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Date	November 2019	Marks available	3	Reference code	19N.2.SL.TZ0.9
Level	SL	Paper	2	Time zone	no time zone
Command term	Describe	Question number	9	Adapted from	N/A

Question

The growth of the Internet has led to increased levels of collaboration between different IB World Schools.

The World World Web consisted of over 1350 million web pages in 2017. Each web page is accessed by typing its uniform resource locator (URL) into the address bar of the browser.

Explain why a distributed network such as the World Wide Web may act as a catalyst to increase the collaboration between different IB World Schools.

[3]

Explain one function of a web browser.

[3]

Describe how a domain name server (DNS) functions.

[3]

Explain how the use of a distributed network, such as the World Wide Web, may lead to copyright and intellectual property issues.

[5]

Markscheme

Award [3 max].
The Internet is growing exponentially meaning that more and more nodes (in this case IB World Schools) can be added;
This has led to greater connectivity between the different nodes;
However, the number of hops required to transmit information from one node to another is growing linearly;
Therefore, each node can access the increased number of nodes with no discernible latency which makes increased levels of collaboration between these nodes possible and desirable;

Award [3 max].
Browser Retrieves a Web Page;
The web browser retrieves (or fetches) code, usually written in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and other computer languages, from a web server;
Then, it interprets this code and displays it as a web page for you to view;

Browser acts as a bridge between URL and DNS;
The user inputs the URL / website domain name on web browser’s address bar;
The web browser passes this website domain name to a domain name server;

Award [3 max].
User type the domain name into the URL search area on the web browser and press “Enter” on the keyboard.

The domain name is intercepted by a “Domain Name Server” or DNS.

The main function of the DNS is to look up in its database the domain name you have typed and find the matching IP address.

It then forwards the request onwards, using this address.

If it cannot find the IP address in its own database, it then contacts other Domain Name Servers until it finds it, or if it can't find it anywhere, it displays a “web site not found” message to you.

When the request reaches the destination, the pages are sent back.

Award [5 max].
Copyright issues [3 max]
Copyright issues may occur because of the ease of access to materials on the World Wide Web;
When material is accessed on the World Wide Web it may breach copyright rules in a number of ways (such as copying / publishing/ public display), often without the user realizing they have done so;
It may also be a potential issue of the user is not aware of the complicated and extensive copyright laws;
The continuing technical evolution of the web may mean that new practices emerge that may inadvertently breach existing copyright laws;

IP [3 max]
Potential IP issues may occur with web sites for a number of reasons such as being linked to copyright, trademarks, patents;
When material is downloaded it may breach IP rights;
When material is modified without author’s permission;
These IP rights may vary between countries which leads to some acts being an IP issue on one country, but not in another;

Examiners report

There were a lot of vague responses with few homing in on the fact that the "distributed" nature of the web was the key element.

Being an "explain" question the answers required knowledge of "how" or "why". Not that many explained the importance of the translation feature of a browser.

Most candidates identified some of the steps involved but omitted to say that the IP address would be returned to the original browser.

This wasn't particularly well-answered with few understanding the differences between intellectual property and copyright issues. Many alluded to the problems of identification but few included the idea that regulations differ from country to country.

Syllabus sections

Option C: Web science » C.1 Creating the web

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17N.2.SL.TZ0.8d:

A fragment of a script and a web form are provided below.
In the script some functions are not implemented, and only their specification is provided.

<?php
  //include a database of urls
  include('url_db.php');
  $url = $short = "";

  if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST")
  { $url = $_POST['url'];
    $short = make_short($url);
    function make_short($u)
    { $x = make_alpha_string($u);
      $y = first4_last4($x);
      $z = limits($x);
      $v = $y. ".".$z;   //string concatenation
      return $v;
  }

  function make_alpha_string($u)
  { // It removes, in this order: substrings corresponding to
    // protocol names, the substring www, and all characters
    // except for letters
  }

  function first4_last4($u)
  { // It returns the string made of the first 4 characters
    // followed by the last 4 characters of $u
  }

  function limits($u)
  { // It returns the string made of the first character and
    // last character of $u
  }

  mysql_query("
    INSERT INTO url_db(orig_url, short_url, url_ip) VALUES
    ( '".$_POST['url']."',
      '".$short."',
      '".$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']."'
    )
  ");
 }
?>

<form method="post" action="">
URL:
<input type="text" name="url" />
<br><br>
<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

Describe the processing that occurs when the form is filled with the URL https://www.the2nd.org/bin.php?id=70 that the server discovers is associated with the IP address 172.16.254.1.

Hide related questions

Option C: Web science

Question

Markscheme

Examiners report

Syllabus sections

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