The Internet and its associated services has spawned a wealth new terminology and redefined the many old words. Check out our useful glossary of good, bad and plain ugly words and phrases.

The Good...

• Anti Spam Computer program that puts into action anti-spam/spim/spit techniques
• Anti Virus Software Application designed to protect PCs from malicious computer code (virus)
• AUP Acceptable Use Policy - set of rules applied to a network, website or computer system that restricts the ways the network site or system may be used. Every school should have one!
• CEOP Child Exploitation and Online Protection dedicated to eradicating the sexual abuse of children. Part of UK policing tracking and bringing offenders to account. www.ceop.gov.uk Encryption The science of scrambling data be it text, audio, or video so that it can only be read by the authorised sender and recipient.
• Cookie A small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user's web browser while a user is browsing a website.
• Cloud Computing Storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of from your computer's hard drive.
• File Sharing A system in which users write to as well as read files or in which users are allotted some amount of space for personal files on a common server, giving access to other users as they see fit. The latter kind of file sharing is common in schools. Friend Someone on your list of contacts associated with a social networking site
• Filtering Software or hardware product designed to prevent access to inappropriate websites on the internet. It does this by denying or allowing access based on lists of pre-classified addresses, or by examining the web data for keywords or unwanted content. We recommend E2BN’s Protex www.protex.e2bn.org
• Firewall A system that prevents unauthorised access to a computer over a network, such as the internet. Firewalls can be either hardware or software businesses tend to use the former; home users the latter.
• IM Short for Instant Messaging, IM is the exchange of typed messages between computer users in real time via the Internet.
• MMS Multimedia Messaging Service, a system that enables mobile phones to send and receive pictures and sound clips as well as text messages.
• Netiquette A term referring to good behaviour while connected to the Internet. Netiquette mainly refers to behaviour while using Internet facilities such as individual Web sites, emails, newsgroups, message boards, chat rooms or Web communities. Teach your pupils ‘netiquette’!
• OFCOM Is the communications regulator. They regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. www.ofcom.org.uk
• P2P Peer-to-peer; denoting a network or data communications in which no dedicated server is involved.
• Patching Software file or collection of files that fixes problems with existing applications by making changes to the program
• Parental Control Software Programs that can be installed on computers to limit what children – or anyone else – can do. Often used to restrict access to lists of inappropriate websites, block chatrooms and other potentially dangerous programs and even keep a record of all email and other messages sent and received. No parental control software is completely reliable and it should only be used as part of a broader approach to online safety which involves talking to children and sharing online activities with them.
• Password A word or series of letters, numbers and punctuation that only you know, which you use to log on to computers, networks or online services.
• Security Updates New versions of programs that fix problems that have been found. Often sent out automatically, it is important that security updates are installed as soon as they are released as hackers and malware often try to make use of the errors that have been fixed.
• SMS Short message (or messaging) service, a system that enables mobile phone users to send and receive text messages
• Social Network A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.. Examples include Bebo, Facebook, and Myspace.
• Tweets Tweets are text-based posts on the social networking site Twitter. They are displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers known as followers. Can be restricted to a circle of friends or, by default, allow open access.
• Webcam A video camera designed to connect to your PC. It can be used to record video clips and still images which you can send by email, uploaded or transmitted directly over the internet for video-conferencing.

The Bad...

• Cyber Bullying When the Internet, mobile phones or other devices are used to send or post text or images intended to hurt or embarrass or harm another person.
• Cyberstalking Using information and communication technology, particularly the Internet, to harass an individual, group of individuals or organisation.
• Digital Dirt Approach adopted by some employers checking social network sites to see if prospective employees are drinking too much, doing drugs, trashing former employers, or letting out trade secrets on their profiles.
• Flaming A hostile and insulting interaction between internet users. It usually occurs in discussion boards.
• Fraping Concatenation of the words Facebook and rape meaning the act of changing all the details on someone’s Facebook page when they leave it open and vulnerable- Personal details, relationship status, gender, sexuality, political views etc.
• Grooming The actions undertaken by a paedophile to befriend and establish an emotional connection with a child in order to lower the child's inhibitions in preparation for sexual abuse and/or rape. Paedophiles may initiate online conversations with potential victims to extract information about location, interests and sexual experiences.
• Hacking Slang term used to describe illegal access of computer systems by unauthorised users.
• Happy Slapping Taking and publishing pictures of assault online.
• Identity Theft The practice of stealing personal details (e.g. name, birth date, credit card number) and using them illegally.
• Illegal Content Material which is illegal under national legislation. The most common types of such content are images of sexual abuse of children, extreme sexual violence, hate and xenophobia websites.
• Junk Mail Unwanted email messages that are sent out to people via their email address.
• Leeching benefiting, usually deliberately but not necessarily illegally from others' information or effort but does not offer anything in return.
• Malware Malicious software that is designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. It includes computer viruses, worms,
• Trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software.
• Pharming The process of collecting information from a computer by hidden means - often makes use of computer programs called spyware.
• Phishing The criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.
• Sexting The sending of explicit pictures (often self portraits) by multimedia text message, usually via a mobile phone.
• Spam Unwanted email, usually of a commercial nature, sent out in bulk to an indiscriminate set of recipients.
• Spim and Spit Like spam but via Instant messenging (Spim) or VOIP (Spit). Spyware Malware that secretly attached to files downloaded from the internet.
• Spyware usually installs itself on the computer and monitors activity in order to send private information to third parties.
• Triple XXX Content A domain which is reserved for the online pornography industry. Also used to refer to websites which contain adult content.
• Trojan A computer program that takes control of the computer it is installed upon without the knowledge of the owner and is designed to access or damage sensitive data.
• Troll Someone who posts inflammatory, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
• Virus A computer program which distributes copies of itself without permission or knowledge of the user. Viruses often hide themselves inside other programs.
• Worm A special type of virus that is self-replicating and can spread across many computers and harm networks, consume bandwidth and shut computers down. And the ‘it really depends on how you use it’!!