The prolific use of the internet and electronic mail within the legal profession presents novel challenges to the application of the attorney-client privilege; especially, in regards to protecting intended confidential communications relayed through e-mail. This thesis addresses the question of whether an attorney in Florida, through electronic mail use, can waive his client's right to the protections of the attorney-client privilege. After a review of current case law, law review articles, statutes, and texts, this thesis concluded that an attorney's communication through e-mail warrants a reasonable expectation of privacy, permitting the attorney to speak in reasonable confidence to clients through the web. However, attorneys, ethically, should consider the strong repercussions for using such a potentially transparent medium for communication. By examining the relationship between current law, the application of the attorney-client privilege, and a reasonable expectation of privacy, this study provides a comprehensive analysis for attorneys concerned with electronic mail usage. Lastly, this thesis provides attorneys with best practices for their electronic mail communications.

In the context of the Internet, spam generally refers to unsolicited and unwanted electronic messages, usually transmitted to a large number of recipients. The problem with spam is that almost all of the related costs are shifted onto the recipients, and many of the messages contain objectionable content. Spam has become a significant problem for network administrators, businesses and individual Internet users that threatens to undermine the usefulness of e-mail. Globally, spam spiralled to account for over 60% of all e-mail near the end of 2004. It is a problem that costs the global economy billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, anti-spam measures and computer resources. It has forced governments to enact legislation against the problem and it has prompted the development of numerous technical countermeasures. Spam can only be defeated by a combination of legal measures, informal measures (including self regulation and social norms), technical measures and consumer education. Because spam is a relatively recent and evolving problem, the application of various common law mechanisms are explored, including the law of privacy and the law of nuisance. Various constitutional concerns may also arise in the context of spam, and the right to freedom of expression must be balanced against other competing rights and values, including the right to privacy. Comparative legislation is examined, because it is important to recognise trends in spam legislation in other jurisdictions so as to ensure a measure of interoperability with those laws. The practical difficulties in identifying spammers, and the lack of jurisdiction over offshore offenders affect the practical implementation of the current protection offered by the ECT Act. In conclusion, this thesis identifies the need for direct anti-spam legislation in South Africa, and suggests various clauses that will need to be catered for in the legislation. It is submitted that "opt-in" legislation should be preferred over "opt-out" legislation. It is further submitted that a definition of spam should be based on the volume and indiscriminate nature of the e-mail, and not only on whether the communication was commercial. Therefore, a definition of bulk unsolicited e-mail is proposed. / Criminal & Procedural Law / LLD

In the context of the Internet, spam generally refers to unsolicited and unwanted electronic messages, usually transmitted to a large number of recipients. The problem with spam is that almost all of the related costs are shifted onto the recipients, and many of the messages contain objectionable content. Spam has become a significant problem for network administrators, businesses and individual Internet users that threatens to undermine the usefulness of e-mail. Globally, spam spiralled to account for over 60% of all e-mail near the end of 2004. It is a problem that costs the global economy billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, anti-spam measures and computer resources. It has forced governments to enact legislation against the problem and it has prompted the development of numerous technical countermeasures. Spam can only be defeated by a combination of legal measures, informal measures (including self regulation and social norms), technical measures and consumer education. Because spam is a relatively recent and evolving problem, the application of various common law mechanisms are explored, including the law of privacy and the law of nuisance. Various constitutional concerns may also arise in the context of spam, and the right to freedom of expression must be balanced against other competing rights and values, including the right to privacy. Comparative legislation is examined, because it is important to recognise trends in spam legislation in other jurisdictions so as to ensure a measure of interoperability with those laws. The practical difficulties in identifying spammers, and the lack of jurisdiction over offshore offenders affect the practical implementation of the current protection offered by the ECT Act. In conclusion, this thesis identifies the need for direct anti-spam legislation in South Africa, and suggests various clauses that will need to be catered for in the legislation. It is submitted that "opt-in" legislation should be preferred over "opt-out" legislation. It is further submitted that a definition of spam should be based on the volume and indiscriminate nature of the e-mail, and not only on whether the communication was commercial. Therefore, a definition of bulk unsolicited e-mail is proposed. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LLD

This study investigated the use and management of electronic mail (email) in Zimbabwe’s central government. Employing a mixed method research approach, the study used a pluralist ontological paradigm and a pragmatic epistemological paradigm within the convergent mixed methods research design. Quantitative responses from questionnaires were corroborated by qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews, personal observation and document reviews. The study was restricted to Zimbabwe’s central government, focusing on head offices of 22 government ministries situated in Zimbabwe’s capital city of Harare. The population of the study was 670. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown imposed in Zimbabwe as from 30 March 2020 negatively affected data collection as some targeted respondents could not be accessed as the researcher had initially planned, leading to an overall response rate of 37.3%. Nonetheless, 12 out of 22 government ministries participated in the study. Quantitative data were analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010® and descriptive statistics while qualitative data were analysed thematically using Atlas.ti®. The study conformed to ethical standards of research as espoused in the University of South Africa’s ethical review guidelines. The study revealed that due to the adoption of electronic government and the inherent relative advantages of email, among other factors, there was increase in use of email as an official record in Zimbabwe’s central government. Nonetheless, management of email was still in its nascent stages and was largely poorly articulated. Poor email classification, filing, appraisal, security, preservation and disposal were largely traceable to deficiencies in legal, policy and procedural frameworks as well as skills and information and communication technology infrastructural challenges. These in turn triggered email retrieval, access, preservation and authenticity challenges. This study was a first local research to address both the use and management of email in a single study and one which proposed a framework for the effective use and management of email where a call was made to match increase in use of email with increase in professional management of the same. The proposed framework may go a long way in influencing proper and professional use and management of email in Zimbabwe’s central government and similar organisations. / Information Science / D. Phil. (Information Science)

The practice of spamming (sending unsolicited electronic communications) has been dubbed “the scourge of the 21st century” affecting different stakeholders. This practice is also credited for not only disrupting electronic communications but also, it overloads electronic systems and creates unnecessary costs for those affected than the ones responsible for sending such communications. In trying to address this issue nations have implemented anti-spam laws to combat the scourge. South Africa not lagging behind, has put in place anti-spam provisions to deal with the scourge. The anti-spam provisions are scattered in pieces of legislation dealing with diverse issues including: consumer protection; direct marketing; credit laws; and electronic transactions and communications. In addition to these provisions, an Amendment Bill to one of these laws and two Bills covering cybercrimes and cyber-security issues have been published. In this thesis, a question is asked on whether the current fragmented anti-spam provisions are adequate in protecting consumers. Whether the overlaps between these pieces of legislation are competent to deal with the ever increasing threats on electronic communications at large. Finally, the question as to whether a multi-faceted approach, which includes a Model Law on spam would be a suitable starting point setting out requirements for the sending of unsolicited electronic communications can be sufficient in protecting consumers. And as spam is not only a national but also a global problem, South Africa needs to look at the option of entering into mutual agreements with other countries and organisations in order to combat spam at a global level. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

Objetivo. O objetivo principal desta tese é conhecer a influência da internet nas atividades acadêmico-científicas da comunidade brasileira de docentes da área de saúde pública. Métodos. Estudo transversal, centrado na opinião do usuário sobre o uso e a influência da internet na prática de ensino e pesquisa no âmbito acadêmico. A população do estudo constitui-se de 237 docentes vinculados aos programas de pós-graduação em saúde pública, nos níveis mestrado e doutorado, das instituições brasileiras de ensino superior cadastradas no sistema CAPES (Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) em 2001. Para a obtenção dos dados, optou-se pelo uso de questionário auto-aplicável preenchido via web e encaminhado via correio eletrônico, com internet disponibilizada em servidor UNIX. Para os que não responderam o instrumento eletrônico, foram enviados questionários impressos. Resultados. A taxa de retorno do questionário foi de 63,7%. O uso da internet foi apontado por 94,9% dessa comunidade, sendo o correio eletrônico (96,9%) e a web (91,1%) os recursos mais utilizados. A influência mais marcante da internet foi na comunicação entre os docentes, principalmente para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas, propiciando mais colaboração com colegas de instituições nacionais e estrangeiras. Considerou-se que a atividade acadêmica de busca de informação bibliográfica e de textos completos foi muito beneficiada pela utilização da internet. Quanto à divulgação de resultados de pesquisa, ainda há predominância dos formatos impressos, principalmente em artigos de periódicos de circulação nacional. Os docentes que declararam não utilizar a internet justificaram o fato argumentando falta de motivação, expressada em questões de caráter subjetivo, como a resistência em usar novas tecnologias, a falta de tempo para usar a internet e a facilidade de conseguir de seus colegas o material de que precisam. Conclusões. Os dados mostram que a internet influenciou o trabalho dos docentes e afeta o ciclo da comunicação científica, principalmente na rapidez de recuperação de informações. Entre os docentes, há forte tendência em eleger a comunicação entre pesquisadores como a etapa que mais mudou desde o advento da internet no mundo acadêmico-científico brasileiro. / Objective. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the Internet on the academic-scientific activities of Brazilian professors of the public health area. Method. Transversal study centered on the user view about influences of the internet on the academic teaching and research. The study’s core was constituted by 237 professors from public health post-graduation programmes of higher education institutions in Brazil, in master’s and doctoral levels, registered in the CAPES System (Brazilian Ministry of Education’s foundation for the qualification of higher education professors) in the year 2001. Data were collected by means of a self-applicable questionnaire that professors answered and sent through the web (by electronic mail), Internet access via a UNIX server. Those who did not answer the electronic instrument received printed questionnaires. Results. The return rate of the questionnaires was 63.7%. The great majority of the population (94.9%) answered that they use the Internet, the electronic mail (96.9%) and the web (91.1%) were the most used resources. The strongest influence of the Internet on scientific communication in the public health area concerns communication among professors, with the aim of developing research, enabling greater collaboration with colleagues both from Brazilian and foreign institutions. Searches for bibliographic references and for full texts were considered academic activities that benefited a lot from Internet use. As for release of research results, printed formats still prevail, mainly articles published in national circulation journals. The professors who stated that they do not use the Internet argued that the reason for this is lack of motivation, expressed through subjective questions, such as resistance to use new technologies, lack of time to use the Internet and facility of obtaining what they need from their colleagues. Conclusions. Data show that the Internet influenced the academic’s work and has been affecting the cycle of scientific communication, mainly due to the high speed with which information can be recovered. Communication among researchers seems to be the stage that changed the most since the advent of the Internet in the Brazilian academic-scientific world.

Objetivo. O objetivo principal desta tese é conhecer a influência da internet nas atividades acadêmico-científicas da comunidade brasileira de docentes da área de saúde pública. Métodos. Estudo transversal, centrado na opinião do usuário sobre o uso e a influência da internet na prática de ensino e pesquisa no âmbito acadêmico. A população do estudo constitui-se de 237 docentes vinculados aos programas de pós-graduação em saúde pública, nos níveis mestrado e doutorado, das instituições brasileiras de ensino superior cadastradas no sistema CAPES (Fundação Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) em 2001. Para a obtenção dos dados, optou-se pelo uso de questionário auto-aplicável preenchido via web e encaminhado via correio eletrônico, com internet disponibilizada em servidor UNIX. Para os que não responderam o instrumento eletrônico, foram enviados questionários impressos. Resultados. A taxa de retorno do questionário foi de 63,7%. O uso da internet foi apontado por 94,9% dessa comunidade, sendo o correio eletrônico (96,9%) e a web (91,1%) os recursos mais utilizados. A influência mais marcante da internet foi na comunicação entre os docentes, principalmente para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas, propiciando mais colaboração com colegas de instituições nacionais e estrangeiras. Considerou-se que a atividade acadêmica de busca de informação bibliográfica e de textos completos foi muito beneficiada pela utilização da internet. Quanto à divulgação de resultados de pesquisa, ainda há predominância dos formatos impressos, principalmente em artigos de periódicos de circulação nacional. Os docentes que declararam não utilizar a internet justificaram o fato argumentando falta de motivação, expressada em questões de caráter subjetivo, como a resistência em usar novas tecnologias, a falta de tempo para usar a internet e a facilidade de conseguir de seus colegas o material de que precisam. Conclusões. Os dados mostram que a internet influenciou o trabalho dos docentes e afeta o ciclo da comunicação científica, principalmente na rapidez de recuperação de informações. Entre os docentes, há forte tendência em eleger a comunicação entre pesquisadores como a etapa que mais mudou desde o advento da internet no mundo acadêmico-científico brasileiro. / Objective. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of the Internet on the academic-scientific activities of Brazilian professors of the public health area. Method. Transversal study centered on the user view about influences of the internet on the academic teaching and research. The study’s core was constituted by 237 professors from public health post-graduation programmes of higher education institutions in Brazil, in master’s and doctoral levels, registered in the CAPES System (Brazilian Ministry of Education’s foundation for the qualification of higher education professors) in the year 2001. Data were collected by means of a self-applicable questionnaire that professors answered and sent through the web (by electronic mail), Internet access via a UNIX server. Those who did not answer the electronic instrument received printed questionnaires. Results. The return rate of the questionnaires was 63.7%. The great majority of the population (94.9%) answered that they use the Internet, the electronic mail (96.9%) and the web (91.1%) were the most used resources. The strongest influence of the Internet on scientific communication in the public health area concerns communication among professors, with the aim of developing research, enabling greater collaboration with colleagues both from Brazilian and foreign institutions. Searches for bibliographic references and for full texts were considered academic activities that benefited a lot from Internet use. As for release of research results, printed formats still prevail, mainly articles published in national circulation journals. The professors who stated that they do not use the Internet argued that the reason for this is lack of motivation, expressed through subjective questions, such as resistance to use new technologies, lack of time to use the Internet and facility of obtaining what they need from their colleagues. Conclusions. Data show that the Internet influenced the academic’s work and has been affecting the cycle of scientific communication, mainly due to the high speed with which information can be recovered. Communication among researchers seems to be the stage that changed the most since the advent of the Internet in the Brazilian academic-scientific world.

Submitted by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-10-09T17:30:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CARDOSO_Emerson_2017.pdf: 3299853 bytes, checksum: bda5605a1fb8e64f503215e839d2a9a6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-10-09T17:30:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CARDOSO_Emerson_2017.pdf: 3299853 bytes, checksum: bda5605a1fb8e64f503215e839d2a9a6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Milena Rubi (milenarubi@ufscar.br) on 2017-10-09T17:32:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 CARDOSO_Emerson_2017.pdf: 3299853 bytes, checksum: bda5605a1fb8e64f503215e839d2a9a6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-09T17:32:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CARDOSO_Emerson_2017.pdf: 3299853 bytes, checksum: bda5605a1fb8e64f503215e839d2a9a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-04 / Não recebi financiamento / Before buying a product or choosing for a trip destination, people often seek other people’s opinions to obtain a vision of the quality of what they want to acquire. Given that, opinions always had great influence on the purchase decision. Following the enhancements of the Internet and a huge increase in the volume of data traffic, social networks were created to help users post and view all kinds of information, and this caused people to also search for opinions on the Web. Sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp make it easier to share online reviews, since they help users to post their opinions from anywhere via smartphones and enable product manufacturers to gain relevant feedback quickly in a centralized way. As a result, most people nowadays trust personal recommendations as much as online reviews. However, competition between service providers and product manufacturers have also increased in social media, leading to the first cases of spam reviews: deceptive opinions published by hired people that try to promote or defame products or businesses. These reviews are carefully written in order to look like authentic ones, making it difficult to be detected by humans or automatic methods. Thus, they are used, in a misleading way, in attempt to control the general opinion, causing financial harm to business owners and users. Several approaches have been proposed for spam review detection and most of them use techniques involving machine learning and natural language processing. However, despite all progress made, there are still relevant questions that remain open, which require a criterious analysis in order to be properly answered. For instance, there is no consensus whether the performance of traditional classification methods can be affected by incremental learning or changes in reviews’ features over time; also, there is no consensus whether there is statistical difference between performances of content-based classification methods. In this scenario, this work offers a comprehensive comparison between traditional machine learning methods applied in spam review detection. This comparison is made in multiple setups, employing different types of learning and data sets. The experiments performed along with statistical analysis of the results corroborate offering appropriate answers to the existing questions. In addition, all results obtained can be used as baseline for future comparisons. / Antes de comprar um produto ou escolher um destino de viagem, muitas pessoas costumam buscar por opiniões alheias para obter uma visão da qualidade daquilo que se deseja adquirir. Assim, as opiniões sempre exerceram grande influência na decisão de compra. Com o avanço da Internet e aumento no volume de informações trafegadas, surgiram redes sociais que possibilitam compartilhar e visualizar informações de todo o tipo, fazendo com que pessoas passassem a buscar também por opiniões na Web. Atualmente, sites especializados, como TripAdvisor e Yelp, oferecem um sistema de compartilhamento de opiniões online (reviews) de maneira fácil, pois possibilitam que usuários publiquem suas opiniões de qualquer lugar através de smartphones, assim como também permitem que fabricantes de produtos e prestadores de serviços obtenham feedbacks relevantes de maneira centralizada e rápida. Em virtude disso, estudos indicam que atualmente a maioria dos usuários confia tanto em recomendações pessoais quanto em reviews online. No entanto, a competição entre prestadores de serviços e fabricantes de produtos também aumentou nas redes sociais, o que levou aos primeiros casos de spam reviews: opiniões enganosas publicadas por pessoas contratadas que tentam promover ou difamar produtos ou serviços. Esses reviews são escritos cuidadosamente para parecerem autênticos, o que dificulta sua detecção por humanos ou por métodos automáticos. Assim, eles são usados para tentar, de maneira enganosa, controlar a opinião geral, podendo causar prejuízos para empresas e usuários. Diversas abordagens para a detecção de spam reviews vêm sendo propostas, sendo que a grande maioria emprega técnicas de aprendizado de máquina e processamento de linguagem natural. No entanto, apesar dos avanços já realizados, ainda há questionamentos relevantes que permanecem em aberto e demandam uma análise criteriosa para serem respondidos. Por exemplo, não há um consenso se o desempenho de métodos tradicionais de classificação pode ser afetado em cenários que demandam aprendizado incremental ou por mudanças nas características dos reviews devido ao fator cronológico, assim como também não há um consenso se existe diferença estatística entre os desempenhos dos métodos baseados no conteúdo das mensagens. Neste cenário, esta dissertação oferece uma análise e comparação compreensiva dos métodos tradicionais de aprendizado de máquina, aplicados na detecção de spam reviews. A comparação é realizada em múltiplos cenários, empregando-se diferentes tipos de aprendizado e bases de dados. Os experimentos realizados, juntamente com análise estatística dos resultados, corroboram a oferecer respostas adequadas para os questionamentos existentes. Além disso, os resultados obtidos podem ser usados como baseline para comparações futuras.

"Mitteilungen des URZ" 4/2003

Même si le capital immatériel représente une part de plus en plus importante de la valeur de nos organisations, il n’est pas toujours possible de stocker, tracer ou capturer les connaissances et les expertises, par exemple dans des projets de taille moyenne. Le courrier électronique est encore largement utilisé dans les projets d’entreprise en particulier entre les équipes géographiquement dispersées. Dans cette étude, nous présentons une nouvelle approche pour détecter les zones à l'intérieur de courriels professionnels où des éléments de connaissances sont susceptibles de se trouver. Nous définissons un contexte étendu en tenant compte non seulement du contenu du courrier électronique et de ses métadonnées, mais également des compétences et des rôles des utilisateurs. Également l’analyse pragmatique linguistique est mêlée aux techniques usuelles du traitement de langage naturel. Après avoir décrit notre méthode KTR et notre modèle, nous l'appliquons à un corpus réel d’entreprise et évaluons les résultats en fonction des algorithmes d’apprentissage, de filtrage et de recherche / Even if intangible capital represents an increasingly important part of the value of our enterprises, it’s not always possible to store, trace or capture knowledge and expertise, for instance in middle sized projects. Email it still widely used in professional projects especially among geographically distributed teams. In this study we present a novel approach to detect zones inside business emails where elements of knowledge are likely to be found. We define an enhanced context taking into account not only the email content and metadata but also the competencies of the users and their roles. Also linguistic pragmatic analysis is added to usual natural language processing techniques. After describing our model and method KTR, we apply it to a real life corpus and evaluate the results based on machine learning, filtering and information retrieval algorithms