gain a deeper understanding of the consumer’s reasoning while answering the survey. The results show that consumers lack knowledge regarding Net Neutrality. A major part of the consumers had not heard of the term or did not know the meaning of it, making it hard to determine whether or not the consumers value NN. However, when given a more concrete example of the implications of Internet Traffic Management from ISPs, the participants had a better understanding of what kind of implications NN could have on their Internet usage. They valued the implications of Net Neutrality, even though they did not know the theory of the term itself. The study also revealed that consumers have a big confidence in National Regulatory Authorities when it comes to looking after the openness of the Internet. Therefore, it is likely that National Regulatory Authorities must inform and educate consumers in the matter of Net Neutrality for them to value it and see its long-term implications. / Nätneutralitet innebär kortfattat att all data som skickas över Internet ska behandlas likvärdigt utav Internetleverantörer (ISP). Under 2016 växte debatten kring nätneutralitet i Sverige då två stycken mobiloperatörer utreddes utav Post- och Telestyrelsen. Båda dessa mobiloperatörer lanserade kampanjer till sina kunder som ansågs strida mot EU:s förordning 2015/2120 rörande nätneutralitet. Ett antal studier har redan gjorts på ämnet nätneutralitet, dock har de flesta haft en infallsvinkel där man tittat på juridiska, finansiella eller tekniska perspektiv. Den här studien har en annan infallsvinkel och riktar sig istället mot konsumenters syn på nätneutralitet. Den ämnar undersöka huruvida konsumenter känner till begreppet nätneutralitet och om de gör det, hur värderar de konceptet? För att undersöka detta konstruerades en online-enkät, innehållandes 12 frågor. 77 personer deltog i enkäten och utav dessa så deltog 10 personer i uppföljande, kvalitativa intervjuer. Intervjuerna var semi-strukturerade och individuella med frågor baserade på individens svar i enkäten. Dessa intervjuer var till för att ge en fördjupad förståelse av konsumenternas syn på nätneutralitet och deras resonemang kring svaren under enkäten. Resultaten visar att konsumenter, deltagande i den här studien, har låg kunskap kring nätneutralitet. Majoriteten utav deltagarna hade inte hört termen eller kände inte till dess mening, vilket gjorde det svårt att dra några slutsatser kring huruvida konsumenterna värderar konceptet. Men när konsumenterna fick ett mer konkret exempel på hur Internetleverantörers datahantering påverkar kundernas Internetanvändande så tycktes konsumenterna förstå vilka implikationer nätneutralitet kan ha på deras eget Internetanvändande. De tycktes således värdera innebörden av nätneutralitet, även om de inte förstod teorin kring konceptet. Studien påvisade också att konsumenter har en stor tilltro till vederbörande myndighet, Post- och Telestyrelsen här i Sverige, när det gäller att se efter Internets öppenhet och mångfald. Det är därför troligt att Post- och Telestyrelsen kommer att behöva informera och utbilda konsumenter rörande nätneutralitet för att få konsumenter att se värdet av och de långsiktiga implikationerna utav det.

Die wêreld soos dit vandag bestaan, is gebaseer op die Internasionaalregtelike konsep van soewereiniteit. State het die bevoegdheid om hulle eie sake te reël, maar die ontwikkeling van die Internet as ’n netwerk wat globaal verspreid is, het hierdie beginsel verontagsaam. Dit wou voorkom asof die Internet die einde van soewereiniteit en staatskap sou beteken. ’n Geskiedkundige oorsig toon dat reguleerders aanvanklik onseker was oor hoe hierdie nuwe medium hanteer moes word. Dit het geblyk dat nuwe tegnologieë wat fragmentasie van die Internet bewerkstellig, gebruik kon word om staatsgebonde regsreëls af te dwing. Verskeie state van die wêreld het uiteenlopende metodologieë gevolg om die Internet op staatsvlak te probeer reguleer, en dit het tot die lukraak-wyse waarop die Internet tans gereguleer word, aanleiding gegee. Hierdie studie bespreek verskeie aspekte van regsbeheer in die konteks van die Internet, en bepaal daardeur hoe die Internet tans gereguleer word. Toepaslike wetgewing van verskeie state word regdeur die studie bespreek. Vier prominente state, wat verskeie belangrike ingrepe ten aansien van Internetregulering gemaak het, word verder uitgelig. Dit is die Verenigde State van Amerika, die Volksrepubliek van Sjina, die Europese Unie as verteenwoordiger van Europese state, en Suid-Afrika. Aspekte wat op Internasionaalregtelike vlak aangespreek moet word, soos internasionale organisasies en internasionale regsteorieë ten aansien van die regulering van die Internet, word ook onder die loep geneem. Die bevindings wat uit die studie volg, word gebruik om verskeie aanbevelings te maak, en die aanbevelings word uiteindelik in ’n nuwe model saamgevoegom’n sinvoller wyse van regulering van die Internet voor te stel. Aangesien die huidige studie in die konteks van die Internasionale reg onderneem word, word die studie afgesluit met ’n bespreking van kubersoewereiniteit, wat ’n uiteensetting is van hoe soewereiniteit ten aansien van die Internet toegepas behoort te word. Die gevolgtrekking is insiggewend — die ontwikkeling van die Internet het nie die einde van soewereiniteit beteken nie, maar het dit juis bevestig. / The world is currently structured in different states, and this is premised on the International law concept of sovereignty. States have the capacity to structure their own affairs, but the development of the Internet as a globally distributed network has violated this principle. It would seem that the development of the Internet would mean the end of sovereignty and statehood. A historical overview shows that regulators were initially unsure of how this new medium should be dealt with. It appeared that new technologies that could fragment the Internet, could be used to enforce state bound law. Several states of the world have used different methodologies trying to regulate the Internet at state level, and this led to the random way in which the Internet is currently regulated. This study examines various aspects of legal regulation in the context of the Internet, and determines how the Internet is currently regulated. Appropriate legislation of several states are discussed throughout the study. Four prominent states, which made several important interventions regarding the regulation of the Internet, are highlighted further. It is the United States, the People’s Republic of China, the European Union as the representative of European countries, and South Africa. Aspects that need to be addressed on International law level, such as international organizations and international legal theories regarding the regulation of the Internet, are also discussed. The findings that follow from this study are used to make several recommendations, which in turn are used to construct a new model for a more meaningful way in which the Internet could be regulated. Since the present study is undertaken in the context of the International law, the study is concluded with a discussion of cyber sovereignty, which is a discussion of how sovereignty should be applied with regards to the Internet. The conclusion is enlightening—the development of the Internet does not indicate the end of sovereignty, but rather confirms it. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LLD