January 2015 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Robber barons and silicon sultans
by Alessandro Mantelero Jan. 3, 2015

Jan. 3, 2015

Self-made wealth in America Robber barons and silicon sultans Today’s tech billionaires have a lot in common with a previous generation of capitalist titans—perhaps too much for their own good In the 50 years between the end of the American civil war in 1865 and the outbreak of the first world war in 1914, a group of entrepreneurs spearheaded America’s transformation from an agricultural into an industrial society, built gigantic business empires and amassed huge fortunes. In 1848 John J. Astor, a merchant trader, was America’s richest man with $20m (now $545m). By the time the United States entered the first world war, John D. Rockefeller had become its first billionaire. In the 50 years since Data General introduced the first mini-computers in the late 1960s, a group of entrepreneurs have spearheaded the transformation of an industrial age into an information society, built gigantic business empires and acquired huge fortunes. When he died in 1992, Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, was probably America’s richest man with $8 billion. Today Bill Gates occupies that position with $82.3 billion. The first group is now known as the robber barons. The second lot—call them the silicon sultans—could face a similar fate. continua qui: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637338-todays-tech-billionaires-ha… -- Alessandro Mantelero Aggregate Professor, Politecnico di Torino Director of Privacy and Faculty Fellow, Nexa Center for Internet and Society http://staff.polito.it/alessandro.mantelero

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Right to br forgotten_dibattito US
by Alessandro Mantelero Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

Interessante e (per certi versi surreale) dibattito sul RTBF http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-01-02/the_right_to_be_forgotten Stewart Baker attorney at Steptoe and Johnson former general counsel at National Security Agency former assistant secretary of policy at Department of Homeland Security Marc Rotenberg executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center Mark Scott reporter, New York Times -- Alessandro Mantelero Aggregate Professor, Politecnico di Torino Director of Privacy and Faculty Fellow, Nexa Center for Internet and Society http://staff.polito.it/alessandro.mantelero

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Tim Wu (New Yorker): "Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

"Ma cosa c'entra con Internet?", diranno i miei 11 lettori. C'entra, c'entra... Buon anno! juan carlos DECEMBER 26, 2014 *Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer* BY TIM WU This fall, JetBlue airline finally threw in the towel. For years, the company was among the last holdouts in the face of an industry trend toward smaller seats, higher fees, and other forms of unpleasantness. JetBlue distinguished itself by providing decent, fee-free service for everyone, an approach that seemed to be working: passengers liked the airline, and it made a consistent profit. Wall Street analysts, however, accused JetBlue of being “overly brand-conscious and customer-focussed.” In November, the airline, under new management, announced that it would follow United, Delta, and the other major carriers by cramming more seats into economy, shrinking leg room, and charging a range of new fees for things like bags and WiFi. […] Continua qui: http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/airlines-want-you-to-suffer

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Economist: "The future of work - There’s an app for that"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

Come spesso capita all'Economist, dopo una lunga analisi, sostanzialmente equilibrata e ben fatta, verso la fine dell'articolo l'ignoto autore butta a mare l'equilibrio e diventa improvvisamente di parte: "governments will have to...", ecc. ecc. Ciò detto, vale la pena leggerlo. juan carlos *The future of work** * *There’s an app for that* Freelance workers available at a moment’s notice will reshape the nature of companies and the structure of careers Jan 3rd 2015 | NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO | From the print edition HANDY is creating a big business out of small jobs. The company finds its customers self-employed home-helps available in the right place and at the right time. All the householder needs is a credit card and a phone equipped with Handy’s app, and everything from spring cleaning to flat-pack-furniture assembly gets taken care of by “service pros” who earn an average of $18 an hour. The company, which provides its service in 29 of the biggest cities in the United States, as well as Toronto, Vancouver and six British cities, now has 5,000 workers on its books; it says most choose to work between five hours and 35 hours a week, and that the 20% doing most earn $2,500 a month. The company has 200 full-time employees. Founded in 2011, it has raised $40m in venture capital. Handy is one of a large number of startups built around systems which match jobs with independent contractors on the fly, and thus supply labour and services on demand. In San Francisco—which is, with New York, Handy’s hometown, ground zero for this on-demand economy—young professionals who work for Google and Facebook can use the apps on their phones to get their apartments cleaned by Handy or Homejoy; their groceries bought and delivered by Instacart; their clothes washed by Washio and their flowers delivered by BloomThat. Fancy Hands will provide them with personal assistants who can book trips or negotiate with the cable company. TaskRabbit will send somebody out to pick up a last-minute gift and Shyp will gift-wrap and deliver it. SpoonRocket will deliver a restaurant-quality meal to the door within ten minutes. […] Continua qui: http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21637355-freelance-workers-available…

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CfP Panel: "Policy making in Governing the Internet: comparing novel approaches and rising challenges" - International Conference on Public Policy - University of Sacro Cuore, Milano, 1-4 Luglio 2015
by Calderaro, Andrea Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

Buon 2015 Nexiani...Ho pensato che la call di sotto possa interessare a qualcuno in lista. Contattatemi pure per ulteriori informazioni. Andrea ----- International Conference on Public Policy Catholic University of Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy from 1st-4th July, 2015. Policy making in Governing the Internet: comparing novel approaches and rising challenges Chair: Andrea Calderaro, European University Institute Discussant: Carr Madeline, Aberystwyth University Deadline: 15th January The spreading of Internet practices worldwide is increasingly putting the debate and the negotiations concerning Internet Policy at the centre of international disputes. As result, we are witnessing to a growing scholarly oriented body of research addressing the fast developing debate concerning contentions clustered around internet policy challenges. Here, particular attention concerns how to enhance inclusiveness in Internet Governance decision making processes, in order to represent the multiple dimensions characterizing the Internet itself. Given its nature, multiple actors including Governments, representative of the private sectors, as well as civil society organizations are called to establish a so-defined multistakeholder policy making approach. With this, the governance of the internet is supposed to be run with the coordination of all parts involved to work for the good of the internet infrastructure. However, while a multistakeholder approach has been advocated for over 10 years, i.e. since the launch of the Internet Governance negotiations with the first United Nations World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) in 2003, we still lack evidence of the empirical outcomes of this approach. It is still unclear whether or not this policy making approach is successful in establishing an international and multidisciplinary policy capability and decision making processes able to react efficiently and as fast as the internet challenges develop. This panel calls for papers exploring the increasing centrality of Internet Governance negotiations in international disputes, with a particular focus on how internet policy making processes influence this discourse. Within this framework, this panel will include papers that address theoretical or empirically grounded research providing (1) evidence on successful and failing cases in the field of internet policy clustered around a multistakeholder approach; (2) methodological approaches able to frame novel policy network research strategy; and (3), research leading us to answer to the key question whether and how the multistakeholder decision making processes influence the capability of institutions to provide policy response in the fast developing Internet Governance debate. By addressing these questions, this panel aims to frame the policy challenges attached to the Internet Governance debate, and expand our understanding of the decision making process concerning internet policies. Finally, with the scope to establish clear lines of dialogues between scholarly relevant empirical research and innovative approach, this panel calls for papers combining novel research and empirical cases that capture the policy making challenges attached to the broader Internet Governance debate, as an emerging topic with long-term implications. Deadline: Abstracts (of less than 500 words) to be submitted by 15 January 2015. http://www.icpublicpolicy.org/conference/article/article.php?conference=2&a… This panel is sponsored by the journal Policy and Internet, together with other panels calling for papers addressing the role of the Internet and Public Policy. Here for more information: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/?id=1250 ----------------------------------------------- Andrea Calderaro, PhD Senior Researcher | Institute for Internet and Society | Humboldt Univesity Research Associate | Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom | European University Institute Associate "Internet Policy Observatory" | Center for Global Communications Studies (CGCS) - Annenberg Centre/University of Pennsylvania Chair "Internet and Politics" Standing Group - European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Latest Publication: "Internet & Human Rights in foreign policy: comparing narratives in the US & EU internet governance agenda": http://bit.ly/1oiLbCc ----------------------------------------------- Personal Page: www.eui.eu/Personal/Researchers/cald<http://www.eui.eu/Personal/Researchers/cald>eraro/ Twitter: @andreacalderaro [cid:image002.gif@01CD029E.D0C67DD0] Please, safe paper: do not print this email The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, forwarding, or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited without the express permission of the sender. If you received this communication in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.

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Piano nazionale Open goverment- 2014-2016
by Mauro Alovisio Jan. 2, 2015

Jan. 2, 2015

Gent.me/mi segnalo interessante documento programmatico ad oggetto: "Piano nazionale Open goverment- 2014-2016" elaborato dal Ministro della semplificazione e della pubblica amministrazione in sinergia con Anac e Agid http://www.funzionepubblica.gov.it/media/1210651/secondo%20piano%20azione%2… p.s. speriamo si passi dalle parole ai fatti.-. Buon inizio anno

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"5100+ signatures for open formats in the French educational system"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 1, 2015

Jan. 1, 2015

5100+ signatures for open formats in the French educational system URL: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/node/136117 Submitted by Cyrille Chausson <https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/people/14063> on December 30, 2014 *0/5 * | 0 votes | 82 reads | *More than 5100 people have signed the call to promote open formats and interoperability in the French educational system, a campaign initiated in November by April, France’s free software advocacy group. Their call for interoperability in the education system (Appel pour l’intéropérabilité dans l’Education Nationale) is supported by 100 teachers, as well as employees and school trade unions.* “To work together better and more efficiently; and to improve the teaching quality, we are asking for the implementation of a simple and clear rule: documents provided by the public service of Education Nationale and all documents that are exchanged, including texts, spreadsheets, presentations and videos, have to be saved in open and interoperable formats”, April writes on its <http://formatsouverts.education> campaign website <http://formatsouverts.education>: “For example, DOCX and XLSX formats are not open compared to ODT or ODS formats”. The group adds that schools should not accustom pupils to the lock-in strategy of dominant software vendors. Interviewed by the French news site <http://www.nextinpact.com/news/90962-vague-soutiens-pour-appel-en-faveur-l-…>Nextinpact <http://www.nextinpact.com/news/90962-vague-soutiens-pour-appel-en-faveur-l-…>, April’s vice-president Rémi Boulle requested a education policy to promote the adoption of open formats. *Tools instead of brands* The campaign is open to teachers, parents associations, unions, Education Nationale’s employees, organisations and all citizens. The campaign is endorsed by the Document Foundation, involved in the development of LibreOffice - an open source suite of office productivity tools. “Education really needs open formats and free software; our children need to learn how to use solutions instead of commercial products. They should enjoy their rights, without the restrictions of proprietary software that lack freedom and openness”, the Document Foundation is quoted by April as saying. In 2013, the French parliament lowered the priority for the use of free software and open formats in educational. Instead, the parliament wants free software and open formats to be considered as an an alternative. *More information :* April’s Call for interoperability http://www.april.org/lancement-de-lappel-pour-linteroperabilite-dans-leduca… Appel pour l’intéropérabilité dans l’Education Nationale (in French) http://formatsouverts.education <http://formatsouverts.education/>

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