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A media access control is a network data transfer policy that determines how data is transmitted between two computer terminals through a network cable. The media access control policy involves sub-layers of the data link layer 2 in the OSI reference model.

The essence of the MAC protocol is to ensure non-collision and eases the transfer of data packets between two computer terminals. A collision takes place when two or more terminals transmit data/information simultaneously. This leads to a breakdown of communication, which can prove costly for organizations that lean heavily on data transmission.

This network channel through which data is transmitted between terminal nodes to avoid collision has three various ways of accomplishing this purpose. They include:

Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) is a media access control policy that regulates how data packets are transmitted between two computer nodes. This method avoids collision by configuring each computer terminal to make a signal before transmission. The signal is carried out by the transmitting computer to avoid a collision.

Multiple access implies that many computers are attempting to transmit data. Collision avoidance means that when a computer node transmitting data states its intention, the other waits at a specific length of time before resending the data.

CSMA/CA is data traffic regulation is slow and adds cost in having each computer node signal its intention before transmitting data. It used only on Apple networks.

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Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) is the opposite of CSMA/CA. Instead of detecting data to transmit signal intention to prevent a collision, it observes the cable to detect the signal before transmitting.

Collision detection means that when a collision is detected by the media access control policy, transmitting by the network stations stops at a random length of time before transmitting starts again.

It is faster than CSMA/CA as it functions in a network station that involves fewer data frames being transmitted. CSMA/CD is not as efficient as CSMA/CA in preventing network collisions. This is because it only detects huge data traffic in the network cable. Huge data traffic increases the possibility of a collision taking place. It is used on the Ethernet network.

The demand priority is an improved version of the Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD). This data control policy uses an active hub in regulating how a network is accessed. Demand priority requires that the network terminals obtain authorization from the active hub before data can be transmitted.

Another distinct feature of this MAC control policy is that data can be transmitted between the two network terminals at the same time without collision. In the Ethernet media, demand priority directs that data is transmitted directly to the receiving network terminal.

This media access control method uses free token passing to prevent a collision. Only a computer that possesses a free token, which is a small data frame, is authorized to transmit. Transmission occurs from a network terminal that has a higher priority than one with a low priority.

Token passing flourishes in an environment where a large number of short data frames are transmitted. This media access control policy is highly efficient in avoiding a collision. Possession of the free token is the only key to transmitting data by a network node. Each terminal holds this free token for a specific amount of time if the network with the high priority does not have data to transmit, the token is passed to the adjoining station in the network.

Media access control regulates how a network is accessed by computer terminals and transmits from one terminal to the other without collision. This is achieved through CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA, demand priority, or Token passing.

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Benjamin Netanyahu was more than a control freak when it came to media coverage of himself, his one-time confidante and adviser told an Israeli court on Monday during the former prime ministers ongoing corruption trial.

His control over media matters was absolute and total, with no exceptions, according to Nir Hefetz, a key prosecution witness who testified that Netanyahu who also headed the communications ministry from 2014 to 2017 devoted as much time to how the media portrayed him as he did to security concerns.

Netanyahu is much more than a control freak. When it came to matters of the media, he wants to know everything right down to the remote details, Hefetz told the Jerusalem District Court in his opening testimony for the trial dubbed Case 4000. The case alleges that Netanyahu promoted policies that benefited the owner of Israeli telecom giant Bezeq in return for positive coverage on its news website.

Hefetz also testified that former Communications Minister Gilad Erdan was removed from the ministry in 2014 after Netanyahu consulted with his wife and son. The family apparently reached a clear...decision that only Netanyahu would be communications minister, he said, adding that the move was not open to negotiations or indecision.

According to the Times of Israel newspaper, Hefetz became a prosecution witness after being arrested and questioned over a two-week period. He is believed to have provided prosecutors with key evidence from his time as an interlocutor between Netanyahu and Bezeq owner Shaul Elovitch, who had sought approval for a pending multi-million dollar merger.

Hefetz said his meetings with Elovitch were focused on who the next communications minister would be and testified that Netanyahu was 100% aware of the media moguls concerns. Elovitch apparently provided a list of potential candidates for the vacant ministry post, with Netanyahu as his preferred choice.

Meanwhile, the defense team is reportedly going to play excerpts of videotapes from Hefetzs police interrogation, alleging that he was illegally pressured into turning state witness and arguing that his testimony should be nullified.

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Telecommunications and old-school postal systems use a hierarchy of identifying characteristics (number, exchange, zip or area code, state or country code, etc.) to break the process of transmitting messages into manageable steps, each of which may be handled by mechanisms appropriate to a given stage (mailbox, local sorting office, etc.).

The same holds true for network and internet communications, where part of the hierarchy of identifying traits is provided by MAC, or Media Access Control.

In a LAN (Local Area Network) or other type of network such as the internet, a Media Access Control or MAC address serves as a unique identifier for each piece of hardware. The MAC protocol provides a channel of access and an addressing mechanism, so that each available node on the network may communicate with other nodes which are available either on the same network, or on others.

MAC addresses are sometimes known as physical addresses or hardware addresses, and are set by hardware manufacturers to uniquely identify their devices. A traditional MAC address is a twelve-digit hexadecimal number, 48 bits or six bytes long, written in one of the following manners:

MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SSMM-MM-MM-SS-SS-SSMMM.MMM.SSS.SSS

The string of Ms on the left (six digits, or 24 bits) is called a prefix, and is associated with the device manufacturer. The IEEE standards authority issues a given set of MAC prefixes to each vendor that registers with it. These may be assigned to the various products making up their range of hardware.

The S digits on the right give the identification number associated with a specific device. Each piece of hardware manufactured by a given vendor (and operating under a given MAC prefix) has its own unique 24-bit number. But as different vendors are issued with different MAC prefixes, its possible for devices originating from different manufactures to use the same sequence of S digits in their MAC address, without confusing the system.

Some wireless home automation networks defined by IEEE 802.15.4 require hardware devices to be configured with MAC addresses of 64 bits, rather than 48.

In telecommunication protocols, MAC addresses are used by the Media Access Control sub-layer of the Data Link Control (DLC) layer, which is the protocol layer of a program that handles the flow of data moving in and out over physical links in the network. Each type of physical device has a different MAC sub-layer.

Media Access Control is itself a sub-layer of the Data Link Layer (DLL) defined within the seven-layer OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) network reference model. MAC assumes responsibility for transmitting data packets to and from a network interface card, or to and from other remotely shared channels.

Media Access Control has its roots in network computing under the Ethernet protocol, where it provides the data link layer for LAN systems. MAC encapsulates payload data by adding Protocol Control Information (PCI) as a 14-byte header before the information, and adding a checksum for integrity checking.

Before data transmission, theres a short idle time of 9.6 microseconds (S) to allow for the receiver circuitry in each node to settle after completion of the previous transmission frame. A special pattern (binary 11) is used to mark the last two bits of the preamble. Once this is received, the Ethernet receive interface begins gathering the bits into bytes for processing by the MAC layer.

The MAC header consists of three parts:

Sometimes referred to as a as a Frame Check Sequence, the Cyclic Redundancy Check or CRC is a 32-bit checksum calculated to provide error detection in the case of Ethernet transmission collisions or line errors which could corrupt the MAC frame. Any frame returning an invalid CRC is rejected by the MAC frame, without processing.

The Inter-Frame Gap or IFG is the period of 9.6 microseconds (at 10 Mbps) that a transmitter must wait between sending frames, to allow for signal propagation at the receiver end. This is the same period as the preamble at the start of a transmission.

Carrier Sense Multiple Access (CSMA) with Collision Detection (CD) protocol regulates access to shared Ethernet media.

Any received frame having less than 64 bytes is known as a runt and is considered illegitimate. Runt frames typically arise from data collision, and are discarded by the receiver.

A received frame which is larger than the maximum designated size is referred to as a giant. These may stem from failures or imperfections in the networks physical layer, and are also discarded.

Some Gigabit Ethernet NICs (Network Interface Cards) support frames in excess of the 1500 bytes specified by the IEEE standard. This mode of transmission requires both ends of the communication link to support these jumbo frames.

As mentioned earlier, the maximum size of a data packet which may be carried in a MAC frame using Ethernet is 1500 bytes. This limit is known as the MTU, under Internet Protocol or IP.

Ethernet also requires a minimum frame size of 46 bytes for every MAC frame. If the network layer wishes to transmit less than this, the MAC protocol adds a set of null padding characters (zero bytes, or 0x00) to make up the difference.

The Address Resolution Protocol or ARP is used to establish the MAC source address of remote computers whenever IP is used over an Ethernet LAN. In turn, IP networks use ARP to manage the conversion between IP and MAC addresses. And the unique assignment of IP addresses to various devices is managed by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), in conjunction with ARP.

TCP/IP networks use both IP and MAC addresses. A MAC address will remain fixed to a hardware device, but the IP address may alter dynamically in accordance with its TCP/IP network configuration.

In the OSI model, Internet Protocol operates at Layer 3, while the MAC protocol works at Layer 2. Media Access Control is able to support other networks besides TCP/IP, for this reason.

Some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) map each of their residential customer accounts to the MAC address of their home network router or gateway device. If the customer installs a new router, the address seen by the provider will change with the ISP seeing a different MAC address. This can lead to blocking or revocation of the account.

This situation can be avoided through a process called cloning whereby a router or gateway may be configured to continue reporting the same MAC address to the provider, even if the new hardware has a different identifier. Otherwise, customers need to contact their ISP to register the new device.

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The MAC Address (Media Access Control) and its Role in Communications

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In a Local Area Network (or other network such as the internet), a Media Access Control or MAC address serves as a unique identifier for each piece of hardware.

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Boyle, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and a graduate student in the Master of Public Health program at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. She lives in Carlsbad.

Policymakers are grappling with an inconvenient truth that the public was played by the social media titans as they reckon with the revelations from Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower. Now what?

The reveal: Facebook, Google and Twitter designers use sophisticated neuroscience knowledge to add addiction and habit-forming features to social media platforms. Social media platforms use gamification tactics to manipulate users to stay engaged with the application longer. User connectivity is directly related to advertisement exposure and increased profits. The manipulated users earn small random prizes that reward their brains with dopamine hits the effect of the dopamine fuels a compulsive habit-forming loop. MIT neuroscientist Anne Graybiel confirms that addictive behavior and habit formation physically change the brains structure. The structural brain changes make it almost impossible to resist the cue-impelling, habit-forming behavior.

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Social media companies specifically design their applications for the adolescent market. Adolescents are inherently more sensitive to rewards and risk-taking behavior.

As the teenage brain progresses to an adult brain, the decision-making brain structures are exceptionally responsive to environmental cues. The dopaminergic receptors reach their highest lifetime density during this developmental stage. The receptor density biases adolescent decision-making towards rewarding stimuli and renders them vulnerable to social media compulsions and addictions.

Recent neuroscience research confirms that the adolescent brain is more sensitive to cue-based learning than adults. For example, habits are formed when behavior is triggered repeatedly, and the repeated cue-response behavior becomes rigid and challenging to change. This result is significant in understanding why adolescents are exceptionally responsive to social media notification cues.

Addictive behavior formation during adolescence can have a long-term destructive effect on mental health. In a longitudinal study, Andrew Lapierre of the University of Arizona showed that smartphone usage was a direct risk factor for depression and loneliness in older adolescents. This study is crucial as it demonstrates that smartphone usage preceded the decline in mental health.

Ironically, these mental health repercussions have led many social media developers to disallow their children from using smartphones. In some cases, they go so far as to lock themselves out of the devices they were instrumental in developing.

Social media usage can be harmful for the adolescent population. The leaked Facebook documents indicate that officials were aware of the potential for harm to adolescents. Yet they pressed forward with technology that could specifically undermine the mental health of this vulnerable population. Here policymakers must use the weight of scientific evidence to warn and protect this age group.

Regulators need to have social media platforms move away from incentive-based features requiring users to check their smartphone application constantly.

In addition, the social media ecosystem relies on leveraging the teens data to promote highly personalized content. Incentivized by ad revenue and profits, such customized and compelling content has the effect of engaging and maximizing app usage and scroll time. Here regulators have an opportunity to demand that social media platforms adhere to data protection and transparency standards.

Moreover, our legislators can prohibit addictive digital tactics, toxic cyberbullying and the use of personal data associated with a minor.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the federal law that bestows internet companies protection from liability for user-generated content disseminated on their platforms. Policymakers can demand that the content presented on their platform adhere to current rights laws covering libel, slander and defamation to help curb cyberbullying. Such regulations would incentivize the tech companies to take responsibility for the content on their apps.

Social media platforms are not simply pass-through conduits for third-party-generated content. They employ artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to curate and control information on their platform. Their involvement in data management disqualifies them from Section 230 protections. The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996, long before we knew the consequences of social media on the adolescent mind. It is time to stand up for the children, update Section 230 exclusions, and protect the future of our nation.

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Opinion: Wish the law could protect teens on social media? It can but it needs an update. - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Williams is a political science major originally from Carmel Valley. Ziment is a public policy analysis major, originally from 4S Ranch. Both are students at Pomona College in Claremont.

A new conspiracy theory is gaining traction: Omicron is a variant invented by the Democrats in order to help them in the midterm elections. Pete Hegseth, a Fox News commentator, suggested that you could count on a variant about every October, every two years. Its natural to wonder who would believe ridiculous conspiracy theories like these. Maybe its not necessarily a sudden widespread belief in the accuracy of conspiracies, but rather a new digital world that is allowing them to spread and prosper.

This digital world is led by social media, which is the main perpetrator in causing an increasing support for conspiracy theories by driving inaccurate sharing and causing the processing of information to remain at the surface level.

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Many assume that political ideology drives belief in fake news and conspiracy theories, and while its true that partisanship matters, it isnt as important as many make it out to be. Its also not that people are unable to distinguish accurate news from false news. While people are more likely to believe partisan political views with which they agree, studies show that when people are asked to rate true headlines, their ratings are accurate. They may even be more able to assess the accuracy of views of those with politics similar to theirs.

So what actually drives this phenomenon?

It comes down to heuristics (mental shortcuts) and the degree of analytical thinking. The idea that like goes with like leads people to believe conspiracy theories because your brain instinctually believes that big causes must have big effects.

The illusory truth effect is another heuristic that describes how prior exposure to a fake news headline increases belief later on. The amount of time of exposure to a media can be an extremely influential factor in belief. Psychology researchers Gordon Pennycook and David G. Rand highlight that peoples likelihood to believe in fake news content decreases when they are more reflective and are able to differentiate between truth and falsities. Overconfidence obstructs reflective thinking, leading to more belief in conspiracy theories.

In the tug of war between the intuitive and the rational systems, social media aids in jump-starting processing at the intuitive level. By bypassing deeper processing, support for conspiracy theories is increasing because they are not being fully processed for their accuracy. It is not necessarily that people are not caring about ensuring the accuracy of what they are reading and sharing. Instead, social media is aiding in focusing their attention on other factors that distract from the necessary deeper processing to discern what is truth and what is not.

A recent study found that distractors on social media and their desire to attract followers are all contributing to an increased likelihood of sharing misinformation. For conspiracy theories, increased sharing of media regardless of its veracity means a more prolific message and a wider base for these false stories to grow with. And with more of a following, these stories gain validity, and the self-perpetuating cycle driven by social media feeds the fire of the spread of misinformation.

What is at the crux of this new development is the finding that the form of digital media influences how information is processed. Images or text blurbs, commonly found on platforms like Twitter, are processed quickly and automatically. Thus, the conspiracy theories being presented in this format and on these platforms are being processed more quickly in a less controlled and accuracy-based manner.

These recent findings surrounding the influence of the type of media on processing coupled with the rise to fame in concise and approachable media platforms like Twitter and TikTok are what are breeding an environment in which conspiracy theories are finding greater traction and are thriving now more than ever.

Given all of this, its no surprise that research by Xizhu Xiao at Chinas Qingdao University and Porismita Borah and Yan Su at Washington State University shows that social media news use was associated with higher conspiracy beliefs, and trust in social media news was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between social media news use and conspiracy beliefs.

So whats the solution? Studies show that credibility indicators, which fact-check sources and present a rating, reduce false sharing. But this isnt something that everyday people have control over. What can individuals like you do to combat this effect? Research shows that being an active, thoughtful and open-minded social media user is associated with good online behavior. Before you share something, spend a few seconds simply thinking, Is this something that you think is true?

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Opinion: People can spot fake news. So why do conspiracy theories thrive on social media? - The San Diego Union-Tribune