January 2019 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

A New York City lawmaker is taking on companies that mine your face
by Alberto Cammozzo Jan. 5, 2019

Jan. 5, 2019

<https://www.fastcompany.com/90281673/nyc-face-recognition-law-ritchie-torres> Ritchie Torres was appalled. In March, the New York City Council Member learned from the New York Times that the iconic sports and entertainment arena Madison Square Garden, the legendary home to the Knicks and the Rangers and an endless parade of arena performers, has used facial recognition software to scan the faces of spectators upon entrance. Details remain scant, but the technology is meant to identify “problem” attendees by matching their faces to those stored in a database. Using the largely unregulated technology–and not telling the public what was being done with their faces–“radically challenges privacy as we know it,” says Torres, who represents the Bronx. In October, he introduced a bill that aims to bring a modicum of transparency to businesses’ use of the biometric technology, as well as iris and fingerprint scanning, by requiring businesses to conspicuously disclose the use of the technology at business entrances. “We’re increasingly living in a marketplace where companies are collecting vast quantities of personal data without the public’s consent or knowledge,” he says. “In a free and open society, I have the right to know whether a company is collecting my personal data, why a company is collecting my data, and whether a company will retain my data and for what purpose.” Under the bill, companies would be required to disclose, with signs at every entrance, if and how they are collecting, retaining, converting, and storing the biometric data of their customers. The online component of the bill would require a company to disclose four pieces of information online: the amount of information it retains and stores; the kind of information it collects; a privacy policy; and, most critically for Torres, any information sharing with third parties. To Torres, facial recognition is the most intrusive yet least regulated form of a fast-growing swath of biometric technology he characterizes as being “shrouded in secrecy.” “It’s even more intrusive than fingerprinting, [which] is a tangible intrusion into my privacy,” Torres explains. “This facial recognition is an invisible and intangible intrusion–that’s what makes it more pernicious. Even more than that, you’re building a database of private information that can then be commercialized.” [...]

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To save us from a Kafkaesque future, we must democratise AI | Stephen Cave | Opinion | The Guardian
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 5, 2019

Jan. 5, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/04/future-democratise-ai… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Sacasas: "When VCRs Were New"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 5, 2019

Jan. 5, 2019

Non solo divertente, è anche occasione per riflettere su come pensiamo/reagiamo alla tecnologia. jc When VCRs Were New January 4, 2019 <https://thefrailestthing.com/2019/01/04/when-vcrs-were-new/>~ L. M. Sacasas <https://thefrailestthing.com/author/lmsacasas/> Yesterday, I posted <https://thefrailestthing.com/2019/01/03/new-media-and-the-recurring-crisis-…> some excerpts from history Carolyn Marvin’s /When Old Technologies Were New/, her study of late 19th century electronic media. In keeping with the spirit of her title, here’s a quick look at a more recent case of when old technologies were new: the VCR. [...] https://thefrailestthing.com/2019/01/04/when-vcrs-were-new/

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Novità editoriale "En attendant les robots. Enquête sur le travail du clic"
by Antonio Casilli Jan. 3, 2019

Jan. 3, 2019

Hello all, buon anno e, per coloro che leggono il francese, una buona notizia: il mio nuovo libro esce oggi in libreria. Le Monde ne pubblica un estratto in anteprima: https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2019/01/03/derriere-l-illusion-de-l-i…. Cheers, Antonio -- Antonio A. Casilli Associate Professor (HDR), 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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Come bypassare firewall e proxy aziendali (e di PA, banche.. etc)
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 2, 2019

Jan. 2, 2019

Salve, e' stato pubblicato un nuovo exploit del bug che ho recentemente segnalato a Mozilla e Google. Basically any old webpage can perform local network host discovery on you. > To implement this I made a webpage which attempts to load images from > addresses 192.168.1.x. If you watch in the browser console it’ll show > either net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED for a host that’s up or > net::ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE for a host that doesn’t exist. This is a CORS > error which the javascript on the webpage is not allowed to differentiate > by catching. But one error takes 3 ms to happen and the other takes 3 > seconds! > [...] > A related thing a webpage in your browser might do is connect to localhost > and control any unauthenticated local services. Taviso used this to great > effect here https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum/issues/3374 https://rain-1.github.io/in-browser-localhostdiscovery E con questo siamo a 2 exploit che vanificano firewall e proxy aziendali. E io ne ho descritti altri nel bug report! E Mozilla tace. Io sono allibito. Ricordate "this is the Web functioning as desinged"! Giacomo

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