December 2009 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Michele Ainis: "Internet no alla censura basta un clic" (La Stampa)
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 15, 2009

Dec. 15, 2009

Segnalo l'articolo di Michele Ainis, costituzionalista di fama, in prima pagina de La Stampa di oggi: http://www.lastampa.it/_web/cmstp/tmplRubriche/editoriali/gEditoriali.asp?I… juan carlos

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Fwd: Fw: Invito Convegno "Informatica e Diritto. Dalla conoscenza dei documenti storici alla comprensibilità dei documenti normativi"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 14, 2009

Dec. 14, 2009

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fw: Invito Convegno "Informatica e Diritto. Dalla conoscenza dei documenti storici alla comprensibilità dei documenti normativi" Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:18:42 +0100 From: Mariella Berra <mariella.berra(a)unito.it> To: J.C. De Martin <demartin(a)polito.it>, <meo(a)f.polito.it>, <nexa-request(a)server-nexa.polito.it> ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali <mailto:dss@unito.it> *To:* Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali <mailto:dss@unito.it> *Sent:* Monday, December 14, 2009 6:14 PM *Subject:* Invito Convegno "Informatica e Diritto. Dalla conoscenza dei documenti storici alla comprensibilità dei documenti normativi" Si informa che *mercoledì 20 gennaio 2010* a partire dalle ore 9.30 si terrà presso Palazzo Lascaris - Sala Viglione, Via Alfieri 15 (Torino), l'incontro "*/Informatica e Diritto. Dalla conoscenza dei documenti storici alla comprensibilità dei documenti normativi/*". In allegato l'invito.

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U.S. Industry Fights to Keep Blind People in the Dark
by Luca Valente Dec. 13, 2009

Dec. 13, 2009

U.S. Industry Fights to Keep Blind People in the Dark * By David Kravets Email Author * December 11, 2009 | * Categories: Copyrights and Patents, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, intellectual property * A broad swath of American enterprise ranging from major software makers to motion picture and music companies are joining forces to oppose a new international treaty that would make books more accessible to the blind. On Monday, dozens of nations will meet in Geneva to consider adopting the WIPO Treaty for Sharing Accessible Formats of Copyrighted Works for Persons Who are Blind or Have other Reading Disabilities. The proposal (.pdf) before a subcommittee of the roughly 180 World Intellectual Property Organization members would sanction the cross- border sharing of DRM-protected digitized books that tens of thousands of blind and visually disabled people read with devices and tools like the Pac Mate, Book Port and Victor Reader. "This treaty would be the first one that is not done for the copyright owner, but for the user of the works - for the blind to make a copyrighted work accessible," says Manon Ress, a policy analyst at Knowledge Ecology International, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights lobby that helped spearhead the proposal. But that prospect doesn't sit well with American business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest lobby representing three million businesses, argues that the plan being proposed by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, "raises a number of serious concerns," (.pdf) chief among them the specter that the treaty would spawn a rash of internet book piracy. The treaty also creates a bad precedent by loosening copyright restrictions, instead of tightening them as every previous copyright treaty has done, said Brad Huther, a chamber director. Huther concluded in a Dec. 2 letter to the U.S. Copyright office that the international community "should not engage in pursuing a copyright- exemption based paradigm." Echoing that concern, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry of America told the Copyright Office last month that such a treaty would "begin to dismantle the existing global treaty structure of copyright law, through the adoption of an international instrument at odds with existing, longstanding and well- settled norms." The proposal before the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights could free up thousands of book titles to millions of blind people in WIPO-member nations - without payment to the publisher. Many WIPO nations, most in the industrialized world including England, the United States and Canada, have copyright exemptions that usually allow non-profit companies to market copyrighted works without permission. They scan and digitize books into the so-called universal Daisy format, which includes features like narration and digitized Braille. The Daisy Corp. Consortium, a Swiss-based international agency, controls formatting worldwide and has some 100 companies under its direction across the globe. The largest catalog rests in the United States, in which three non-profits, including the Library of Congress, host some half million digital titles produced by federal grants and donations. As it now stands, none of the nations may allow persons outside their borders to access these works, which are usually doled out for little or no charge. The treaty seeks to free up the cross-border sharing of the books for the blind. "People who oppose copyright exemptions oppose exemptions on principle that there should be no exemptions of copyright law," says George Kerscher, Daisy's general secretary. "They should have sole right and discretion to do what they want with their intellectual property. To a great extent, the opposition to the treaty is based on that principle." To receive any reading materials, the blind and disabled must prove their condition, he said. In the United States, Knowledge Ecology International estimates about 5 percent of published books have been transformed to the Daisy format. Google is the only major U.S. corporation to side with the blind in the international tussle. In filings with the Copyright Office, the company called for American copyright holders to see past their doctrinal opposition to weakening copyright protections. "We are concerned that some of the comments are simply stating opposition to a larger agenda of limitations and exceptions," (.pdf) Google's chief copyright officer, William Paltry, wrote this month. "We believe this is an unproductive approach to solving what is a discrete, long-standing problem that affects a group that needs and deserves the protections of the international community." Not surprisingly, U.S. book publishers are the harshest critics of the proposal. The Association of American Publishers, which represents about 300 publishers large and small, argue the treaty is not necessary. The publishers suggest the blind and disabled should pay for their materials -- the only way the market for such products could flourish. "Under the proposed draft treaty, where it appears that privileged copies could be made even where accessible versions were commercially available, copyright owners would have understandable doubts about the wisdom of investing in the production of accessible versions for the market," the association's vice president, Allan Adler, wrote the Copyright Office on December 4. "Under these circumstances, publishers not unreasonably hesitate and wonder whether they can expect such a market to flourish when potential customers would still have the option of relying upon a statutory exception to get an accessible version of a work without having to pay for it," (.pdf) Adler added. Dan Burke, a 52-year-old blind man from Montana and a self-described "book worm," does not agree with the publishers. Burke, a victim of a retinal disease that blinded him decades ago, often acquires books and poems at Bookshare, an online non-profit offering about 60,000 titles in exchange for $50 in annual dues and other volunteer work. Burke says none of the rank-and-file commercially available e-readers, including the Kindle, are adequately equipped for the blind. "You have to be able to see to use these, to turn the machine on and navigate menus," says Burke. Amazon, however, said this week that it would soon produce a blind- accessible Kindle, one with an audible menu and large font for the visually impaired. But Amazon, the Kindle's maker, gives book authors the option of disabling the read-aloud function, notes Burke, a board member for the National Federation of the Blind, which supports the treaty. The Authors Guild, an advocacy group for writers, argued earlier this year that reading a book aloud counts as an unauthorized public performance. "Information is what we want. Information is the power to become economically viable members of society," Burke said. "This is a world in which if you don't have money you usually don't have access." Dan Burke, a Montana blind man, reads via a Pac Mate with a refreshable Braille display Photo: Courtesy of Dan Burke *************************************************************************** Manon Ress manon.ress(a)keionline.org Knowledge Ecology International 1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel.: +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673

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CH: Parliament members say vendor lock-in desktop is causing chaos
by Paolo Brini Dec. 10, 2009

Dec. 10, 2009

Members of the Swiss parliament (Nationalrat) say that the government's dependence on a single IT vendor for its desktop operating systems is causing a chaos and is leading to increasing IT costs. The government three years ago decided to pay for proprietary licences in order to standardise on the then current version of Microsoft's operating system. This standardisation was estimated to save some 15 million CHF (about 9.9 million euro). However some departments now prefer to move to the company's newest edition, according to Swiss newspaper reports. [...] "The federal administration will be using four versions of Windows: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7", said Edith Graf-Litscher, National councillor for the Socialist Party in a statement published on Monday. She says the forced upgrades of the operating system will lead to increasing costs. "If the administration goes on like this, it will never see the synergy that comes with using a single system." She says that using open source would offer a more sustainable alternative. Here upgrade cycles are inherently more responsive to the needs of the users, she says. "Open source users have a freedom that prevents them to be forced to upgrade." http://www.osor.eu/news/ch-parliament-members-say-vendor-lock-desktop-is-ca…

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Analysis of art. 1.3a
by Paolo Brini Dec. 10, 2009

Dec. 10, 2009

This is the promised translation into english of analysis of art. 1.3 which replaces amendment 138 in the framework Directive of the Telecoms Package. http://bit.ly/8yZM08 Ciao, Paolo

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Joi Ito alla Camera dei Deputati a Roma il 17 dicembre
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 10, 2009

Dec. 10, 2009

Buongiorno a tutti, sono lieto di annunciarvi che Joi Ito, CEO di Creative Commons, terra' un intervento presso la Camera dei Deputati a Roma il 17 dicembre prossimo nell'ambito degli incontri "Capitale Digitale" ( http://capitaledigitale.webcasting.it/) L'incontro iniziera' alle 18.30 e dovrebbe essere introdotto dal Presidente della Camera Fini. Altre informazioni disponibili sulla locandina: http://demartin.polito.it/sites/demartin.polito.it/files/capitaledigitale_c… cari saluti, juan carlos

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Reminder: 15° Mercoledi' di NEXA (oggi alle ore 18)
by J.C. DE MARTIN Dec. 10, 2009

Dec. 10, 2009

*Per il ciclo di incontri "Mercoledì di NEXA"* *15° Mercoledì di NEXA* *"**Filosofia del diritto e Internet"* *Mercoledì 9 dicembre 2009, ore 18-**20* *Corso Trento 21, Torino Ingresso libero* *http://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-15 * *Andrea Rossetti*, filosofo del Diritto* *presso l'Università di Milano Bicocca, presenta, con i suoi collaboratori Paola Barretta, Manuela Malchiodi, Sergio Dagradi, Stefano Ricci, Giuseppe Vaciago, le attività del suo gruppo di ricerca, incentrate sulla relazione tra nuove tecnologie ed evoluzioni legislative in ambito di privacy, di diritto d'autore, di documentalità giuridica e di relazione tra web e politica. Con Andrea Rossetti e i suoi collaboratori si confronteranno su questi temi i direttori del Centro NEXA, Juan Carlos De Martin del Politecnico di Torino e Marco Ricolfi dell'Università di Torino, e quanti vorranno intervenire. _*Intervengono:*_ *Andrea Rossetti *è docente di Filosofia del diritto e Informatica giuridica all'Università di Milano-Bicocca. La sua attività di ricerca degli ultimi anni ha come oggetto l'idea di documento giuridico immateriale e il concetto di privacy. Titolo del suo intervento: /"Che cosa è l'informatica giuridica?"/ *Paola Barretta *è ricercatrice presso l'Osservatorio di Pavia, si occupa di comunicazione politica e istituzionale. Insegna "Il comportamento comunicativo" nella Facoltà di Sociologia dell'Università Milano Bicocca. *Manuela Malchiodi *è anche lei ricercatrice presso l'Osservatorio di Pavia, istituto di studi sulla comunicazione radio-televisiva. Si occupa in particolare di indagini sul pluralismo politico e sociale, sui contenuti valoriali dei programmi televisivi, sulla qualità televisiva nell'emittenza locale. Titolo del loro intervento: /"L'uso politico del web nelle ultime elezioni in provincia di Milano"/ *Stefano Ricci *, avvocato a Milano; è dottorando di ricerca presso l'Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca con una tesi in tema di standard globali in matera di privacy. Collabora con la Fondazione Maggiore Policlinico Mangiagalli e Regina Elena di Milano nell'ambito del progetto "Consenso in corsia" in tema di consenso informato. Titolo del suo intervento: /"Standard globali della privacy"/ *Giuseppe Vaciago *, avvocato a Milano, è docente di informatica giuridica presso l'Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, è dottorando di ricerca presso l'Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca con una tesi in tema di computer forensics. Titolo del suo intervento: /"Tracce e prove, un profilo della computer forensics"/ *Lettura consigliata: *A. Rossetti (a cura di), /Legal Informatics/, Moretti&Vitali, 2009. *Che cosa è il ciclo di incontri "Mercoledì di NEXA"* *Il Centro di ricerca NEXA su Internet e Società apre le sue porte non solo agli esperti e a tutti coloro i quali lavorano con Internet ma anche a tutti i semplici appassionati. Mercoledì 14 ottobre alle ore 18 riprende il via il ciclo di incontri ideato per approfondire i temi legati al web e al suo sempre più ricco mondo: Google, Creative Commons, Social Networks, Open Source/Software libero, neutralità della rete, file sharing e molto altro.* Al centro di ogni incontro un ospite pronto a dialogare e confrontarsi sugli argomenti scelti per il dibattito e sugli ultimi fatti legati al web, con i Direttori di Nexa, il Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin del Politecnico di Torino (responsabile italiano del progetto Creative Commons) e il Prof. Marco Ricolfi dell'Università di Torino, lo staff e i /Fellows/ di Nexa e con tutti quanti vogliano intervenire proponendo quesiti e nuovi percorsi di indagine. *Il Centro di Ricerca NEXA su Internet e Società del Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica) **è** un centro di ricerca indipendente*/* */*che studia sotto diversi punti di vista le varie componenti di Internet, la "più grande invenzione del secolo" secondo il Premio Nobel Rita Levi Montalcini. * Per questo il Centro NEXA, che tra l'altro lavora in stretto collegamento col Berkman Center for Internet & Society della Harvard University, attraverso il lavoro di ingegneri, giuristi ed economisti, si sforza di gettare nuova luce sui complessi, e a volte dirompenti cambiamenti prodotti da Internet. *Con i suoi "mercoledì", il Centro NEXA intende creare nuove opportunità di divulgazione e di scambio di idee, aprendosi e comunicando non solo con il settore della ricerca, ma anche con pubbliche amministrazioni, imprese, associazioni e semplici cittadini.* Un modo per dialogare su Internet, un mondo che già da tanti anni influisce sulla nostra vita, e che ancor più lo farà negli anni a venire. *Che cosa è il NEXA Center for Internet & Society* Il Centro NEXA nasce a partire dalle attività di un gruppo di lavoro multidisciplinare -- tecnico, giuridico ed economico -- formatosi a Torino nel 2003 e che da allora ha concepito, progettato e realizzato diverse iniziative in ambito Internet: Creative Commons Italia (2003-presente), CyberLaw Torino 2004, Harvard Internet Law Program Torino (2005), SeLiLi (Servizio Licenze Libere (2007 - presente) e COMMUNIA, la rete tematica europea sul pubblico dominio digitale finanziata dall'Unione Europea (2007-2010). Sulla base delle esperienze passate, il Centro NEXA sta lavorando per diventare una delle principali voci a livello internazionale in merito alla ricerca su Internet e i suoi effetti, al fianco di centri analoghi presenti a Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Duke e Oxford. In particolare, il Centro NEXA ambisce a diventare un punto di riferimento di prima grandezza in Europa, interagendo in particolare con la Commissione Europea, le Autorities, i Governi sia locali sia nazionali, nonché aziende e altre istituzioni. Il Centro NEXA lavora in stretto collegamento col Berkman Center for Internet & Society della Harvard University; il fondatore e direttore del Berkman Center, Prof. Charles Nesson, siede nel Comitato dei Garanti NEXA, insieme ad altri eminenti studiosi italiani e stranieri, tra cui il Prof. Stefano Rodotà e l'artista Michelangelo Pistoletto. *Direttori: *Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin, Politecnico di Torino Prof. Marco Ricolfi, Università di Torino *Comitato dei Garanti:* Dott. /Philippe Aigrain/ Sopinspace (Paris, France) Prof. /Yochai Benkler /Berkman Center, Harvard University (USA) Prof. /Maurizio Borghi /Brunel University, London (UK) Prof. /Mario Calderini / Politecnico di Torino (Italy) Dott. /Luca De Biase/ "Nova", Il Sole 24 Ore (Italy) Prof. /Josef Drexl / Max Planck Institute (Munich,Germany) Dott.ssa /Anna Masera / La Stampa e La Stampaweb (Italy) Prof. /Angelo Raffaele Meo/ Politecnico di Torino (Italy) Prof. /Charles Nesson/ Berkman Center, Harvard University maestro /Michelangelo Pistoletto /Fondazione Cittadell'Arte (Biella, Italy) Ing. /Stefano Quintarelli / Blogger e imprenditore (Italy) Prof. /Stefano Rodotà/ Università La Sapienza di Roma (Italy) Dott. /Sacha Wunsh-Vincent / OECD (Paris, France) / / I_nfo:_ _http://nexa.polito.it <http://nexa.polito.it/>_ _Contatti:_ NEXA Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica) Corso Trento, 21 -- 10129 Torino _Ufficio Stampa:_ Anna Piccitto 011 564 7245 _anna.piccitto(a)polito.it <mailto:anna.piccitto@polito.it>_

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Testo definitivo lettera aperta ACTA
by Paolo Brini Dec. 9, 2009

Dec. 9, 2009

Messaggio finale da Jérémie Zimmermann de La Quadrature du Net: ********* *BEGIN ENCRYPTED or SIGNED PART* ********* Please if your organisation didn't contact us yet about being in the first round of signatories of the ACTA Open Letter, Send: The name / Country / 1 sentence description / Logo To: signature(a)laquadrature.net Before: Thursday Dec. 10th, 09:00 GMT+1 For reference, here the final-final is pasted below. Thank you all! j -- ACTA: a Global Threat to Freedoms. (Open Letter) The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a broad intergovernmental agreement under negotiation ranging from the key social issue of access to medicine[1] to criminal Internet regulation. We fear it could seriously hinder European innovation in the digital single market while undermining fundamental rights and democracy at large. The negotiation process itself raises important questions of transparency and due democratic process, given that the content of the draft agreement has been kept secret for more than 18 months, although some details about the proposals recently leaked to the public. More worrying still, while the European Parliament has been denied access to the documents, US industry has been granted access to them, albeit only after signing non-disclosure agreements. A recent analysis by the European Commission of the ACTA Internet chapter[2] proves that the topics under discussion go far beyond the current body of EU law. Most importantly, the Commission's analysis confirms that the current draft of ACTA would profoundly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms of European citizens, most notably the freedom of expression and communication privacy. These are very much at risk, since the current draft pushes for the implementation of three-strikes schemes and content filtering policies by seeking to impose civil and criminal liability on technical intermediaries such as internet service providers. The text would also radically erode the exercise of interoperability that is essential for both consumer rights and competitiveness. Consequently, we urge the Parliament to call on European negotiators to establish transparency in the negotiation process and publish the draft agreement, and not to accept any proposal which would undermine citizens' rights and freedoms. Furthermore, we urge the Parliament to make an unequivocal statement to the Commission and Council that any agreement which does not respect these core principles would force the Parliament to reject the entire text. [1] See: http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2009-07-15/criminalize-gener… [2] See: https://secure.wikileaks.org/w/images/EC_Analysis_of_ACTA_Internet_chapter.… -- --- La Quadrature du Net --- http://www.laquadrature.net ********** *END ENCRYPTED or SIGNED PART* ********** _______________________________________________ Opennetcoalition mailing list Opennetcoalition(a)laquadrature.net http://laquadrature.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/opennetcoalition

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Fw: Administration Officials to Launch Comprehensive Open Government Plan
by Valerio Lubello Dec. 8, 2009

Dec. 8, 2009

FYI, Valerio From: Patrice McDermott Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 1:53 AM To: opengovernmentdirective(a)googlegroups.com Subject: [OpenGovDirective] Fw: Administration Officials to Launch Comprehensive Open Government Plan FYI. Patrice McDermott, Director OpenTheGovernment.org 1742 Connecticut Ave NW, 3rd floor Washington, DC 20009 202.332.OPEN (6736) www.openthegovernment.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Kammerer, Chelsea [mailto:Chelsea_Kammerer@who.eop.gov] To: Kammerer, Chelsea [mailto:Chelsea_Kammerer@who.eop.gov] Sent: Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:47:46 -0500 Subject: Administration Officials to Launch Comprehensive Open Government Plan I hope you can join us for this important announcement tomorrow. THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _______________________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 7, 2009 ADVISORY: Administration Officials to Launch Comprehensive Open Government Plan with Webcast Open to All Americans WASHINGTON – Tomorrow at 11:00am ET, U.S. Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra and U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will launch the administration’s comprehensive Open Government Plan, furthering the President’s commitment to increasing transparency and accountability in Washington and ensuring greater access and information for the American people. This announcement will be streamed live on whitehouse.gov, and will be followed by a web forum where individuals will be given an opportunity to ask questions and offer suggestions about the administration’s Open Government Plan. WHO: U.S. CIO Vivek Kundra and U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra WHAT: Administration Launches Comprehensive Open Government Plan WHERE: Watch it live and participate at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live WHEN: Tuesday, December 8 11:00am ET ## Chelsea Kammerer The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Office of Public Engagement p: 202.456.3182 I ckammerer(a)who.eop.gov -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "OpenGovernmentDirective" group. To post to this group, send email to opengovernmentdirective(a)googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to opengovernmentdirective+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/opengovernmentdirective?hl=en.

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mi servono i vostri messaggi (x una videochat mercoledì pomeriggio 9 dicembre)
by Masera Anna Dec. 7, 2009

Dec. 7, 2009

Internet siamo noi, è uno specchio: siete d'accordo? Mandatemi i vostri messaggi: http://tinyurl.com/ygostze li leggero' in video e li discuteremo con lorenzo benussi di Top-Ix mercoledì pomeriggio 9 dicembre sul sito della Stampa: grazie, anna masera http://www.lastampa.it/_web/CMSTP/tmplrubriche/giornalisti/grubrica.asp?ID_…

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