Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is indispensable in the spheres of business, government, education, and entertainment. It makes Internet marketing, e-government, elearning and online chat services possible, as well as e-commerce. With the radical impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviour and buying patterns, it is now more crucial than ever for business training to cover at least the basics of e-commerce.

E-Commerce in South Africa explores the ways in which entrepreneurs and managers can make use of e-commerce to improve their contact with their customers and enhance their business and marketing strategies.

This multipurpose book will be invaluable to people involved in any form of business or government institution that relies on ICT. Those who will benefit from this book include students of business, business analysts, web page designers and webmasters, entrepreneurs and CEOs, risk managers, marketers, advertising specialists, logistics managers, strategic planning specialists and trainers in the business and ICT fields.

For the past decade, Arthur Goldstuck has had a front-row seat to witness the remarkable rise of AI across all sectors of business and society. As generative AI becomes a household phrase and sparks hopes and fears of machines augmenting or replacing human beings, this guide offers an invaluable overview of the past, present and future of AI.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI is aimed at both beginners and those who consider themselves experienced or skilled at using AI. It draws on many years of direct access to global and regional leaders in using AI, from Africa to the Middle East to North America to Europe and Asia, and it provides unique perspectives on generative AI, as well as practical advice for using it.

It is useful for consumers, academics, professionals and anyone in business who wants to get up to speed quickly and practically. It also entertains and inspires anyone who is curious about AI or already engaged in its possibilities.

Need to understand or refine prompting? You’re in the right place. Need to prepare for the coming impact of AI on health, travel, education and business? This is the book for you.

The renowned social scientist, professor, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delivers his most urgent and compelling book: an eye-opening exploration of the human side of the misinformation crisis, examining what drives otherwise rational people to adopt deeply irrational beliefs.

Misinformation affects us daily, from social media to politics and even personal relationships. Policing social media alone cannot solve the complex problem shaped by partisan politics and subjective interpretations of truth.

In Misbelief social scientist Dan Ariely explores the behaviour of 'misbelief' that leads people to distrust accepted truths and embrace conspiracy theories. Misinformation taps into something innate in all of us, regardless of political affiliation. By understanding this psychology, we can mitigate its effects. Grounded in research and Ariely's personal experience as a target of disinformation, the book analyses the psychological drivers behind adopting irrational beliefs. Ariely reveals the emotional, cognitive, personality, and social elements that drive people towards false information and mistrust.

Despite advanced AI generating convincing fake news, Ariely offers hope. Awareness of the forces fuelling misbelief makes individuals and society more resilient. Combating misbelief requires empathy, not conflict. Recognising misbelief as a human problem allows us to be part of the solution.

“the bird is freed”
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022

When Elon Musk took over Twitter, commentators were rooting for the visionary behind Tesla and SpaceX to succeed. Here was a tough leader who could grab back power from Twitter’s entitled workforce, motivate them to get “extremely hardcore,” and supercharge Twitter’s profit and potential. And it was all out of the goodness of his own heart, rooted in his fervent belief in the necessity of making Twitter friendlier to free speech. "I didn’t do it to make more money,” Musk said. “I did it to try and help humanity, whom I love.” 

Once Musk charged into the Twitter headquarters, the command-and-control playbook Musk honed at Tesla and SpaceX went off the rails immediately. Distilling hundreds of hours of interviews with more than sixty employees, thousands of pages of internal documents, Slack messages, presentations, as well as court filings and congressional testimony, Extremely Hardcore is the true story of how Musk reshaped the world’s online public square into his own personal megaphone. 

You’ll hear from employees who witnessed the destruction of their workplace in real-time, seeing years of progress to fight disinformation and hate speech wiped out within a matter of months. There’s the machine-learning savant who went all-in on Twitter 2.0 before getting betrayed by his new CEO, the father whose need for healthcare swept him into Musk’s inner circle, the trust and safety expert who became the subject of a harassment campaign his former boss incited, and the many other employees who tried to save the company from their new boss’s worst instincts. This is the story of Twitter, but it’s also a chronicle of the post-pandemic labor movement, a war between executives and a workforce newly awakened to their rights and needs.

Riveting, character-driven, and filled with jaw-dropping revelations, Extremely Hardcore is the definitive, fly-on-the-wall story of how Elon Musk lit $44 billion on fire and burned down Twitter. It’s the next best thing to being there, and you won’t have to sleep in the Twitter office to get the scoop.

How is the adoption of digital media in the Arab world affecting the relationship between the state and its subjects? What new forms of online engagement and strategies of resistance have emerged from the aspirations of digitally empowered citizens? Networked Publics and Digital Contention: The Politics of Everyday Life in Tunisia tells the compelling story of the concurrent evolution of technology and society in the Middle East. It brings into focus the intricate relationship between Internet development, youth activism, cyber resistance, and political participation. Taking Tunisia - the birthplace of the Arab uprisings - as a case study, it offers an ethnographically nuanced and theoretically grounded analysis of the digital culture of contention that developed in an authoritarian context. It broadens the focus from narrow debates about the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings toward a fresh understanding of how changes in media affect existing power relations. Based on extensive fieldwork, in-depth interviews with Internet activists, and immersive analyses of online communication, this book redirects our attention from institutional politics to the informal politics of everyday life. An original contribution to the political sociology of Arab media, Networked Publics and Digital Contention provides a unique perspective on how networked Arab publics negotiate agency, reconfigure political action, and reimagine citizenship.

This forward-looking Research Handbook showcases cutting-edge research on the relationship between international migration and digital technology. It sheds new light on the interlinkages between digitalisation and migration patterns and processes globally, capturing the latest research technologies and data sources. Featuring international migration in all facets from the migration of tech sector specialists through to refugee displacement, leading contributors offer strategic insights into the future of migration and mobility. Covering diverse geographies and using interdisciplinary approaches, contributions provide new analysis of migration futures. A discrete chapter on digital technology and COVID-19 global pandemic offers reflections on how migration and mobility are being profoundly reshaped by the global pandemic. The practical applications and limitations of digital technology in relation to international migration are also highlighted and supported with key case studies. Analytical yet accessible, this Research Handbook will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars in the fields of migration and digital technology, while also being of benefit to policy makers and civil society actors specialising in migration.

From hashtag activism to the flood of political memes on social media, the landscape of political communication is being transformed by the grassroots circulation of opinion on digital platforms and beyond. By exploring how everyday people assist in the promotion of political media messages to persuade their peers and shape the public mind, Joel Penney offers a new framework for understanding the phenomenon of viral political communication: the citizen marketer. Like the citizen consumer, the citizen marketer is guided by the logics of marketing practice, but, rather than being passive, actively circulates persuasive media to advance political interests. Such practices include using protest symbols in social media profile pictures, strategically tweeting links to news articles to raise awareness about select issues, sharing politically-charged internet memes and viral videos, and displaying mass-produced T-shirts, buttons, and bumper stickers that promote a favored electoral candidate or cause. Citizens view their participation in such activities not only in terms of how it may shape or influence outcomes, but as a statement of their own identity. As the book argues, these practices signal an important shift in how political participation is conceptualized and performed in advanced capitalist democratic societies, as they casually inject political ideas into the everyday spaces and places of popular culture. While marketing is considered a dirty word in certain critical circles - particularly among segments of the left that have identified neoliberal market logics and consumer capitalist structures as a major focus of political struggle - some of these very critics have determined that the most effective way to push back against the forces of neoliberal capitalism is to co-opt its own marketing and advertising techniques to spread counter-hegemonic ideas to the public. Accordingly, this book argues that the citizen marketer approach to political action is much broader than any one ideological constituency or bloc. Rather, it is a means of promoting a wide range of political ideas, including those that are broadly critical of elite uses of marketing in consumer capitalist societies. The book includes an extensive historical treatment of citizen-level political promotion in modern democratic societies, connecting contemporary digital practices to both the 19th century tradition of mass political spectacle as well as more informal, culturally-situated forms of political expression that emerge from postwar countercultures. By investigating the logics and motivations behind the citizen marketer approach, as well as how it has developed in response to key social, cultural, and technological changes, Penney charts the evolution of activism in an age of mediatized politics, promotional culture, and viral circulation.

Examining the consequences of technology-driven lifestyles for both crime commission and victimization, this comprehensive Handbook provides an overview of a broad array of techno-crimes as well as exploring critical issues concerning the criminal justice system's response to technology-facilitated criminal activity. The Handbook adopts a unique three-fold typology of technology-enabled crime: techno-crime committed by professional criminals (crime as work), techno-crime committed in traditional workplace settings (crime at work), and techno-crime committed by individuals outside of traditional workplace settings (crime after work.) Chapters explore an extensive range of criminal activities facilitated by the digital age, from embezzlement, financial fraud, corporate espionage, phishing, and ransomware to identity theft, hacking, cyber terrorism, and internet sex and hate crimes. Looking to the future, the Handbook considers timely questions posed by our continued reliance on information technology, including whether we are in danger of becoming a global surveillance state and how we might prevent the facilitation of cyber terrorism by social media giants. This dynamic Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students interested in criminology, digital sociology, terrorism and security, and surveillance studies. Offering practical insights on the need for a coordinated global techno-crime control strategy, it will serve as a resource for policymakers seeking cutting edge solutions to the growing problem of techno-crime.

Delving deep into the emerging international and federal statutory and legislative developments surrounding Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technologies, Atilla Kasap assesses whether current motor vehicle regulations, liability law and the liability insurance system are fit for purpose today and in the future. Making a significant and novel contribution to the field, this cutting-edge book comprehensively surveys the promises offered by AVs, including radically reduced road incidents, and economic, environmental and societal benefits, alongside the significant regulatory and liability problems the technology faces. Kasap finds that, as AVs are one of the most significant and profound technological advances of the 21st century, relying on machine learning and pattern recognition systems to function, the current liability regime surrounding them requires a rethinking. Critically analysing the tort liability of AVs, chapters deconstruct and reconstruct a tort law regime for AVs, ultimately solving how policymakers should approach the challenges faced in regulating and enacting AV legislation. Interdisciplinary in approach, it will prove invaluable to students and scholars of computer science and law, particularly those studying AI and robotics law, and those interested in the regulation and governance of AV technology. It also offers vital tools for policymakers seeking concrete principles on which to define potential laws and regulations for AV technology.

Informed by the latest theoretical developments in studies of the social impacts of digital technology, Smart-Tech Society provides an empirically grounded and conceptually informed analysis of the impacts and paradoxes of smart-technology. While making life more convenient, smart-tech has also been associated with a loss of privacy and control over decision-making autonomy. Mark Whitehead and William Collier provide a critical analysis of the lived experience of smart-technology, presenting stories of varied social engagements with digital platforms and devices. Chapters explore the myriad contexts in and through which smart-tech insinuates itself within everyday life, the benefits it brings, and the processes through which it is being resisted. Detailed case studies explore the impacts of smart-technology across a broad range of fields including personal health, work, social life, urban management, and politics. Presenting new empirical evidence and analytical perspectives on the relationships between humans and smart-tech, this book will be of interest to academics and students in the fields of sociology, political science, human geography, and technology studies.

Revealing the politics underlying the rapid globalization of facial recognition technology (FRT), this topical book provides a cutting-edge, critical analysis of the expanding global market for FRT, and the rise of the transnational social movement that opposes it. With the use of FRT for policing, surveillance, and business steadily increasing, this book provides a timely examination of both the benefits of FRT, and the threats it poses to privacy rights, human rights, and civil liberties. Interviews with analysts and activists with expertise in FRT find that the anti-FRT movement is highly uneven, with disproportionate influence in Western democracies and relatively little influence in authoritarian states and low-income countries in the developing world. Through a global analysis of the uptake and regulation of FRT, chapters create a holistic understanding of the politics behind this technology. Concluding with a look towards the future prospects of FRT in the face of the growing size, reach, and power of its opposition, the book reflects more broadly on the power of transnational social movements and civil society activism to prevent the globalization and normalization of new technologies. A visionary exploration of FRT, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of politics and policy, alongside activists, stakeholders, and policy makers interested in the growing power of social movements to resist new technology.

This insightful book discusses how states deploy frontier and digital technologies to manage and control migratory movements. Assessing the development of blockchain technologies for digital identities and cash transfer; artificial intelligence for smart borders, resettlement of refugees and assessing asylum applications; social media and mobile phone applications to track and surveil migrants, it critically examines the consequences of new technological developments and evaluates their impact on the rights of migrants and refugees. Chapters evaluate the technology-based public-private projects that govern migration globally and illustrate the political implications of these virtual borders. International contributors compare and contrast different forms of political expression, in both personal technologies, such as social media for refugees and smugglers, and automated decision-making algorithms used by states to enable migration governance. This timely book challenges hegemonic approach to migration governance and provides cases demonstrating the dangers of employing frontier technologies denying basic rights, liberties and agencies of migrants and refugees. Stepping into a contentious political climate for migrants and refugees, this provocative book is ideal reading for scholars and researchers of political science and public policy, particularly those focusing on migration and refugee studies. It will also benefit policymakers and practitioners dealing with migration, such as humanitarian NGOs, UN agencies and local authorities.

Fundamental Rights Protection Online presents an in-depth analysis of national, supranational and international attempts at online speech regulation, illustrating how the law has been unsettled on how to treat intermediaries. In this book, expert contributors explore how problems ranging from disinformation to hate speech to copyright violations are framed and tackled though legislation, codes of conduct and judicial interpretation. The chapters discuss positive law developments in the intersection of intermediary liability and rights, considering both the history and current intellectual debates surrounding European and US legislative initiatives. In addition to examining how the European Union and individual European nations regulate speech online, the book also analyses the e-Commerce Directive, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and principles established under the United Nations. It concludes that content regulation online is best captured by the notion of 'speech curation', involving both private and public actors. Taking a human rights approach to online speech regulation, this timely book will be critical reading for academics and students of law, particularly those with an interest in internet law, information law and human rights. Its exploration of intermediary liability and fundamental rights will also be beneficial for legal practitioners working in online rights protection.

'Ground-breaking and ambitious' - Nick Srnicek, author of Platform Capitalism Whoever controls the platforms, controls the future. Platform Socialism sets out an alternative vision and concrete proposals for a digital economy that expands our freedom. Powerful tech companies now own the digital infrastructure of twenty-first century social life. Masquerading as global community builders, these companies have developed sophisticated new techniques for extracting wealth from their users. James Muldoon shows how grassroots communities and transnational social movements can take back control from Big Tech. He reframes the technology debate and proposes a host of new ideas, from the local to the international, for how we can reclaim the emancipatory possibilities of digital platforms. Drawing on sources from forgotten histories to contemporary prototypes, he proposes an alternative system and charts a roadmap for how we can get there.

Do you feel overwhelmed by the AI wave? Worried that it could cost you your job, harm your business, or even take over? AI has pervaded our lives and is aggressively disrupting business. No person today can afford to ignore AI.

Age of Agency is your companion, helping you leverage AI's capabilities to power your productivity and success. By understanding AI, you will learn to use it as a tool for personal career growth and business success.

Former Microsoft executive Kerushan Govender demystifies AI, emphasising the importance of human agency. Reconnect with the needs of humanity and learn the importance of care as a differentiator in an AI world. Avoid the potential pitfalls of excessive reliance on the technology.

Age of Agency is a blueprint for ensuring human agency outpaces computer agency. It boldly pits the limits of machine learning against the infinity of human ability. With this survival guide, you’ll uncover ways to connect with humanity on a deeper level, going beyond anything AI can do.

Ready to become AI-savvy, with your humanity as your differentiator? Dive into the future with the confidence to ride the wave of today’s AI revolution.

SECURITY AND PRIVACY IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS Provides the authoritative and up-to-date information required for securing IoT architecture and applications The vast amount of data generated by the Internet of Things (IoT) has made information and cyber security vital for not only personal privacy, but also for the sustainability of the IoT itself. Security and Privacy in the Internet of Things brings together high-quality research on IoT security models, architectures, techniques, and application domains. This concise yet comprehensive volume explores state-of-the-art mitigations in IoT security while addressing important security and privacy challenges across different IoT layers. The book provides timely coverage of IoT architecture, security technologies and mechanisms, and applications. The authors outline emerging trends in IoT security and privacy with a focus on areas such as smart environments and e-health. Topics include authentication and access control, attack detection and prevention, securing IoT through traffic modeling, human aspects in IoT security, and IoT hardware security. Presenting the current body of knowledge in a single volume, Security and Privacy in the Internet of Things: Discusses a broad range of IoT attacks and defense mechanisms Examines IoT security and privacy protocols and approaches Covers both the logical and physical security of IoT devices Addresses IoT security through network traffic modeling Describes privacy preserving techniques in smart cities Explores current threat and vulnerability analyses Security and Privacy in the Internet of Things: Architectures, Techniques, and Applications is essential reading for researchers, industry practitioners, and students involved in IoT security development and IoT systems deployment.

Today's "machine-learning" systems, trained by data, are so effective that we've invited them to see and hear for us-and to make decisions on our behalf. But alarm bells are ringing. Recent years have seen an eruption of concern as the field of machine learning advances. When the systems we attempt to teach will not, in the end, do what we want or what we expect, ethical and potentially existential risks emerge. Researchers call this the alignment problem. Systems cull resumes until, years later, we discover that they have inherent gender biases. Algorithms decide bail and parole-and appear to assess Black and White defendants differently. We can no longer assume that our mortgage application, or even our medical tests, will be seen by human eyes. And as autonomous vehicles share our streets, we are increasingly putting our lives in their hands. The mathematical and computational models driving these changes range in complexity from something that can fit on a spreadsheet to a complex system that might credibly be called "artificial intelligence." They are steadily replacing both human judgment and explicitly programmed software. In best-selling author Brian Christian's riveting account, we meet the alignment problem's "first-responders," and learn their ambitious plan to solve it before our hands are completely off the wheel. In a masterful blend of history and on-the ground reporting, Christian traces the explosive growth in the field of machine learning and surveys its current, sprawling frontier. Readers encounter a discipline finding its legs amid exhilarating and sometimes terrifying progress. Whether they-and we-succeed or fail in solving the alignment problem will be a defining human story. The Alignment Problem offers an unflinching reckoning with humanity's biases and blind spots, our own unstated assumptions and often contradictory goals. A dazzlingly interdisciplinary work, it takes a hard look not only at our technology but at our culture-and finds a story by turns harrowing and hopeful.

Cell phone apps share location information; software companies store user data in the cloud; biometric scanners read fingerprints; employees of some businesses have microchips implanted in their hands. In each of these instances we trade a share of privacy or an aspect of identity for greater convenience or improved security. What Robert M. Pallitto asks in Bargaining with the Machine is whether we are truly making such bargains freely - whether, in fact, such a transaction can be conducted freely or advisedly in our ever more technologically sophisticated world. Pallitto uses the social theory of bargaining to look at the daily compromises we make with technology. Specifically, he explores whether resisting these 'bargains' is still possible when the technologies in question are backed by persuasive, even coercive, corporate and state power. Who, he asks, is proposing the bargain? What is the balance of bargaining power? What is surrendered and what is gained? And are the perceived and the actual gains and losses the same - that is, what is hidden? At the center of Pallitto's work is the paradox of bargaining in a world of limited agency. Assurances that we are in control are abundant whether we are consumers, voters, or party to the social contract. But when purchasing goods from a technological behemoth like Amazon, or when choosing a candidate whose image is crafted and shaped by campaign strategists and media outlets, how truly free, let alone informed, are our choices? The tension between claims of agency and awareness of its limits is the site where we experience our social lives - and nowhere is this tension more pronounced than in the surveillance society. This book offers a cogent analysis of how that complex, contested, and even paradoxical experience arises as well as an unusually clear and troubling view of the consequential compromises we may be making.