February 2019 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Il kernel Linux adotta il Code Of Conduct
by Francesco Mecca Sept. 9, 2020

Sept. 9, 2020

Il mondo del FOSS e piu` in generale quello dell'informatica non e` un universo a se` stante ma coesiste con il mondo della politica e ci interagisce. Il 16 settembre Linus con questa email http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1809.2/00117.html ha annunciato di prendersi una pausa dallo sviluppo del kernel. Inoltre si scusa per il suo comportamento aggressivo: "The above is basically a long-winded way to get to the somewhat painful personal admission that hey, I need to change some of my behavior, and I want to apologize to the people that my personal behavior hurt and possibly drove away from kernel development entirely. I am going to take time off and get some assistance on how to understand people's emotions and respond appropriately." Questo cambiamento, che non ha precedenti in 30 anni di benevola dittatura, rientra nel panorama molto piu` ampio dell'attuale conflitto ideologico fra le vecchie idee di selezione per merito e le piu` nuove idee di selezione per diversita`, fra il "technical coding" e il "social coding", alt-destre e la sinistra culturale. Francesco Mecca

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Model Metropolis (da SimCity alla SmartCity?)
by Giacomo Tesio June 3, 2019

June 3, 2019

Un brillante articolo da Kevin T. Baker, storico: https://logicmag.io/06-model-metropolis/ Ai miei occhi, pone questioni interessantissime. Di straordinaria attualità nel momento in cui vecchi giocatori di SimCity (come me) ragionano, discutono, votano o decidono sulle "Smart City". E di straordinario interesse non solo storico politico, ma informatico. Mostra come l'informatica e la programmazione siano mezzi di espressione capaci di diffondere un sistema di credenze e valori complesso (150 equazioni e 200 variabili) SENZA comunicazione verbale. Diffondendo veri e propri pregiudizi senza una singola rete neurale a nascondere / giustificare i bias. Giacomo ____ Almost as soon as SimCity came out, journalists, academics, and other critics began to speculate on the effects that the game might have on real-world planning and politics. Within a few years of its release, instructors at universities across the country began to integrate SimCity into their urban planning and political science curriculums. Commentators like the sociologist Paul Starr worried that the game’s underlying code was an “unreachable black box” which could “seduce” players into accepting its assumptions, like the fact that low taxes promoted growth in this virtual world. “I became a total Republican playing this game,” one SimCity fan told the Los Angeles Times in 1992. “All I wanted was for my city to grow, grow, grow.” Despite all this attention, few writers looked closely at the work which sparked Wright’s interest in urban simulation in the first place. Largely forgotten now, Jay Forrester’s Urban Dynamics put forth the controversial claim that the overwhelming majority of American urban policy was not only misguided but that these policies aggravated the very problems that they were intended to solve. In place of Great Society-style welfare programs, Forrester argued that cities should take a less interventionist approach to the problems of urban poverty and blight, and instead encourage revitalization indirectly through incentives for businesses and for the professional class. Forrester’s message proved popular among conservative and libertarian writers, Nixon Administration officials, and other critics of the Great Society for its hands-off approach to urban policy. This outlook, supposedly backed up by computer models, remains highly influential among establishment pundits and policymakers today. [...] When we consider the social effects of computers in political and social life, we usually think in terms of expanded power and new possibilities. This perspective on computation permeates even our critical visions of technology. But we should also be attentive to the power that computers and the accompanying language of “systems” and “complexity” have to narrow our conception of the politically possible. [...] Forrester argued that for most of human history, people have only needed to understand basic cause-and-effect relationships, but that our social systems are governed by complex processes that unfold over long periods of time. [...] In essence, anything we do to try to improve society will backfire and make things even worse. [...] Expert knowledge, of course, has an important place in democratic deliberation, but it can also cut people out of the policy process, dampen the urgency of moral claims, and program a sense of powerlessness into our public discourse. Appeals to a social system’s “complexity” and the potential for “perverse outcomes” can be enough to sink transformative social programs that are still on the drawing board.

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CfP Workshop on Engineering Accountable Information Systems Stockholm University Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-11, 2019
by Ben Wagner April 2, 2019

April 2, 2019

Dear all, we currently have a call for papers on Accountable Systems for a workshop at ECIS 2019 that might be interesting for many people on this list: https://easychair.org/cfp/ECIS2019-EAIS <https://easychair.org/cfp/ECIS2019-EAIS> Deadline for submissions is 15 March 2019. If you have any questions about it please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Best, Ben -- Dr. Ben Wagner Assistant Professor Institute for Information Systems and Society Vienna University of Economics and Business Director, Privacy & Sustainable Computing Lab Email: ben.wagner(a)wu.ac.at <mailto:ben.wagner@wu.ac.at> | Tel: +43-1-31336-6061 Web: https://www.privacylab.at/ <https://www.privacylab.at/> | Twitter: @benwagne_r ECIS 2019 Workshop: Engineering Accountable Information Systems The function of information systems in society is increasingly in focus of information systems research. One outstanding challenge is how to build information systems which promote accountability, as part of a wider debate on fairness, accountability, and transparency principles (e.g., ACM FAT*). This need for accountability must be reflected on all layers of systems engineering, ranging from process analysis to concrete technical components and primitives employed during implementation. Based on our existing research we believe that three specific areas of information systems research are most relevant in this context: user cognition and human behaviour in relation to the design of interfaces; automated decision-making systems and decision-support systems; critical business processes with a particular need for accountability. In all these and further areas, accountability in complex information systems needs to be addressed through technical mechanisms. Existing high-level considerations on accountability in information systems notwithstanding, however, the concrete engineering and implementation of such mechanisms has so far received only limited attention. Similarly, the challenges arising during such transformations of abstract accountability concepts into concrete technologies as well as the critical evaluation of respective implementations are only rarely covered by existing research. We see this workshop as an opportunity to close these gaps through engaging with the existing debate on accountability while integrating key knowledge from the information systems community. Importantly, our approach to accountable systems is not just focused on high level norms of system development, but indispensably also incorporates practical questions of engineering and designing actual systems. We therefore encourage submissions from the above-mentioned and other areas of accountability engineering as long as they sufficiently incorporate questions of concrete systems engineering and implementation. Submission Guidelines Authors should follow the ECIS 2019 guidelines for research in progress papers, with papers between 4 and 7 pages in length. A poster is not required. Full details are available here: http://ecis2019.eu/information-to-authors <http://ecis2019.eu/information-to-authors> Submissions must be made through the EasyChair system via the following link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecis2019eais <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecis2019eais> For questions about the workshop, submissions or review process, contact the chairs via ecis2019eais[at]easychair[dot]org Relevant Dates • Submissions due by March 15 2019 • Replies by April 15 2019 • Final Papers due June 1 2010 • Workshop will be held on June 10 and 11, at Stockholm University’s Kista campus. Organizing & Program Committee Chairs • Ben Wagner, WU Vienna • Frank Pallas, TU Berlin • Florian Cech, TU Vienna • Ancsa Hannak, CSH Vienna Program Committee • Soheil Human, WU Vienna • Till Winkler, WU Vienna • Niels ten Oever, University of Amsterdam • Jörg Pohle, HIIG Berlin • Claudia Müller-Birn, FU Berlin • Juhi Kulshreshta, GESIS, Leibniz • Eliška Pírková, University of Helsinki • Juan Quintero, FAU Erlangen Nürnberg • Eva Zangerle, University of Innsbruck • Abhijnan Chakraborty, MPI Saarbrucken • Piotr Sapiezynski, Northeastern University • Jat Singh, University of Cambridge • Martina Zitterbart, KIT Karlsruhe • Giovanni Sartor, EUI Florence • Abbas Masnavi, CalTech • Golnaz Bidabadi, San Jose State University • Melanie Herschel, IPVS, University of Stuttgart Publication Accepted papers will be published as part of an open-access online collection with CEUR Workshop Proceedings http://ceur-ws.org/ <http://ceur-ws.org/> and an overview of the workshop findings will be published with CAIS (Communications of the Association for Information Systems). Venue The conference will be held in Stockholm University’s Kista campus on June 10 and 11. -- Dr. Ben Wagner Assistant Professor Institute for Information Systems and Society Vienna University of Economics and Business Director, Privacy & Sustainable Computing Lab Email: ben.wagner(a)wu.ac.at | Tel: +43-1-31336-6061 Web: https://www.privacylab.at/ | Twitter: @benwagne_r

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Facebook's Most Intriguing New Hires Aren't in Silicon Valley—They're in Washington
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-most-intriguing-new-hires-arent-in-silicon-va… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Intelligenza Artificiale e Comunità del Futuro | 16 marzo MDW
by Marco Zappalorto Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

Cari tutti, Sperando di fare cosa gradita, vi contatto per informarti riguardo un evento realizzato da *Nesta Italia* all'interno della Milano Digital Week: "*Intelligenza Artificiale e Comunità del Futuro*". L'evento vuole indagare le potenzialità sociali dell'intelligenza artificiale e capirne la sua influenza sulle comunità del futuro. L'evento si divide in un momento di arena cittadina al mattino con la presenza di esperti sull'argomento e un workshop al pomeriggio per spiegare il funzionamento di questa nuova tecnologia. L'evento si svolgerà *sabato 16 marzo dalle 09.30 alle 14.30 in viale Sarca 226 Milano*. Vi chiedo cortesemente di registrare il vostro interesse utilizzando il seguente form <https://nestaitalia-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/Redirect?ukey=1rZG7m_79QLRbg…> . Buona giornata, Marco [image: AIforSocial19-Nesta_SaveTheDate.jpg] -- Marco Zappalorto | Chief Executive Nesta Italia| M: +39 3392087213 | *Intelligenza artificiale. Cosa ne pensate? Fateci sapere le vostre opinioni compilando il nostro survey qui: **https://it.surveymonkey.com/r/AIforthePeople <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://it.surveymonkey.com/r/AIforthePeople&s…>* *Bastano pochissimi minuti!*

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Nadella: Microsoft will sell war tech to democracies to “protect freedoms”
by Giacomo Tesio Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says that company's $480 million contract to supply HoloLens technology to the military is a "principled decision" and that the company will not "withhold technology" from democratic governments. [...] The intent is to integrate the HoloLens hardware with thermal-imaging, weapons-targeting, and health-monitoring systems to, among other things, provide "increased lethality" of the soldiers using it. A number of Microsoft employees have signed an open letter saying that the company should cancel the contract, arguing that it crosses a line into weapons development. Some 250 staff are said to have signed the letter. Speaking to CNN Business, Nadella defended the decision to enter the contract, saying, "We made a principled decision that we're not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy," adding, "We were very transparent about that decision and we'll continue to have that dialogue [with employees]." https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/02/nadella-microsoft-will-sell-war-tec…

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A QUIC Look at Web Tracking
by Giacomo Tesio Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

QUIC has been developed by Google to improve the transport performance of HTTPS traffic. It currently accounts for approx. 7% of the global Internet traffic. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of user tracking via QUIC from the perspective of an online service. Our analysis reveals that the protocol design contains violations of privacy best practices through which a tracker can passively and uniquely identify clients across several connections. This tracking mechanisms can achieve reduced delays and bandwidth requirements compared to conventional browser fingerprinting or HTTP cookies. This allows them to be applied in resource- or time-constrained scenarios such as real-time biddings in online advertising. To validate this finding, we investigated browsers which enable QUIC by default, e.g., Google Chrome. Our results suggest that the analyzed browsers do not provide protective measures against tracking via QUIC. https://svs.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/publications/2019/2019-02-26-Sy-PET_S…

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Tomasin: “Testo digitale, tu ci inganni”
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/cultura/2019-02-25/testo-digitale-tu-ci-ing… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Paris Call - Software Source Code as Heritage
by Giacomo Tesio Feb. 28, 2019

Feb. 28, 2019

Call on each UNESCO Member State to 13. Recognise software source code as a precious asset of humankind, intersecting with human creativity, development, society and culture; 14. Recognise software source code as a fundamental enabler in all aspects of human endeavour; 15. Recognise software source code as a fundamental research document on a par with scholarly articles and research data; 16. Recognise that the source code of software used for the implementation of laws and regulations defines the experience of the law by citizens; 17. Create an enabling legal, policy and institutional environment where software source code can flourish as an integral part of knowledge societies; 18. Integrate the scientific fundamentals of computing/ informatics within general education for all citizens; 19. Support the development of shared infrastructures to collect, preserve and make available software source code; 20. Establish an open and international research infrastructural framework for the large scale analysis and improvement of the quality, safety and security of the software commons; 21. Ensure necessary exceptions to copyright and limitations on intermediary liability related to software for archival, preservation, accessibility, education and research purposes; 22. Enable effective independent auditing of software source code used to make decisions that may affect fundamental rights of human beings and where possible ensure it is made available under an open source license; 23. Implement, with support from UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme, the 2015 Recommendation concerning the Preservation of, and Access to, Documentary Heritage, including in Digital Form, inviting inter-alia Member States to facilitate access to proprietary codes, keys and unlocked versions of technology on a non profit basis. Call on software developers, memory institutions, the business sector, academia and civil society, within their competency, to: 27. Recognise that software is the result of a significant part of the intellectual efforts of humankind over recent decades, and it is an important part of our cultural and industrial heritage; 28. Support efforts to gather and preserve the artifacts and narratives of the history of computing, while the earlier creators are still alive; 29. Promote software development as a valuable research activity, and research software as a key enabler for Open Science/Open Research, sharing good practices and recognising in the careers of academics their contributions to high quality software development, in all their forms; 30. Recognize the importance of contributions by people of all genders from all over the world to the software commons, supporting a diverse and inclusive environment for all aspects of software development and curation; 31. Educating decision makers on the specificities of software, and software source code in particular, raising awareness about the threats to the software commons and the importance to protect it; 32. Encourage all stakeholders to develop a common system of cataloguing to allow for easy identification and retrieval of software source code, even across the many platforms and infrastructures used to develop and/or distribute it; 33. Support stakeholders in developing a universal archive, as part of a broad effort at digital preservation, that will ensure persistence of and universal access to software source code; 34. Encourage multidisciplinary activity in the field of software preservation, and in particular collaboration with the humanities and social sciences whose contributions are essential to study the history of technology; 35. Adapt processes, workflows and licensing schemas in the software industry to ease the transition of future proprietary software source code into the software commons once it is no longer commercially viable; 36. Foster international collaboration to build a common framework for software preservation and access, and mutualise resources, in order to avoid the dispersion of efforts; 37. Promote the recording of the activity of software developers, captured as documentary heritage either in analogue or digital form, which are suitable for preservation in their own right and ensure that they are linked with the source code. 38. Support all stakeholders in developing the understanding that software source code is intertwined more and more with the fabric of our society, hence the utmost care needs to be used during its development process to manage its potential consequences on society and people

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Fake news is part of a bigger problem: automated propaganda - Columbia Journalism Review
by J.C. DE MARTIN Feb. 27, 2019

Feb. 27, 2019

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/algorithm-russia-facebook.php (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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