May 2016 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Largest Study of Online Tracking Proves Google Really Is Watching Us All
by Alessandro Mantelero May 24, 2016

May 24, 2016

If you read or clicked anything online today, some part of Google probably knows about it. That’s one lesson from the largest study yet of the technology that tracks people’s movements around the Web. When Princeton researchers logged the use of tracking code on the Internet’s million most popular websites, Google code was found on a majority of them. Google Analytics, a product used to log visitors to websites that integrates with the company’s ad-targeting systems, was found on almost 70 percent of sites. DoubleClick, a dedicated ad-serving system from Google, was found on close to 50 percent of sites. The top five most common tracking tools were all Google-owned. The new study, which was conducted using an open-source tool, also uncovered a stealthy new technique used by some small tracking companies that exploits the way browsers process audio, using it to “fingerprint” computers so they can be tracked around the Web. The researchers say the technology they used to collect their findings could help regulators and the developers of tools that block tracking, like some ad blockers [...] https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601488/largest-study-of-online-tracking-… -- Alessandro Mantelero Politecnico di Torino Nexa Center for Internet and Society | Director of Privacy European Data Protection Law Review | Associate Editor http://staff.polito.it/alessandro.mantelero

1 0

Pro Publica: "Machine Bias. There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it’s biased against blacks"
by J.C. DE MARTIN May 23, 2016

May 23, 2016

*Machine Bias* /There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. // //And it’s biased against blacks/ By Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner, ProPublica May 23, 2016 On a spring afternoon in 2014, Brisha Borden was running late to pick up her god-sister from school when she spotted an unlocked kid’s blue Huffy bicycle and a silver Razor scooter. Borden and a friend grabbed the bike and scooter and tried to ride them down the street in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs. Just as the 18-year-old girls were realizing they were too big for the tiny conveyances — which belonged to a 6-year-old boy — a woman came running after them saying, “That’s my kid’s stuff.” Borden and her friend immediately dropped the bike and scooter and walked away. But it was too late — a neighbor who witnessed the heist had already called the police. Borden and her friend were arrested and charged with burglary and petty theft for the items, which were valued at a total of $80. […] Continua qui: https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-crimina…

2 1

Paper: "Toward Cultural Democracy: Digital First Sale Doctrine and Copyright"
by J.C. DE MARTIN May 23, 2016

May 23, 2016

*Toward Cultural Democracy: Digital First Sale Doctrine and Copyright* DOI: 10.1080/10811680.2016.1166031 Yoonmo Sang* Published online: 19 Apr 2016 Abstract Economic efficiency has been the dominant justification for copyright protection in the United States. Challenging that narrow perspective, this study argues that cultural democracy provides a broader, more encompassing framework for reforming copyright laws in support of users’ access to and use of creative works. The study demonstrates how the normative values promoted by cultural democracy are synonymous with the socially beneficial effects of the first sale doctrine. Additionally, the study contextualizes and further elaborates the notion of cultural democracy by providing more concrete examples of how cultural democracy plays out in practice. In doing so, this study focuses on individuals’ use of ebooks and the role of public libraries in the digital age. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/fgTv8QhRIVQgfVsAnxyQ/full

1 0

41° Nexa Lunch Seminar - 25 maggio 2016
by Giuseppe Futia May 23, 2016

May 23, 2016

Se non visualizzi correttamente questo messaggio clicca qui <http://nexa.polito.it/lunch-41> NEXA 41°Nexa Lunch Seminar Mercoledì 25 maggio 2016, ore 13.00 - 14.00 Via Boggio 65/a, Torino (primo piano) http://nexa.polito.it/lunch-41 Giornalismi contemporanei Speaker Alessandro Cappai (giornalista) This event will be webcast live: http://nexa.polito.it/upcoming-events L'incontro punta ad analizzare alcune questioni che oggi disegnano l'orizzonte entro il quale si sta muovendo il giornalismo. Si parlerà del giornalismo dell'era post industriale e della fine della trasmissione broadcast, del passaggio dal giornale "cattedrale" all'atomizzazione dei contenuti, per poi pensare al rapporto con le fonti: dalla "gola profonda" del Watergate ai whistleblower. In un'epoca storica che trasforma la concorrenza in collaborazione e punta non solo al coinvolgimento ma all'impatto, le sfide dei giornalismi si declinano su numerosi fronti. Tra i temi da porre alla discussione c'è il ruolo delle competenze nelle redazioni o delle redazioni: la scrittura, il codice, la crossmedialità, i social e l'analisi dei dati. /Ingresso libero - Saranno disponibili panini e bibite per coloro che si saranno registrati su http://lunch41.eventbrite.com/ entro il 23 maggio./ Speaker - e informazioni supplementari [Cappai] ALESSANDRO CAPPAI è giornalista professionista dal 1993, ha scritto per il Giornale del Piemonte, la Nuova Periferia, Diario della settimana e Nuova Società. Tra le sue esperienze professionali anche un periodo nella redazione Ansa a Washington DC (Usa). Dal 2011 e il 2014 si è occupato di informazione iperlocale come web editor dei portali news legati alle testate del circuito Netweek – Dmedia Group, lavorando con programmatori e sistemisti per trattare le notizie esaltandone la georeferenza e l'impatto sulle comunità. Nel settembre del 2014 ha fondato con altri colleghi torinesi Publican, associazione che si occupa di innovazione nel giornalismo e nell’editoria. Da settembre 2015 è ai vertici della sezione italiana di ONA (Online News Association). Tutor dal 2014 di giornalismo digitale al Master in Giornalismo "Giorgio Bocca" dell'Università di Torino. Letture consigliate e link utili * Federico Badaloni, Architettura dell'Informazione <http://ilmiolibro.kataweb.it/libro/saggistica/238676/architettura-della-com…> * Jeff Jarvis, Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News <https://www.amazon.it/Geeks-Bearing-Gifts-Imagining-Futures-ebook/dp/B00PCK…> * Chris Anderson, Emily Bell, Clay Shirky Post Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present <http://towcenter.org/research/post-industrial-journalism-adapting-to-the-pr…> * Columbia Journalism Review <http://www.cjr.org/> * NiemanLab <http://www.niemanlab.org/> Che cosa sono il Centro Nexa e i cicli di incontri “Mercoledì di Nexa” e “Nexa Lunch Seminar” Il Centro Nexa su Internet & Società del Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica) è un centro di ricerca indipendente e interdisciplinare che studia Internet e il suo effetto sulla società. Maggiori informazioni all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/about. Durante i “*Mercoledì di Nexa*”, che si tengono *ogni 2° mercoledì del mese* alle *ore 18 in punto*, il Centro 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 semplici appassionati e cittadini. Il ciclo di incontri intende approfondire, con un linguaggio preciso ma divulgativo, i temi legati alla Rete: motori di ricerca, Creative Commons, social networks, open source/software libero, neutralità della rete, libertà di espressione, privacy, file sharing, big e open data, smart cities e molto altro. Al centro di quasi tutti gli incontri un ospite pronto a dialogare con i direttori del Centro Nexa, il Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin del Politecnico di Torino e il Prof. Marco Ricolfi dell'Università di Torino, nonché lo staff e i Fellows del Centro Nexa. Maggiori informazioni sui Mercoledì di Nexa, incluso un elenco di tutti i “Mercoledì” passati, sono disponibili all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi. Si segnala inoltre che dal maggio 2012 *ogni 4° mercoledì* del mese *dalle ore 13 alle ore 14* il Centro Nexa organizza anche i "*Nexa Lunch Seminar*". Una lista di tutti i “Lunch Seminar” passati è disponibile all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/lunch-seminars. See our events calendar <http://nexa.polito.it/events> if you're curious about future luncheons, discussions, lectures, and conferences not listed in this email. Our events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Maggiori informazioni sui Nexa Lunch Seminar e i Mercoledì di Nexa, sono disponibili all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/events. Weekly Events Newsletter. Sign up <http://nexa.polito.it/mailing-lists> to receive this newsletter if this email was forwarded to you. To manage your subscription preferences, please click here <https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa>. Connect & get involved: Jobs, internships, and more <http://nexa.polito.it/get-involved> Nexa Center for Internet and Society Newsletter

1 1

How Facebook Warps Our Worlds
by fabio chiusi May 22, 2016

May 22, 2016

Frank Bruni, NyTimes THOSE who’ve been raising alarms about Facebook are right: Almost every minute that we spend on our smartphones and tablets and laptops, thumbing through favorite websites and scrolling through personalized feeds, we’re pointed toward foregone conclusions. We’re pressured to conform.But unseen puppet masters on Mark Zuckerberg’s payroll aren’t to blame. We’re the real culprits. When it comes to elevating one perspective above all others and herding people into culturally and ideologically inflexible tribes, nothing that Facebook does to us comes close to what we do to ourselves.I’m talking about how we use social media in particular and the Internet in general — and how we let them use us. They’re not so much agents as accomplices, new tools for ancient impulses, part of “a long sequence of technological innovations that enable us to do what we want,” noted the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who wrote the 2012 best seller “The Righteous Mind,” when we spoke last week.“And one of the things we want is to spend more time with people who think like us and less with people who are different,” Haidt added. “The Facebook effect isn’t trivial. But it’s catalyzing or amplifying a tendency that was already there.”...http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/opinion/sunday/how-facebook-war…

1 0

The blockchain is a threat to the distributed future of the Internet
by Alessandro Mantelero May 22, 2016

May 22, 2016

The blockchain is a threat to the distributed future of the Internet https://english.lasindias.com/blockchain-is-a-threat-to-the-distributed-fut… -- Prof. Avv. Alessandro Mantelero Politecnico di Torino Nexa Center for Internet and Society | Director of Privacy Politecnico di Torino–Tongji University| Coordinator, Double Degree program in Management and IP Law Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology | Part-time Expert, School of Public Administration European Data Protection Law Review | Associate Editor http://staff.polito.it/alessandro.mantelero EMAIL POLICY: twice a day (Mon-Fri)

5 4

violazione della privacy- sentenze on line
by Mauro Alovisio May 21, 2016

May 21, 2016

Gent.me/mi segnalo sentenza di interesse che ha riconosciuto la violazione della privacy nel caso di diffusione di dati sanitari attraverso la pubblicazione on line di sentenze della Corte dei Conti http://www.adnkronos.com/fatti/cronaca/2016/05/20/piu-privacy-sulla-salute-… Buon fine settimana Mauro Alovisio

1 0

analisi documenti Datagate
by Alberto Cammozzo May 21, 2016

May 21, 2016

German journalists about working with the Snowden documents Last Monday, the website The Intercept started publishing larger batches <https://theintercept.com/snowden-sidtoday/> of documents from the Snowden trove, so they can now also be examined by the public. It's a new phase after previously documents were generally disclosed as part of journalistic reports, but the number of such publications steadily declined over the last two years. For how it was to work with the Snowden documents can be learned from an interesting interview <http://www.isarrunde.de/nr15/arbeiten-mit-geheimen-snowden-dokumenten.html> with two journalists from the German Magazine Der Spiegel. They not only published a whole range of articles based upon the Top Secret NSA documents, but also a book <http://www.randomhouse.de/Buch/Der-NSA-Komplex/Marcel-Rosenbach/e460131.rhd> which is much more informative than that of Glenn Greenwald. <http://electrospaces.blogspot.it/2016/05/german-journalists-about-working-w…>

2 1

Impatto della legge dell'Illionois sulla biometria sull'entertainment
by Alberto Cammozzo May 21, 2016

May 21, 2016

Why Hollywood Should Pay Attention to Biometric Privacy An Illinois biometric law is sparking a wave of class actions [] The Illinois law <http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3004&ChapterID=57> was enacted in 2008 upon the appearance of finger-scan technologies at grocery stores, gas stations and school cafeterias. There was growing concern of how biometric identifiers could be misused. In the past year, though, this statute has captured the attention of class-action attorneys. Much like the spate of lawsuits targeting entertainment companies <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/how-entertainment-companies-are-fi…> over the Video Privacy Protection Act, there have been a growing number of class actions over biometric privacy. And they are proving a nuisance for defendants. In April, Shutterfly settled a lawsuit <https://www.dataprivacyandsecurityinsider.com/2016/04/shutterfly-settles-il…> after a judge refused to accept its argument that the Illinois law's exemption on photographs left it immune from claims. Two weeks ago, a judge rejected Facebook's argument <http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/5/11605068/facebook-photo-tagging-lawsuit-bi…> that its terms of service meant that it was only bound by California and federal laws. Google is also facing a biometric suit. And it's not just tech companies. The Illinois law has already hit the outer reaches of the entertainment industry. Last October, video game maker Take-Two Interactive was hit with a putative class action over its /NBA 2K15/ and /NBA 2K16/ games. It's alleged in the complaint that Take-Two had failed to obtain informed consent from those using PS4 and Xbox cameras to scan their facial geometry to create personable basketball player avatars. The case is being litigated in New York thanks to a forum clause in the user agreement, but that's not stopping the judge from examining whether Take-Two is violating Illinois' biometric statute by collecting and storing face scans. Interestingly, a ruling last week by the U.S. Supreme Court could impact these lawsuits. In /Spokeo v. Robins/, the high court ruled <http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/13-1339_f2q3.pdf> that to have standing, plaintiffs must show an injury that is both “concrete and particularized.” In other words, merely showing a company is storing biometric data might not be enough. There's got to be concrete harm, whatever that means. The Supreme Court kicked it back to a lower appeals court to examine. Just a day after it did so, Take-Two told its judge about the /Spokeo/ development. Take-Two has a pending motion (read here <https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2840029-TakeTwo-Biometric.html>) that's premised on the argument that because there's no allegation that /NBA 2K16 /users have been "aggrieved" by biometric collection, the lawsuit should be dismissed. [] <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/why-hollywood-should-pay-attention…>

1 0

How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, not Engaged Argument
by fabio chiusi May 20, 2016

May 20, 2016

Abstract The Chinese government has long been suspected of hiring as many as 2,000,000people to surreptitiously insert huge numbers of pseudonymous and other deceptivewritings into the stream of real social media posts, as if they were the genuine opinionsof ordinary people. Almost all scholars, activists, journalists, and participantsin social media claim these so-called “Fifty Cent Party” posts argue vociferously forthe government’s side in political and policy debates. Yet, almost no systematic empiricalevidence exists for this claim, or, more importantly, for the Chinese regime’sstrategic objective in pursuing this activity. In the first large scale empirical analysisof this operation, we show how to identify the secretive authors of these posts,the posts written by them, and their content. We estimate that the government fabricatesand posts about 488 million social media comments a year. In contrast to priorclaims, we show that the Chinese regime’s strategy is to avoid arguing with skepticsof the party and the government, and to not even discuss controversial issues. Weinfer that the goal of this massive secretive operation is instead to regularly distractthe public and change the subject, as most of the these posts involve cheerleadingfor China, the revolutionary history of the Communist Party, or other symbols ofthe regime. We discuss how these results fit with what is known about the Chinesecensorship program, and suggest how they may change our broader theoretical understandingof “common knowledge” and information control in authoritarian regimes Il paper qui: http://gking.harvard.edu/files/gking/files/50c.pdf f.

1 0