March 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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The Landlord Wants Facial Recognition in Its Rent-Stabilized Buildings. Why? - The New York Times
by J.C. DE MARTIN April 3, 2019

April 3, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/nyregion/rent-stabilized-buildings-facia… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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"L'intelligenza artificiale? Non è vera intelligenza"
by Marco Ciurcina April 2, 2019

April 2, 2019

Il filosofo americano: "I computer non hanno una mente perché non hanno una coscienza" Il mistero della realtà (Raffaello Cortina Editore, pagg. 300, euro 26) raccoglie dieci lezioni tenute da John Searle all'Università di Girona, nel 2015. In ciascuna di esse, il filosofo americano, allievo di Austin e «nipote» (intellettualmente parlando) di Frege, si occupa delle questioni ancora aperte per la filosofia del XXI secolo. Lo fa dal suo versante, quello della filosofia della mente e del linguaggio (che ha insegnato all'Università di Berkeley, dove oggi, a 86 anni, è professore emerito); quello della filosofia analitica, di cui è uno degli esponenti più celebri, grazie alla sua teoria degli «atti linguistici». E, in particolare, Searle affronta quella che per lui è «la vera domanda» per la filosofia oggi, ovvero: «Come è possibile conciliare ciò che pensiamo della realtà umana con la realtà più elementare descritta dalle scienze dure?». ... [continua qui] http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cultura/lintelligenza-artificiale-non-vera-in… Leggendo l'intervista parrebbe un libro interessante. Qualcuno l'ha letto? m.c.

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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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Câbles sous-marins d’Internet : « Les risques de tension sont extrêmement réels »
by J.C. DE MARTIN March 31, 2019

March 31, 2019

Peut-on éteindre Internet ? On a posé la question à Jean-Luc Vuillemin, directeur des Réseaux Internationaux d’Orange, dans le cadre du dossier à la Une du dernier numéro d'Usbek & Rica, qui explore les futurs possibles d'Internet. https://usbeketrica.com/article/cables-sous-marins-internet-risques-tension… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Mark Zuckerberg calls for stronger regulation of internet | Media | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo March 31, 2019

March 31, 2019

Dopo Cambridge Analytica è molto difficile monitorare FB. Le analisi già pubblicate non si potrebbero più fare. Qualcuno di indipendente si sta occupando di monitorare le elezioni UE? Che lo facciano i governi come suggerisce lo Zuck ovviamente non è una buona idea. Ciao, Alberto <https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/30/mark-zuckerberg-calls-fo…> The Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg, has set out how he believes the social network and the internet should be regulated. The firm’s founder and chief executive said there was a need for governments and regulators to have “a more active role”. Zuckerberg said he believed new regulation was needed in four areas – harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability. In an editorial published online in the Washington Post and on his own Facebook page, Zuckerberg said: “Every day we make decisions about what speech is harmful, what constitutes political advertising, and how to prevent sophisticated cyberattacks. “These are important for keeping our community safe. But if we were starting from scratch, we wouldn’t ask companies to make these judgments alone. “I believe we need a more active role for governments and regulators. By updating the rules for the internet, we can preserve what’s best about it – the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things – while also protecting society from broader harms.” Zuckerberg said legislation was important for “protecting elections” and it should be updated, adding that Facebook had already made “significant changes around political ads”. [...]

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Google France et l’évasion fiscale
by Giacomo Tesio March 29, 2019

March 29, 2019

https://tuxicoman.jesuislibre.net/2019/03/google-france-et-levasion-fiscale… Il ne vous aura pas échappé que Google est passé à l’offensive médiatique pour envahir la France. Google a construit des espaces de promotion partout en France (ateliers Google) et s’assure le soutien de l’Etat dans cette démarche en apportant de l’argent et de l’activité là où l’Etat peine faute de moyen à prendre place. Google à quand même réussi à diffuser son discours en monologue depuis le compte Twitter officiel de l’Elysée. Du jamais vu. Pourtant, si Google participait à la société en payant ses impôts, l’Etat ne ferait pas la manche.

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Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?
by Giacomo Tesio March 29, 2019

March 29, 2019

https://archive.org/details/mommybook Do you know what a serveer is? I bet you do! A servers is a funny looking box. It makes friends with computers. Big people have a server at the "office". The office is a boring place where big people go and do boring things. Offices are why big people get grumpy, and say bad words. But guess what? Some servers aren't boring. They don't go in offices.. they go in houses! Maybe in your house! How does it get there? When a mummy and a daddy love each other very much, the daddy want to give the mummy a special gift. [...] ____ :-D Un libretto di Microsoft del 2007. Una lettura fantastica sotto moltissimi punti di vista, sociologico, storico e informatico. Leggetelo... è spettacolare! ;-) Giacomo

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When protecting the US Constitution means defending accused terrorists
by Alberto Cammozzo March 29, 2019

March 29, 2019

Le tecnologie in questo caso non c'entrano, ma ho trovato questo video toccante, e penso possa interessare questa lista: negli USA si prepara un processo attorno a uno dei più significativi stati di eccezione del nostro tempo. <https://aeon.co/videos/when-protecting-the-us-constitution-means-defending-…> This short documentary follows three US Department of Defense lawyers – Alka Pradhan, James Connell and Sterling Thomas – working on a Guantánamo Bay case fraught with unique challenges and sensitivities. The trio serves as the defence team for Ammar al-Baluchi, one of five men currently facing the death penalty for 9/11-related crimes. To do their job, the lawyers must earn and keep al-Baluchi’s trust, present their defence before the family members of 9/11 victims, and even fend off interference from the very government entity for which they work – and which they accuse of repeatedly violating attorney-client privilege. It might seem an unenviable position, but it’s one they’ve taken on willingly, viewing their work as essential to protecting the US Constitution in a place where the rule of law has been so frequently and brazenly disregarded.

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