Introduction to Social Informatics

This book is an introduction to social informatics. "Can they steal my identity?" - "What does it mean encryption?" - "How do Web chats work?" - "What is a virus?" - "Who's spying on my computer?" - These and many other questions are becoming important and sometimes vitally important for people who thought they had nothing to do with the computing profession. As computers and other computing devices penetrate deeper and deeper into our everyday life, we become more and more dependent on them. The purpose of this book is to show what's "running under the hood" of a computer and a computer network, where are the threats coming from, how to avoid them, and how the advent of computers and networks is changing our society.