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Mobile devices have low-bandwidth, high latency and high cost connections
(Wang, Lam and Yi, 1998). In addition, mobile computers have limited storage
and processing capacity. A mobile agent can perform information retrieval, filter-
ing and processing activities at a server, and return only the relevant (and reduced)
information (Chess et al., 1995) This approach can significantly decrease the vol-
ume of data handled by the mobile computer connection. Gray et al. (2000)
define mobile agents as programs that can move through a network under their
own control, migrating from host to host and interacting with both other agents
and resources on each host.
MOBILITY AND SECURITY ISSUES
Agent mobility might create security concerns. Unreliable agents may visit or
request information from a system. Some server administrators will want to pre-
vent agents to visit their web sites and use special software to block their entry
(Murch and Johnson, 1999). A malicious mobile agent could attack a server, and
on the other hand, a malicious server can delete a mobile agent, or modify it so it
produces abnormal results (Huhns and Singh, 1998). The first security problem is
easier to overcome; however, in the second case, in order to be executed, the
agent has to open both its code and data to the server and be exposed to alter-
ation.
MOBILITY AND LEGAL JURISDICTION
Jurisdiction is a legal term for the restriction on the ability of a court to resolve
disputes. According to this definition, companies (or individuals) from foreign coun-
tries can be sued in a U.S. court if the organization has had some minimum con-
tacts with the U.S. electronic actions through the Internet such as sending an e-
mail, downloading data, or executing a mobile agent might satisfy the minimum
contact requirement. The reverse situation might also be true: U.S. citizens may be
sued in foreign courts with a similar minimum contact requirement for on-line ac-
tivities (Perritt, 1996).