September 2021 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Mark Zuckerberg is betting Facebook’s future on the metaverse
by Giacomo Tesio Nov. 12, 2021

Nov. 12, 2021

Ciao a tutti, leggevo con un po' di ritardo la mail [1] di Giuseppe Attardi riguardo a quelle che chiama Virtual Utopias (su cui mi piacerebbe approfondire), ma sentendo citare il metaverse mi è tornata in mente questa recente intevista a Zuckerberg, inquietante quanto allucinata: https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-in… Di per sé Zuckerberg non andrebbe preso sul serio, è il membro scemo della cricca dei bulletti cibernetici, ma ciò che dice può spesso essere letto come quel poco che ha capito di ciò che le "menti raffinatissime" dei suoi compari più furbi architettano. Ne cito dunque solo due passaggi, sperando di non annoiarvi troppo con quella che è anzitutto propaganda politica. Il primo va letto alla luce dei lockdown, della "didattica a distanza", delle lunghe ore trascorse in teleconferenza: > So, one is you will be able to, with basically a snap of your > fingers, pull up your perfect workstation. So anywhere you go, you > can walk into a Starbucks, you can sit down, you can be drinking your > coffee and kind of wave your hands and you can have basically as many > monitors as you want, all set up, whatever size you want them to be, > all preconfigured to the way you had it when you were at your home > before. And you can just bring that with you wherever you want. > > If you want to talk to someone, you’re working through a problem, > instead of just calling them on the phone, they can teleport in, and > then they can see all the context that you have. They can see your > five monitors, or whatever it is, and the documents or all the > windows of code that you have, or a 3D model that you’re working on. > And they can stand next to you and interact, and then in a blink they > can teleport back to where they were and kind of be in a separate > place. Il secondo va invece inquadrato nella profonda paura che aziende come Facebook hanno dei sindacati e degli strumenti che progettano per contrastarli o soggiogarli [2]: > One of the big issues today in society is inequality. And one of the > people I think has done the most interesting research on this is this > guy, Raj Chetty, I think he’s at Harvard now. And basically some of > the research that he’s done shows that the zip code in which you were > born and raised is highly correlated with your future mobility and > what your income is going to be. [...] > > Remote work is going to be a bigger part of the future. I think > within five to 10 years, probably about half the company is going to > be remote. [...] But then you have this question [...] “Okay, will > the people who are working remotely really be able to have exactly the > same opportunities as the people who are physically there with each > other?” > > And I think when you have technologies like holograms from augmented > and virtual reality, the answer gets closer to “yes” than it would > have been before. In pratica per Zuckerberg il metaverse ottimizzerà lo sfruttamento di persone che prima non potevano essere sfruttate (e sorvegliate) appieno. Ah sì... sono "opportunità" ragazzi... "opportunità". ;-) Non credo che gli scenari descritti siano dietro l'angolo, ma purtroppo non credo nemmeno che (se e) quando si presenteranno, la popolazione disporrà di competenze adatte a comprendere ed evitare la perdità di diritti e di libertà che verranno imposte tramite queste tecnologie. Se le avessimo, fra l'altro, imporremmo già oggi per legge UI ed UX percettibilmente innaturali, per mantenere una netta separazione cognitiva fra realtà ed allucinazione [3] informatica. Giacomo [1] https://server-nexa.polito.it/pipermail/nexa/2021-September/022158.html [2] https://theintercept.com/2020/06/11/facebook-workplace-unionize/ [3] https://etimo.it/?cmd=id&id=686&md=609bef4b4cfb07ded94ad82038317753

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TechSonar - nuova iniziativa del Garante Privacy Europeo in ambito foresight
by Stefano Leucci Oct. 4, 2021

Oct. 4, 2021

Car* tutt*, condivido in anteprima il progetto che abbiamo lanciato proprio ieri in EDPS dedicato al monitoraggio dei trend tecnologici a più alto impatto sulla protezione dei dati - TechSonar. Tramite l'utilizzo di metodologie di foresight, TechSonar è un processo di monitoraggio e aggiornamento continuo che mira a costruire un "mindset anticipante" in ambito data protection, come già sta succedendo in varie altre discipline. Qui il link all'iniziativa, con i primi TechReport: https://edps.europa.eu/press-publications/publications/techsonar_en Qui il blogpost che spiega meglio l'iniziativa: https://edps.europa.eu/press-publications/press-news/blog/techsonar-technol… Ogni idea, suggerimento, feedback è più che benvenuto. Stefano

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Amazon Distribution Network Strategy | MWPVL International
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 30, 2021

Sept. 30, 2021

https://www.mwpvl.com/html/amazon_com.html (messaggio spedito in movimento - scusate la brevità e gli eventuali refusi)

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FBI Had the REvil Decryption Key
by 380° Sept. 30, 2021

Sept. 30, 2021

«FBI Had the REvil Decryption Key» di Bruce Schneier mer, 22 set 2021 https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/09/fbi-had-the-revil-decryption… --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- The Washington Post reports that the FBI had a decryption key for the REvil ransomware, but didn’t pass it along to victims because it would have disrupted an ongoing operation. The key was obtained through access to the servers of the Russia-based criminal gang behind the July attack. Deploying it immediately could have helped the victims, including schools and hospitals, avoid what analysts estimate was millions of dollars in recovery costs. But the FBI held on to the key, with the agreement of other agencies, in part because it was planning to carry out an operation to disrupt the hackers, a group known as REvil, and the bureau did not want to tip them off. Also, a government assessment found the harm was not as severe as initially feared. Fighting ransomware is filled with security trade-offs. This is one I had not previously considered. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Saluti, 380° -- 380° (Giovanni Biscuolo public alter ego) «Noi, incompetenti come siamo, non abbiamo alcun titolo per suggerire alcunché» Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice but very few check the facts. Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>.

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multa di 200mila euro alla Bocconi per gli esami con il 'riconoscimento facciale'
by 380° Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021

Buongiorno, non mi pare sia passato in lista: «Maxi multa di 200mila euro alla Bocconi per gli esami con il 'riconoscimento facciale'» Carmine Ranieri Guarino Giornalista MilanoToday 28 settembre 2021 18:28 https://www.milanotoday.it/attualita/multa-bocconi-esami-privacy.html --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- L'università Bocconi di Milano è stata multata dal garante per la protezione dei dati personali con una sanzione di 200mila euro per l'utilizzo, poco trasparente e non corretto, di un sistema di "controllo" per gli esami a distanza durante i mesi più duri dell'emergenza coronavirus, quando gli Atenei erano stati chiusi e gli studenti erano stati costretti a partecipare agli appelli da casa. [...] Nella sentenza viene infatti sottolineato che "tali sistemi non devono essere indebitamente invasivi e comportare un monitoraggio dello studente eccedente le effettive necessità". Ma soprattutto sono rimarcate tutte le mancanze dell'informativa che gli studenti hanno dovuto accettare dal sito della Bocconi prima di poter sostenere gli esami con i due software di "Respondus Inc". Non vi "è menzione della fotografia scattata dal sistema all'inizio della prova allo studente, cui viene chiesto di esibire un documento d'identità e di effettuare una ripresa panoramica dell'ambiente circostante", ha evidenziato il garante. E ancora: "Il testo non indica gli specifici tempi di conservazione dei dati personali" - cinque anni per il fornitore, uno su richiesta della Bocconi - e "l'informativa non menziona che i dati personali sono oggetto di trasferimento negli Stati Uniti d'America", un problema non di poco conto perché è proprio il garante a sottolineare come il livello di tutela della privacy sia di livello inferiore oltreoceano. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Il provvedimento è del 16 Settembre, questo (non ho ancora avuto modo di leggerlo): https://www.garanteprivacy.it/web/guest/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb… Saluti, 380° -- 380° (Giovanni Biscuolo public alter ego) «Noi, incompetenti come siamo, non abbiamo alcun titolo per suggerire alcunché» Disinformation flourishes because many people care deeply about injustice but very few check the facts. Ask me about <https://stallmansupport.org>.

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Refugees help power machine learning advances at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon - Rest of World
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021

https://restofworld.org/2021/refugees-machine-learning-big-tech/ (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Cloud di stato e software libero
by Marco Ciurcina Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021

Il valore dell’open source per un’Europa digitale indipendente e competitivahttps://innovazione.gov.it/notizie/articoli/il-valore-dell-open-source-per-un-europa-digitale-indipendente-e-competitiva/Inviato da dispositivo mobile.

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Worried About Facial Recognition? Big Tech Wants Your Anal Prints Too
by Alberto Cammozzo Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021

Il futuro del Green Pass? <https://www.thequint.com/tech-and-auto/worried-about-facial-recognition-big…> Privacy concerns related to the implications of facial recognition have been raised several times but you may not have thought much about a very different part of your body being scanned. Sanjiv Gambhir, a Stanford radiologist believes that the future of medicines starts in the bathroom and his lab is leading the way. Gambhir's team has developed a 'smart toilet' that analyses the users’ urine and faeces using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to monitor for diseases, infections or even certain cancers, such as colorectal or urologic cancers. Interestingly, to authenticate your waste with you, the smart toilet scans your 'anal print'. “We know it seems weird, but as it turns out, your anal print is unique,” said Gambhir, senior author of a new study published in /Nature Biomedical Engineering/. [...] Se qualcuno pensa che sia uno scherzo, questo è l'articolo originale in Nature: <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-020-0575-0> <https://sci-hub.se/https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-020-0575-0>

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Tencent Beings Deploying Facial Recognition System To Detect Minors Gaming at Night
by Alberto Cammozzo Sept. 29, 2021

Sept. 29, 2021

<https://www.talkesport.com/news/tencent-beings-deploying-facial-recognition…> Tencent Games, the gaming giant from China with shares in almost every gaming company on the planet is ready to launch one of the most talked-about and controversial surveillance systems to monitor minors gaming secretly at night. Tencent will be updating its gaming platform’s facial recognition and verification system to help and monitor minors and players who spend a significant amount of time gaming online. Tencent’s facial verification will be linked with China’s central public security system and will alert parents and authorities in case someone is found gaming past the midnight 10 p.m. curfew. Tencent dubs the initiative as“Midnight Patrol,” and aims to deter minors from using “tricks” to pose as adults between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. “We will conduct a face screening for accounts registered with real names and that have played for a certain period of time at night. Anyone who refuses or fails the face verification will be treated as a minor, and as outlined in the anti-addiction supervision of Tencent’s game health system, and kicked offline,” said Tencent Games. The system will initially launch in over 60 popular games, including “Honor of Kings” and “Game for Peace.” The company plans to incorporate this feature in every game they offer in China at a later date. The announcement has received mixed reactions from the public, with the younger generation marking it as “desperate news”, while the older generation is celebrating over the feature and calling it a game-changer in China’s drive against gaming addiction.

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Turkey uses facial recognition to spy on millions: report - Stockholm Center for Freedom
by Alberto Cammozzo Sept. 28, 2021

Sept. 28, 2021

<https://stockholmcf.org/turkey-uses-facial-recognition-to-spy-on-millions-r…> The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has added a facial recognition system to its law enforcement arsenal that helps it investigate millions of unsuspecting people on terrorism allegations, Nordic Monitor reported <https://nordicmonitor.com/2021/09/turkey-uses-facial-recognition-to-spy-on-…>, citing police documents. According to an 11-page document dated September 15, 2020, a police department in Turkey’s western province of Aydın used facial recognition software to identify people who had protested a raid on a newspaper in İstanbul that was critical of the government. It was noted in the document that facial recognition software had recently been put into use and helped police identify the people who took part in the demonstration against the crackdown on freedom of the press. A separate communiqué signed by police chief Mehmet Yıldırım revealed that photographs obtained from a man named Zeki Ak showed people protesting in a public space against the police raid on Zaman, at one time Turkey’s most highly circulated mainstream newspaper before a government takeover in March 2016. Yıldırım informed the Aydın Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office that identification of the people who participated in the rally was complete and sent the 11-page report to initiate a criminal investigation into the people.

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