January 2012 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Fwd: [ NNSquad ] The Megaupload Mega-Mess: When Innocents Are Crushed
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 21, 2012

Jan. 21, 2012

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [ NNSquad ] The Megaupload Mega-Mess: When Innocents Are Crushed Date: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:17:11 -0800 From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren(a)vortex.com> To: nnsquad(a)nnsquad.org The Megaupload Mega-Mess: When Innocents Are Crushed http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000933.html By now you no doubt are aware of the massive (and probably unprecedented in terms of Internet scope) international seizure by the U.S. of the Megaupload file sharing service and many of its principal characters. Word is that famed attorney Robert Bennett will be representing the Megaupload defendants. The scale of the operation -- with agents swooping in like ninjas -- and the way the various governments involved are touting the results, seem more in line with the plot for the James Bond film "Goldfinger" than a copyright enforcement action. But as far as I know, there weren't nuclear bombs ticking away in the Megaupload data centers, set to explode and make everyone's data radioactive. But for innocent users of Megaupload, including vast numbers of paying users who have been using the site for completely legitimate file transfer purposes, their data might as well be radioactive now, or simply "blown to bits" in a mushroom cloud. Because despite the fact that Megaupload seems to now be in "Whac-A-Mole" mode, popping up and vanishing under various IP addresses, for most users their data has effectively been sucked into the Roach Motel, past the event horizon into a black hole of government evidence and assets forfeitures. Let's be clear -- there does appear to be plenty of evidence that the operators of Megaupload were indeed engaged in a criminal enterprise at some level, that made a lot of money based on copyright infringements. To the extent that this is true, they and any users who knowingly participated in their scheme deserve to be punished, but with all due process rigorously observed. But what of the innocent users of Megaupload? Where is their due process in this game of international data seizures? There is something extremely disquieting in this picture of governments (especially when reaching into other countries) preemptively shutting down Internet services on which law-abiding persons depend. The U.S. government in particular has become extremely enamored of seizing assets prior to trial, and in some cases not returning them intact to users in the case of their being found innocent. Auctioning off such seizures has become a tidy little profit center. This behavior can be viewed as problematic on its face when innocents are involved, but the extension of this sort of logic to the Internet world and cloud-based data storage services could be catastrophic. One analogy is the safe deposit boxes in a bank. There are certainly cases where the government seizes specific boxes, or states sell off the content of "abandoned" boxes (both controversial issues, I should add). But the Megaupload case is more akin to the government seizing every safe deposit box in a bank because the bank owners (and possibly some percentage of the safe deposit box users) were simply accused -- not yet convicted -- of engaging in a crime. What of the little old lady with her life savings in her box, or the person who needs to access important documents, all legitimate, all honest, no crimes of any sort involved. They are -- to use the vernacular -- screwed. Whether or not the legitimate users of Megaupload ever get their data back (possibly after it has all been rifled for goodies by various governments), it's clear that honest users who have depended on Megaupload are being seriously injured right now by this sort of government action, which seemingly equates impounding a stolen car with shutting off access to vast quantities of non-infringing users' data, without obvious recourse for those users. While acknowledging the government's legitimate interest in taking action against specific large-scale copyright violations, the requirements of due process and in particular the protection of innocent parties must have priority. You don't arrest everyone at a football game because a wanted criminal may be among the crowd. At least, not unless you're attempting to channel the old East German "Stasi" secret police sensibilities. Our ability to confidently use the ever expanding array of important and useful cloud-based data services of all kinds rests on the assumption that our data will be safe from government overreaching and intrusions into the affairs of law-abiding citizens and their property -- including their data stored on remote Internet servers. Otherwise, we may find ourselves figuratively in much the same position as 007, strapped to a table with a laser beam moving inexorably up between our legs, wondering if our next data transfer may be our last. "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect your data to DIE!" As Shakespeare wrote, "the most unkindest cut of all." We must do better than that. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein (lauren(a)vortex.com) http://www.vortex.com/lauren Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad

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seminario su Bilanci Partecipativi
by fiorella de cindio Jan. 21, 2012

Jan. 21, 2012

cari Amici, il prossimo 25 gennaio dalle 14 alle 18 nella Sala Conferenze di Palazzo Reale (Piazza Duomo, MIlano). si terra' un workshop su: "Bilanci partecipativi: uno strumento di democrazia deliberativa in tempi di crisi: le esperienze offline per progettare gli strumenti online" il seminario e' organizzato dal Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione (nell'ambito del corso di Cittadinanza Digitale e Tecnocivismo che tengo con il collega Andrea Trentini), ma la collocazione a Palazzo Reale e' dovuta all'interesse e all'impegno di Milly Moratti (Delegata del Sindaco Pisapia al Progetto della Rete degli Sportelli Territoriali di Partecipazione Civica) e di alcuni altri consiglieri comunali, che hanno accolto la proposta di partecipare e promuovere il seminario. Le realzioni saranno tenute da: - Leonardo Avritzer, docente al Dipartimento di Scienza politica dell Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais di Belo Horizonte (Brazil); - Stefano Stortone, dottorato in Scienze Politiche allUniversità Cattolica di Milano; - Ewa Krzatala-Jaworska, dottoranda in Scienze Politiche presso lUniversità Sorbona di Parigi. Profilo dei relatori allegato Programma ed elenco di chi ha confermato la presenza (tra cui tre assessore) all'URL www.partecipami.it/workshop25gennaio2012 un caro saluto -- fiorella

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selezione collaboratore per Copyleft-Italia
by Simone Aliprandi Jan. 21, 2012

Jan. 21, 2012

Il Progetto Copyleft-Italia.it cerca un collaboratore per la gestione di progetti legati al web e all'editoria elettronica. Leggi l'annuncio: http://aliprandi.blogspot.com/2012/01/selezione-collaboratori-per-copyleft.… (vi sarei grato se riusciste a far circolare il più possibile quest'annuncio) -- Simone Aliprandi - http://www.aliprandi.org

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Figshare: a new way to publish scientific research data
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 21, 2012

Jan. 21, 2012

Sembra un'iniziativa interessante, ma non ho analizzato i "terms and conditions", ovvero, pagine e pagine di legalese puro: http://figshare.com/terms Se qualcuno avesse voglia di leggerle, penso interessebbe a molti capire meglio (sottoscritto incluso). Grazie! juan carlos Figshare: a new way to publish scientific research data 18 Jan, 2012 tags: Figshare <http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/tag/figshare/>, Open Access <http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/tag/open-access/>, Science publishing <http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/tag/science-publishing/> by Wellcome Trust <http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/author/wellcomepublishing/> URL articolo: http://wellcometrust.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/figshare/ /Figshare logo <http://wellcometrust.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/image00.png>Mark Hahnel introduces a new free service aiming to push forward open access./ The Wellcome Trust has a strong view <http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/About-us/Policy/Spotlight-issues/Open-access/Poli…> on open access and scientific data, expecting authors of research to "maximise the opportunities to make their results available for free". Other funders have statements along similar lines <http://prezi.com/_4flhln1mycv/can-i-share-my-research/> and the UK's science minister, David Willetts recently declared <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/08/publicly-funded-research-open…>a "commitment by the coalition [government] to transparency and open access to publicly funded data". Yet scientists are notoriously secretive, due in no small part to the current model of scientific publishing. Scientists carry out research to push the boundaries of knowledge. In the current model of dissemination, a small fraction of this knowledge is handed over to journals in the form of scientific articles, or 'papers', for them to sell at a profit (with profit margins increasing <http://www.arl.org/bm%7Edoc/arlstats06.pdf>). Is this how science should be disseminated? The current process is based on a 17th century model <http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/11/21/altmetrics-twitter/>, which was undoubtedly the best way to share this knowledge at the time. But today, the internet offers new ways <http://figshare.com> to publish scientific data that many argue to be better. Over the last decade, open access publishing has flourished, perhaps even begun to dominate, scientific publishing -- it was recently claimed <http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2011/01/plos-one-now-worlds-largest-jou…> that PLoS ONE may be the largest journal in the world in terms of article numbers. Yet one problem that remains is the amount of data that remains unpublished, unshared and essentially wasted. But why is this? As Professor Colin Blakemore <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Blakemore> suggested in a Radio 4 interview <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b018xsmb>recently, "Memory is getting cheaper, access to information is getting much, much easier. So why shouldn't we just simply put the raw data for everything that scientists do up on the web, accessible to every other scientists, so that they can scrutinise it, use it, data-mine it, combine it with other information and gain more useful evidence?" This is where our venture comes in. Figshare <http://figshare.com> is a free service allowing researchers to publish all of their research outputs to the web in seconds in an easily citable, sharable and discoverable manner. We aim to show researchers that they can get the credit for all of their research, whilst at the same time moving research forward in a more efficient <http://intermolecular.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/raw-data-in-organic-chemistr…> manner. Researchers can publish figures, datasets, tables, videos, anything. All file formats can be published, including videos and datasets that are often demoted to the supplemental materials section in current journals. Up to 1GB of data can be stored privately for free, and users have unlimited space for publicly available research. Using this, researchers could easily publish null results, avoiding the file drawer effect <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias> and helping to make scientific research more efficient by opening up <http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2011/06/27/social-media-is-in…> the peer review process. We also use Creative Commons <http://creativecommons.org/> licensing to allow frictionless sharing of research data, while allowing researchers to choose when and if they make data publicly available. Scientists are notoriously secretive -- as Professor Peter Murray-Rust of Cambridge points out <http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/08/02/what%E2%80%99s-wrong-with-scholarl…>, "the primary purpose of publication for most academics is self-advancement". Yet the idea that secrecy in research will ultimately lead to individual success means that scientific research as a whole is suffering. We focus on giving users credit for all of their research. There's increasing evidence for open access increasing impact <http://opcit.eprints.org/oacitation-biblio.html>. By using both traditional measures of impact (i.e. the number of citations) alongside new ones such as altmetrics <http://altmetrics.org/manifesto/>, Figshare gives researchers a greater level of information, and realtime measurements, of the true reach of their research, without having to wait for other researchers to cite it in another research paper. Research statistics <http://wellcometrust.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/image01.png> New and established methods of tracking impact are recorded on figshare. For the first time in over 300 years of academic publishing, we could access the sum of all scientific knowledge. By providing a way to store all research data in the cloud, and share it in a quick and simple manner, we hope to help make this possible. *Mark Hahnel* /Dr Mark Hahnel <http://www.digital-science.com/mark-hahnel/> is Product Manager of Figshare <http://figshare.com>./ /Figshare is supported by //Digital Science <http://www.digital-science.com>, a sister company of Nature./ /Figshare is not affiliated with the Wellcome Trust. Views expressed in this article are the author's own./

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mail in lista ?
by Stefano Quintarelli Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

Ciao, era passat ain questa lista una mail (se si, temo di averla cancellata) che linkava un post che proponeva di taggare gli articoli dei giornali con cose tipo "questo non sa di che scrive", "i dati sonbo totalmente privi di fondamento", "questo pezzo e' stato fornito da un lobbysta" e via dicendo.. ? se si, qualcuno potrebbe essere cosi' gentile di ripostarla ? grazie e scusate il disturbo.. ciao, s. -- blog.quintarelli.it www.ilsole24ore.com

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Neelie Kroes su SOPA
by Andrea Glorioso Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

Cari tutti, anche se normalmente non amo usare questa lista per girare "comunicati" ufficiali, penso possa essere interessante per gli iscritti avere un riferimento ai due Tweets inviati questa mattina da Neelie Kroes sull'argomento SOPA: http://twitter.com/NeelieKroesEU/status/160302659042164736 http://twitter.com/NeelieKroesEU/status/160302717011636224 e le dichiarazioni del porta-parola della Kroes, Ryan Heath, al "Midday Briefing" di oggi, anche su MegaUpload. http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/player/streaming.cfm?type=ebsvod&sid=194833 (per chiarezza, come esplicitato anche da Ryan Heath, i Tweet della Kroes sono una posizione ufficiale della Kroes) Ciao, -- I speak only for myself. Sometimes I do not even agree with myself. Keep it in mind. Twitter: @andreaglorioso Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.glorioso LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=1749288&trk=tab_pro

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Fwd: More than Half of the EU with Restrictions to Net access. What will Neelie Kroes Do?
by Philippe Aigrain Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

For your info, on a subject of strong interest to NEXA. Philippe -------- Message original -------- Sujet: More than Half of the EU with Restrictions to Net access. What will Neelie Kroes Do? Date : Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:47:37 +0100 De : La Quadrature du Net <contact(a)laquadrature.net> Pour : paigrain(a)laquadrature.net Themes: NET NEUTRALITY, TELECOMS, EU, INTERNET, DATA & EVIDENCE La Quadrature du Net - For immediate release Permanent link: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/more-than-half-of-the-eu-with-restrictions-… More than Half of the EU with Restrictions to Net access. What will Neelie Kroes Do? *** Paris, January 20th, 2012 – La Quadrature du Net sent EU regulators evidence from the platform Respect My Net that in more than 14 EU Member States, telecoms operators engage in illegitimate restrictions of their customers' Internet access. Such evidence shows that EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes' “laisser-faire” approach on Net neutrality amounts to allowing operators to blatantly violate their users' freedom of communication. Now is the time for the EU Commission to start working on stringent measures to enforce Net neutrality all across Europe. *** Based on the reports submitted by citizens on the RespectMyNet.eu platform [1], La Quadrature du Net answered the Body of EU telecoms regulators' questionnaire regarding violations of Net neutrality in Europe. These reports only give a partial account of the situation, since many countries are not yet represented on RespectMyNet and more data-gathering needs to be done to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture. As of today, RespectMyNet includes 144 confirmed reports of breaches to Net neutrality, spread among 44 operators in more than 14 Member States who engage in violating their users' freedom of communication by blocking or throttling specific content, applications or services available on the Internet [2]. Citizens can participate in this effort to protect Net neutrality by sending their own response to the BEREC questionnaire [3]. “Thanks to RespectMyNet, citizens act as the watchdogs of Internet access providers. Collected data leaves Commissioner Neelie Kroes with no choice but to acknowledge that freedom of expression, privacy, innovation and competition are all being hampered by operators' practices. With such evidence on the table, If Neelie Kroes still refuses to propose legislative action on Net neutrality, we'll know for sure that she is working for telecoms operators, and not for citizens' general interest. Citizens must continue to report and confirm cases to RespecMyNet.”, said Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson for the citizen advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. Download our submission to BEREC as well as our accompanying note: https://laquadrature.net/files/LQDN-20120120-ec_berec_tm_questionnaire.xls https://laquadrature.net/files/LQDN-20120120-Response_to_BEREC_Questionnair… Here are La Quadrature du Net's proposals to safeguard Net neutrality : * Lawmakers need to adopt a legal definition of the Internet that is based on the neutrality principle, in order to ensure the sustainability of its technical architecture. * The neutrality principle must apply to all Internet networks, regardless of access mode (landline or wireless). Exceptions to this principle in case of unforeseen congestion of security threat over the network must be carefully crafted and overseen. * Infringements to Net neutrality carried out by operators must be subject to dissuasive sanctions. * The balance between co-existing so-called "managed services" and the Internet on communications networks must be sustainable, in order to protect the quality of Internet access. * The use of packet inspection technologies must be regulated in order to protect the privacy of electronic communications and their integrity. To see more of La Quadrature's proposals, visit https://www.lqdn.fr/en/proposals * References * 1. http://respectmynet.eu/ 2. 14 countries have confirmed reports, and taken together they account for the majority of the EU population. 3. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/tell-the-eu-regulator-about-your-internet-re… ** About la Quadrature du Net ** La Quadrature du Net is an advocacy group that promotes the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet. More specifically, it advocates for the adaptation of French and European legislations to respect the founding principles of the Internet, most notably the free circulation of knowledge. In addition to its advocacy work, the group also aims to foster a better understanding of legislative processes among citizens. Through specific and pertinent information and tools, La Quadrature du Net hopes to encourage citizens' participation in the public debate on rights and freedoms in the digital age. La Quadrature du Net is supported by French, European and international NGOs including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Open Society Institute and Privacy International. List of supporting organisations: https://www.laquadrature.net/en/they-support-la-quadrature-du-net ** Press contact and press room ** Jérémie Zimmermann, jz(a)laquadrature.net, +33 (0)615 940 675 http://www.laquadrature.net/en/press-room

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Il SOPA all'italiana.
by Guido Scorza Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

La Commissione per le politiche UE ha approvato ieri l'emendamento Fava alla comunitaria 2011. Non è il SOPA, ma non è lontano: http://www.guidoscorza.it/?p=3012 Mi sconvolge la risposta del Ministro Enzo MOAVERO MILANESI , che ha espresso parere favorevole, limitandosi ad osservare come l’emendamento in questione “affronti un tema - quello del commercio elettronico - di particolare delicatezza, che incontra sensibilità diverse e che avrebbe meritato di essere affrontato in uno specifico provvedimento”. Buon lavoro a tutti, GS __ Avv. Prof. Guido Scorza SR&Partners Via dei Barbieri, 6 - 00186 Roma Tel. +39-06.87750524 Fax +39-0692931778 www.guidoscorza.it www.sr-partners.it

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Una vera smart city?
by Irene Cassarino Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

Kuala Lumpur Mandates WiFi for All Restaurants In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, many still enjoy a simple breakfast of coffee and toast from modest and traditional-looking coffee shops for under RM2 (about 65 cents), while reading newspapers or chit-chatting with friends or family on a lazy morning. Currently, those that want wireless Internet services along with their meals usually opt to go to more expensive cafes such as Starbucks or restaurants in shopping malls. However, the pattern may change with a new ruling for almost all restaurants in the city to provide wireless Internet services. *In efforts to make Kuala Lumpur a city with full wireless Internet (WiFi) coverage, the city government recently required all food and beverage outlets to provide such services to customers by April this year.* The requirement is mandatory for all new food operators with premises bigger than 120 square meters in floor size, when they apply for an operating licence. Existing vendors must provide the service before they can renew their business licence. [...] Enfasi mia. Tutto l'articolo al seguente link: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Kuala-Lumpur-Mandates-WiFi-for-All… -- Irene Cassarino m +39 339 3723401 e irene.cassarino(a)gmail.com w www.thedoersproject.com t @doersproject a via San Domenico 30,Turin, Italy V IT 10048450018

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"Mitt Romney: SOPA is a Threat to Freedom of Speech"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 20, 2012

Jan. 20, 2012

Mitt Romney: SOPA is a Threat to Freedom of Speech <http://www.readability.com/articles/rgfwkwl0?legacy_bookmarklet=1#>/by/ Charlie White . Jan. 19, 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls weighed in on the controversial Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) on Thursday night during a debate in Charleston, South Carolina. Each of the remaining potential nominees --- Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul --- denounced the SOPA bill one day after some of the Internet's most popular and prominent websites staged a black-out protest against the bill that a wide range of parties have criticized as draconian and destructive to creativity and freedom of information. "The idea that we're going to preemptively have the government start censoring the Internet on behalf of giant corporations' economic interests strikes me as exactly the wrong thing to do," Gingrich said. Romney spoke next and agreed with Gingrich. [...] Continua qui: http://mashable.com/2012/01/19/sopa-threat-freedom/

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