August 2018 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Improving DNS Privacy in Firefox
by Alberto Cammozzo Aug. 29, 2018

Aug. 29, 2018

Questo dovrebbe essere dirompente per molti degli schemi di censura in Italia, basati su DNS DPI <https://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/2018/06/01/improving-dns-privacy-in-firefo…> Domain Name Service (DNS) is one of the oldest parts of internet architecture, and remains one that has largely been untouched by efforts to make the web safer and more private. On the Firefox network and security teams, we’re working to change that by encrypting DNS queries and by testing a service that keeps DNS providers from collecting and sharing your browsing history. For more than 30 years, DNS has served as a key mechanism for accessing sites and services on the web. Browsers (including Firefox) use DNS to access a distributed database that turns URLs into TCP/IP addressing information. Firefox cannot do much without the service. DNS hails from the days of a kinder, more gentle Internet where it was normal to make this kind of query using unencrypted protocols and send them to any nearby server who claimed to be able to answer it. This approach is no longer a fit for the modern Internet. Because there is no encryption, other devices along the way might collect (or even block or change) this data too. DNS lookups are sent to servers that can spy on your website browsing history <https://cdt.org/blog/dns-strengthening-the-weakest-link-in-internet-privacy/> without either informing you or publishing a policy about what they do with that information. While sophisticated users can turn to cloud-based “open resolvers” that offer better privacy controls than what is available by default from most internet service providers (ISPs), these resolvers rely on the same old unencrypted protocols so ISPs can often intercept data anyway. Our first effort to upgrade the privacy of DNS is to implement the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol, which encrypts DNS requests and responses. See Lin Clark’s terrific explainer <https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/05/a-cartoon-intro-to-dns-over-https/> about how DNS over HTTPS can really improve the state of the art. DoH support has been added to Firefox 62 to improve the way Firefox interacts with DNS. DoH uses encrypted networking to obtain DNS information from a server that is configured within Firefox. This means that DNS requests sent to the DoH cloud server are encrypted while old style DNS requests are not protected. DoH standardization is currently a work in progress <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-doh-dns-over-https/?include_tex…> and we hope that soon many DNS servers will secure their communications with it. Firefox does not yet use DoH by default. See the end of this post for instructions on how you can configure Nightly to use (or not use) any DoH server. Our second effort focuses on building a default configuration for DoH servers that puts privacy first. We are running a shield study <https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield> where some Nightly users will participate in one or more experiments to help us build out a secure, cloud-based service that handles DoH requests. All Nightly users will receive an in-product notification about these studies. Cloudflare is our partner for these experiments. When a shield study is active, Nightly Firefox will automatically use Cloudflare’s secure DNS over HTTPS <https://blog.cloudflare.com/dns-resolver-1-1-1-1/> service (though we aren’t using the famous 1.1.1.1 address). The first study will test whether DoH’s performance is up to the task. [...]

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CBP expands partnership with airlines on facial recognition | Papers, Please!
by J.C. DE MARTIN Aug. 29, 2018

Aug. 29, 2018

https://papersplease.org/wp/2018/08/28/cbp-expands-partnership-with-airline… CBP expands partnership with airlines on facial recognition This month US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted the latest in a series of Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) for its Traveler Verification Service (TVS) program. The latest PIA gives notice (although not in the form required by Federal law) that CBP and its airline and airport partners are carrying out a second expanded phase of “demonstrations” of TVS, an identity-as-a-service scheme designed to use automated recognition of images from a shared CBP/airline/airport database of facial photos for purposes including surveillance and control (for CBP) and business process automation and price personalization (for airlines and airports). CBP (1) describes TVS as a “biometric exit” program, (2) describes the current use of TVS as merely a “demonstration”, (3) continues to claim that airlines and airports “have no interest in keeping or retaining” facial images any longer , or using them for any other purposes, than is required by CBP for “security”, and (4) says that U.S citizens aren’t required to submit to mug shots. These claims are intended to lull the public into not protesting: “This is only a test, using photos for limited purposes. The photos will be deleted once you get on the plane, and not used for nay commercial or other purpose.” And so forth. All that might be somewhat reassuring, if any of it were true. But none of it is: [...] (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Internet & Hippie Values
by Antonio Vetrò Aug. 28, 2018

Aug. 28, 2018

Le colonne estive di ACM Communications hanno ospitato due (brevi) punti di vista opposti: Lettera di John Markoff (Stanford): CACM Staff. 2018. Hippie values really did build the internet. Commun. ACM 61, 9 (August 2018), 9-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3242088 <http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3250000/3242088/p9-lieberman.pdf?ip=5.102.1…> In risposta a Moshe Y. Vardi. 2018. How the hippies destroyed the internet. Commun. ACM 61, 7 (June 2018), 9-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3226073 <http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3230000/3226073/p9-vardi.pdf?ip=5.102.14.5&…> Entrambe le opinioni (3 pagg Markoff e 1 pag. Vardi) sono liberamente consultabili dai link. Un caro saluto, antonio

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Master "ICT for Development and Social Good"
by Francesco Ruggiero Aug. 28, 2018

Aug. 28, 2018

Carissimi, vi segnalo che dal *24 agosto 2018* sono aperte le iscrizioni al nuovo Master *"ICT for Development and Social Good" <https://www.ictforsocialgoodmaster.eu/>*. Il Master è ideato e realizzato in collaborazione con il network *Ong 2.0 *( www.ong2zero.org) e con il sostegno dell’*Agenzia Italiana di Cooperazione allo Sviluppo *(https://www.aics.gov.it). Il Master indaga in dettaglio le straordinarie potenzialità (e i rischi) dell’applicazione delle Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) ai progetti di sviluppo in ambito agricolo, sanitario, nella lotta alla povertà e nella difesa dei diritti umani. Sono disponibili *20 borse di studio* a copertura parziale o totale dei costi di iscrizione. La scadenza per le candidature è il* 16 settembre 2018.* Per informazioni sui criteri di ammissione, il programma dettagliato delle lezioni, iscrizioni e borse di studio, è possibile consultare il sito ufficiale del Master: *https://www.ictforsocialgoodmaster.eu/ <https://www.ictforsocialgoodmaster.eu/>* Cordiali saluti, Francesco -- Francesco Ruggiero Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino - DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino web: http://nexa.polito.it mail: francesco.ruggiero(a)polito.it tel: 011 090 7219

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Convegno Unitn - Non per profitto: la scienza aperta e il ruolo dell'università
by Roberto Caso Aug. 28, 2018

Aug. 28, 2018

Buongiorno, segnalo questo convegno dell'Università di Trento che si terrà il 25 ottobre nell'ambito dell'OA week 2018: https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/giurisprudenza/44254/non -per-profitto-la-scienza-aperta-e-il-ruolo-dell-universit Qui di seguito la scheda introduttiva: "Quando, circa vent’anni fa, sono emerse le prime istanze verso l*’Open Access *e l’*Open Science* Internet era ancora uno strumento che prometteva decentramento dei poteri e democrazia. In quel torno di anni si pensava che le istituzioni scientifiche e accademiche che non operano per il profitto dovessero svolgere un ruolo fondamentale nella creazione delle infrastrutture, dei processi e dei contenuti della scienza aperta. Oggi, la scienza aperta ha fatto sicuramente molti passi in avanti. Esiste un’imponente massa di contenuti scientifici (software, pubblicazioni, dati) disponibili in forma gratuita e con diritti di riuso, cioè accompagnati da licenze aperte come le *Creative Commons Licenses*. - Ma qual è il ruolo dell’università e delle altre istituzioni scientifico-accademiche no profit nel governo e nella gestione della scienza aperta? - L’università può ancora rivendicare un ruolo di primo piano nella scienza aperta o si presenta ormai come un ingranaggio di un meccanismo di mercato dominato da piattaforme commerciali con enorme potere di controllo dell’informazione? - Di fronte al potere delle banche dati dell’editoria commerciale, dei social network generalisti e scientifici, dei motori di ricerca quale compito spetta all’università? - La scienza aperta rappresenta un baluardo dell’autonomia dell’università e della libertà accademica? Si proverà a rispondere a queste domande in una giornata di studio durante la quale ospiti stranieri e rappresentanti delle università italiane più impegnate nella promozione della scienza aperta si confronteranno proponendo visioni ed esperienze". A presto, rc -- Roberto Caso Professore Associato di Diritto Privato Comparato Università di Trento - Facoltà di Giurisprudenza http://www5.unitn.it/People/it/Web/Persona/PER0000633 http://www.lawtech.jus.unitn.it/index.php/people/roberto-caso

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Report: “Creative Markets and Copyright in the Fourth Industrial Era: Reconfiguring the Public Benefit for a Digital Trade Economy”
by J.C. DE MARTIN Aug. 26, 2018

Aug. 26, 2018

https://www.ictsd.org/themes/innovation-and-ip/research/creative-markets-an… Creative Markets and Copyright in the Fourth Industrial Era: Reconfiguring the Public Benefit for a Digital Trade Economy A rapid succession of technological advances – big data, robotics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence – is steadily changing how firms engage in productive activity, how consumers interact, and how knowledge goods are acquired, shared, and governed. The rise of big data and the increasingly widespread adoption of artificial intelligence across many industries have complicated our understanding of the values of twentieth-century intellectual property rules. If anything, the expected social costs (such as privacy) of new technology have already intensified debates – both global and national in scope – about the nature of rules that best foster innovation, facilitate access to public goods, and enable economic development. This paper explores the fundamental questions facing the copyright system in the new industrial and digital era. It considers a broad range of issues including the evolving concept of authorship, originality, exhaustion issues, and the fair use or fair dealing doctrine in the new global context. It concludes with recommendations on how to redesign global copyright for innovation, competition, and inclusion. (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Verso una repubblica dei beni comuni? (Nuovo libro in Fr)
by Antonio Casilli Aug. 24, 2018

Aug. 24, 2018

Hello all, per i francofoni, segnalo un libro collettivo sui commons (digitali, politici e naturali). Al tomo ho contribuito anch'io, oltre che molti altri, tra cui il fondatore della P2P foundation Michel Bauwens, il sociologo del Politecnico di Torino Gragorio Arena, l'economista Benjamin Coriat, Sébastien Broca di cui ho recentemente segnalato l'uscita in italiano de "L'utopia del software libero", etc. Il riferimento completo è: Nicole Alix, Jean-Louis Bancel, Benjamin Coriat & Frédéric Sultan (2018). Vers une république des biens communs ?, Paris : Les Liens qui Libèrent. http://www.editionslesliensquiliberent.fr/livre-Vers_une_r%C3%A9publique_de… Cheers, Antonio -- Antonio A. Casilli Associate Professor, Telecom ParisTech Member, Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation (i3 UMR 9217 CNRS) Associate Member, LACI-IIAC (EHESS) Faculty Fellow, Nexa Center for Internet & Society

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Robot says: Whatever | Aeon
by J.C. DE MARTIN Aug. 22, 2018

Aug. 22, 2018

https://aeon.co/amp/essays/the-robots-wont-take-over-because-they-couldnt-c… Robot says: Whatever What stands in the way of all-powerful AI isn't a lack of smarts: it's that computers can't have needs, cravings or desires Margaret Boden In Henry James’s intriguing novella The Beast in the Jungle (1903), a young man called John Marcher believes that he is marked out from everyone else in some prodigious way. The problem is that he can’t pinpoint the nature of this difference. Marcher doesn’t even know whether it is good or bad. Halfway through the story, his companion May Bartram – a wealthy, New-England WASP, naturally – realises the answer. But by now she is middle-aged and terminally ill, and doesn’t tell it to him. On the penultimate page, Marcher (and the reader) learns what it is. For all his years of helpfulness and dutiful consideration towards May, detailed at length in the foregoing pages, not even she had ever really mattered to him. That no one really mattered to Marcher does indeed mark him out from his fellow humans – but not from artificial intelligence (AI) systems, for which nothing matters. [...] This essay is adapted from the inaugural Margaret Boden Lecture, delivered by Professor Boden herself, at the University of Cambridge in June 2018. (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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PDF Antologia spagnola di miei testi
by Antonio Casilli Aug. 22, 2018

Aug. 22, 2018

Hello all, ho passato un'estate un po' strana, con in mezzo un lungo soggiorno in Bolivia per accompagnare (a suon di conferenze) l'uscita di un mio libro un po' particolare: si tratta di un'antologia di 5 saggi apparsi nell'ultimo decennio in riviste francesi e inglesi (più un inedito, versione extended play di un testo che avevo scritto per Feltrinelli l'anno scorso). Il tutto è stato coordinato, praticamente senza che io ci mettessi mano, dall'ambasciata di Francia in Bolivia e dalla Agetic, l'equivalente boliviano dell'Agenzia per l'Italia digitale. Quindi se leggete lo spagnolo e/o se avete colleghi ispanofoni interessati a futuro del lavoro, intelligenza artificiale, privacy e sorveglianza di massa (ma anche virus, hacking e wikipedia -- c'è un po' di tutto in 'sto libro...) non esitate a scaricare il pdf e a farlo circolare abbondantemente via email, media sociali o dove meglio vi aggrada. ------- Antonio A. Casilli (2018). Trabajo, conocimiento y vigilancia: 5 ensayos sobre tecnología. La Paz, Bolivia: Editorial del Estado. Descarga documento PDF: https://agetic.gob.bo/pdf/estadotic/AGETIC-Trabajo-conocimiento-vigilancia.… Contenido Introducción.........................................................5 ¿Existe una cultura laboral digital global? Marginación del trabajo, desigualdades globales y colonialidad................................9 Inteligencia artificial: ¿los humanos reemplazarán a los robots?....45 Una historia de la virulencia: El cuerpo y la cultura informática en la década de 1980...................................................83 El wikipedista, el investigador y el vándalo.......................125 Cuatro tesis sobre vigilancia digital masiva y la negociación de la privacidad.........................................................141 Cheers, Antonio

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Competition Act investigation regarding business parcel delivery services
by Luigi Scorca Aug. 21, 2018

Aug. 21, 2018

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/bulletins/competition-bulletins…

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