May 2009 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Re: [nexa] Ed Felten: "A Modest Proposal: Three-Strikes for Print"

by Carolina Cordero di Vonzo

Ciao Federico, questo pomeriggio mi propongo volontaria per la traduzione, se non mi rifilano qualcosa di urgente all'ultimo (*consiglio perciò di accettare proposte anche da altri volontari*..........!!). Carolina.

May 15, 2009

Re: [nexa] Ed Felten: "A Modest Proposal: Three-Strikes for Print"

by Federico Morando

Il sito - "unless otherwise noted" - è in CC BY-NC: traduciamo in Italiano e mettiamo sul sito NEXA? Qualche volontario? (Il testo è molto breve: anche se non avete tempo di tradurlo, date una lettura... sarebbe anche divertente, se non si riferisse ad un evento tragicamente reale.) Saluti, Federico J.C. DE MARTIN wrote: > http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/modest-proposal-three-strikes-… > > Felten ha ragione. La sinistra, quasi ridicola, idiozia dell'approccio > francese alla > "pirateria" su Internet risalta implacabile se si prova, per gioco, > a trasporlo ad un altro medium, come la stampa. > > Prepariamoci, purtroppo, a tradurre il pezzo in italiano. > > un caro saluto, > > juan carlos > > > > _______________________________________________ > nexa mailing list > nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it > https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa >

May 15, 2009

Re: [nexa] Tre titoli

by Mariella Berra

due allegati per alcune riflessioni ----- Original Message ----- From: J.C. DE MARTIN To: nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 8:34 AM Subject: [nexa] Tre titoli Tre titoli recenti (segnalati da James Thurman sulla lista del progetto COMMUNIA): DIGITAL ARCHIVES THAT DISAPPEAR (InsideHigherEd, 22 April 2009) - As digital archives have become more important and more popular, there are varying schools of thought among scholars about how best to guarantee that they will be around for good. Some think that the best possibility is for the creators of the archives -- people generally with some passion for the topic -- to keep control. Others favor acquisition, thinking that larger entities provide more security and resources for the long run. The fate of "Paper of Record," a digital archive of early newspapers with a particularly strong collection of Mexican newspapers, may be cited in the years ahead as an example of the dangers of purchase by a large entity. Paper of Record was purchased (secretly) by Google in 2006, and shortly after Google took over management of the site, late last year, the archive disappeared from view. After weeks in which historians have complained to Google and others about the loss of their ability to work, the previous owner of the archive has received permission to bring the archive back for some period of time, and resumption of service could start as early next week. While the imminent return of the site will please scholars, many are worried about what the incident says about the availability and accessibility of key resources. Writing on the blog of the American Historical Association, Robert B. Townsend quoted the late Roy Rosenzweig, a George Mason University professor who was a pioneer in digital history, on the "fragility of evidence in the digital era." http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/22/record JUSTICE DEPT. OPENS ANTITRUST INQUIRY INTO GOOGLE BOOKS DEAL (New York Times, 29 April 2009) - The Justice Department has begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of Google's settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book Search service, two people briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Lawyers for the Justice Department have been in conversations in recent weeks with various groups opposed to the settlement, including the Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog. More recently, Justice Department lawyers notified the parties to the settlement, including Google, and representatives for the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild, that they were looking into various antitrust issues related to the far-reaching agreement. The inquiry does not necessarily mean that the department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. But it suggests that some of the concerns raised by critics, who say the settlement would unfairly give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books, have resonated with the Justice Department. The settlement, announced in October, gives Google the right to display the books online and to profit from them by selling access to individual texts and selling subscriptions to its entire collection to libraries and other institutions. Revenue would be shared among Google, authors and publishers. But critics say that Google alone would have a license that covers millions of so-called orphan books, whose authors cannot be found or whose rights holders are unknown. Some librarians fear that with no competition, Google will be free to raise prices for access to the collection. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1&re… GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW TOOL TO DIG FOR PUBLIC DATA (Washington Post, 29 April 2009) - Google launched a new search tool yesterday designed to help Web users find public data that is often buried in hard-to-navigate government Web sites. The tool, called Google Public Data, is the latest in the company's efforts to make information from federal, state and local governments accessible to citizens. It's a goal that many Washington public interest groups and government watchdogs share with President Obama, whose technology advisers are pushing to open up federal data to the public. The company plans to initially make available U.S. population and unemployment data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, respectively. Other data sets, such as emissions statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, will roll out in the coming months. Google's Washington employees have spent the past two years visiting government agencies to urge them to make their Web sites, records and databases more searchable. The E-Government Act of 2002 required government agencies to make information more accessible electronically, but users have complained that many agencies do not organize their Web sites so they can be easily indexed by search engines. And some agencies, Google has said, embed codes in their sites that make certain pages invisible to search engines. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR200904280… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ nexa mailing list nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa

May 15, 2009

IREALIZE - 9 e 10 giugno, torino

by lorenzo benussi

Buongiorno a tutti, vi segnalo IREALIZE un evento realizzato da TOP-IX che si svolgerà il 9 e 10 Giugno a Torino e che credo possa interessare molti di voi. Se foste interessati a partecipare non esitate a contattarmi direttamente, grazie. Informazioni su www.irealize.eu ---- Lorenzo Benussi - Fellow ----------------------------------- Department of Economics, University of Turin www.de.unito.it ---- "Knowledge is like a candle. Even as it lights a new candle, the strength of the original flame is not diminished." Thomas Jefferson

May 15, 2009

Tre titoli

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Tre titoli recenti (segnalati da James Thurman sulla lista del progetto COMMUNIA): DIGITAL ARCHIVES THAT DISAPPEAR (InsideHigherEd, 22 April 2009) - As digital archives have become more important and more popular, there are varying schools of thought among scholars about how best to guarantee that they will be around for good. Some think that the best possibility is for the creators of the archives -- people generally with some passion for the topic -- to keep control. Others favor acquisition, thinking that larger entities provide more security and resources for the long run. The fate of "Paper of Record," a digital archive of early newspapers with a particularly strong collection of Mexican newspapers, may be cited in the years ahead as an example of the dangers of purchase by a large entity. Paper of Record was purchased (secretly) by Google in 2006, and shortly after Google took over management of the site, late last year, the archive disappeared from view. After weeks in which historians have complained to Google and others about the loss of their ability to work, the previous owner of the archive has received permission to bring the archive back for some period of time, and resumption of service could start as early next week. While the imminent return of the site will please scholars, many are worried about what the incident says about the availability and accessibility of key resources. Writing on the blog of the American Historical Association, Robert B. Townsend quoted the late Roy Rosenzweig, a George Mason University professor who was a pioneer in digital history, on the "fragility of evidence in the digital era." _http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/22/record_ JUSTICE DEPT. OPENS ANTITRUST INQUIRY INTO GOOGLE BOOKS DEAL (New York Times, 29 April 2009) - The Justice Department has begun an inquiry into the antitrust implications of Google's settlement with authors and publishers over its Google Book Search service, two people briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Lawyers for the Justice Department have been in conversations in recent weeks with various groups opposed to the settlement, including the Internet Archive and Consumer Watchdog. More recently, Justice Department lawyers notified the parties to the settlement, including Google, and representatives for the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild, that they were looking into various antitrust issues related to the far-reaching agreement. The inquiry does not necessarily mean that the department will oppose the settlement, which is subject to a court review. But it suggests that some of the concerns raised by critics, who say the settlement would unfairly give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books, have resonated with the Justice Department. The settlement, announced in October, gives Google the right to display the books online and to profit from them by selling access to individual texts and selling subscriptions to its entire collection to libraries and other institutions. Revenue would be shared among Google, authors and publishers. But critics say that Google alone would have a license that covers millions of so-called orphan books, whose authors cannot be found or whose rights holders are unknown. Some librarians fear that with no competition, Google will be free to raise prices for access to the collection. _http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1&r… <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/technology/internet/29google.html?_r=1&re…> GOOGLE UNVEILS NEW TOOL TO DIG FOR PUBLIC DATA (Washington Post, 29 April 2009) - Google launched a new search tool yesterday designed to help Web users find public data that is often buried in hard-to-navigate government Web sites. The tool, called Google Public Data, is the latest in the company's efforts to make information from federal, state and local governments accessible to citizens. It's a goal that many Washington public interest groups and government watchdogs share with President Obama, whose technology advisers are pushing to open up federal data to the public. The company plans to initially make available U.S. population and unemployment data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, respectively. Other data sets, such as emissions statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency, will roll out in the coming months. Google's Washington employees have spent the past two years visiting government agencies to urge them to make their Web sites, records and databases more searchable. The E-Government Act of 2002 required government agencies to make information more accessible electronically, but users have complained that many agencies do not organize their Web sites so they can be easily indexed by search engines. And some agencies, Google has said, embed codes in their sites that make certain pages invisible to search engines. _http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR20090428…

May 15, 2009

Ed Felten: "A Modest Proposal: Three-Strikes for Print"

by J.C. DE MARTIN

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/modest-proposal-three-strikes-… Felten ha ragione. La sinistra, quasi ridicola, idiozia dell'approccio francese alla "pirateria" su Internet risalta implacabile se si prova, per gioco, a trasporlo ad un altro medium, come la stampa. Prepariamoci, purtroppo, a tradurre il pezzo in italiano. un caro saluto, juan carlos

May 15, 2009

We live under the law, but we may choose other organizations based on principles they support

by Irene Cassarino

Ciao a tutti, Due segnalazioni di colore molto diverso. La prima è una bella recensione scritta l'altro ieri da Ethan Zuckerman sull'ultimo libro di David Bollier "Viral Spiral". Un'occasione per ricapitolare le questioni aperte sul tema dei digital commons e di possibili modelli di buisiness che vi si appoggiano. http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/05/12/david-bollier-on-the-principl… A proposito di vecchi modelli di business che mettono la nuova tecnologia al proprio servizio, invece, l'ennesimo capitolo della saga "guardie e ladri", da Wired IT. Ciao, Irene http://www.wired.it/news/archivio/2009-05/13/se-scarichi-ti-filtro.aspx E' da poco iniziata una sperimentazione che dovrebbe servire per valutare l'efficacia di un particolare filtro, un sistema di riconoscimento ed identificazione del software protetto da copyright. Adetta dei gestori di Mininova, il test durerà 12 settimane e l'esame riguarderà solo alcuni file. L'obiettivo ovviamente è quello di rimuovere quelli che violino il copyright. Non è un buon periodo per gli scaricatori. Tralasciando la vicenda Pirate Bay, già commentata ovunque,<http://www.wired.it/news/archivio/2009-04/17/pirate-bay.aspx>c'è da notare che Mininova, che ha sede in Olanda, era già stato "avvertito" da Brein, l'organo locale che tutela gli interessi delle case produttrici musicali e cinematografiche: se il sito non dimostra chiaramente di non ospitare link per il download di file protetti, correrà il rischio di subire azioni legali. La popolarità di Mininova è tale che un controllo manuale sul suo intero database è oggettivamente impossibile, di qui l'idea del filtro (che funziona in maniera indipendente dal sito). Considerando il fatto che gran parte del traffico su Mininova consiste in download di serie televisive, musica, film e anime giapponesi, la sensazione è che, se questo sistema di scansione e controllo funzionasse alla perfezione, ciò potrebbe significare la fine per il sito, visto che tutti coloro che lo visitano emigrerebbero immediatamente verso lande più tranquille e meno soggette ad indagini e osservazioni (posto ne esistano in futuro...). Certo, considerando che Mininova nacque nel 2005 sulle ceneri del defunto Suprnova.org (chiuso proprio in seguito ad un'azione legale), le prospettive per il sito non sono rosee, anche se teoricamente la storia potrebbe ripetersi ed in caso di chiusura Mininova potrebbe risorgere come una fenice, da un'altra parte e con un nome diverso. Il guardie e ladri virtuale insomma continua. Le azioni contro up e downloader stanno diventando sempre più frequenti, basti pensare a quel che succede in Germania, paese nel quale 500 utenti di p2p si sono visti recapitare a casa una richiesta di 800 euro per evitare di essere denunciati dalla Constantin film, produttrice e distributrice dei film di Sergio Leone, Michael Clayton e altri blockbuster. Il periodo del "tutto gratis" è finito?

May 14, 2009

Convegno: "Futura. Mutamenti e visioni del contemporaneo" (Miasino-Ameno, 22-23 maggio)

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Vi segnalo il convegno "Futura. Mutamenti e visioni del contemporaneo", Miasino-Ameno (NO), 22-23 maggio (iscrizione gratuita). Tra gli speaker: Eugenio Borgna, Marc Augé e Derrick de Kerckhove. Gli organizzatori mi dicono che 100 persone si sono gia' registrate e che quindi c'e' posto per altre 40 circa. juan carlos

May 14, 2009

the revolution is still happening

by Irene Cassarino

Very well done 1 hour documentary about the social power of the internet (for all of them aiming at controlling it and excluding people from it). http://vimeo.com/4489849 Irene

May 14, 2009

9° mercoledì di NEXA - Internet Governance - Crittografia

by Elena Zuin

Non è da considerare così remota l'ipotesi del ritorno della crittografia, Sony ha messo a punto un meccanismo di cifratura denominato CLEFIA, che verrà messo al servizio delle tecnologie di DRM (Digital Rights Management) oggi utilizzate sui dispositivi mobili, come telefoni cellulari e player MP3. CLEFIA consiste in un algoritmo block cipher, ossia in grado di codicare i dati a blocchi anziché a singoli caratteri, progettato per resistere a tutte le più sofisticate tecniche di crittanalisi. Il sistema è adatto anche ai dispositivi con scarsa potenza di calcolo: tra questi, telefoni cellulari, player MP3, appliance audio/ video, smart card e dispositivi mobili in genere.

May 13, 2009