January 2022 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

"Generative AI" paper and talk by Alexandre Gefen
by maurizio lana Jan. 28, 2022

Jan. 28, 2022

chi si iscrive all'evento riceve il link al paper di Gefen "AI: a Deep History" che si apre con questo abstract: Artificial Intelligence must be considered as a total cultural question and not only as a technological advance. This is a project of the CulturIA team funded by the French National Research Agency that I launched in January. In this presentation, I will show that it is particularly necessary to make the long history of AI, exploring both the complex advance of science and the myths and fictions of AI, which go back to the most remote antiquity. sono prospettive che sono circolate spesso qui in lista nel dibattito sui sistemi di IA la prospettiva francese potrebbe portare spunti nuovi ad una riflessone che vede dominante il contesto culturale anglofono/angloamericano. Maurizio ---------------------------------------------------------- "GENERATIVE AI" Tuesday, February 1, 2022, 3:30-5:00 (U.S. Pacific time) Transcriptions Center (South Hall 2509), or attend through Zoom Open to all EVENT DESCRIPTION At this hybrid in-person and virtual event (open to all) on "Generative AI," Alexandre Gefen will be present in person to discuss his pre-circulated paper on "AI: a Deep History," followed by responses by Professors Fabian Offert (Germanic & Slavic Studies, UC Santa Barbara) and Rita Raley (English, UC Santa Barbara). Alexandre Gefen – Director of Research at the French CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research) Theory and History of Modern Art and Literature Unit UMR7172, THALIM, CNRS / Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3) – is a historian of ideas and literature. He is the author of numerous articles and essays on culture, contemporary literature and literary theory. Founder of Fabula.org, he was one of the pioneers of Digital Humanities in France. He discovered the uses of AI for research (word vectors, topic modeling) at the Stanford Literary Lab as part of the project "For an empirical history of literature", Transatlantic program for collaborative work in the field of digital humanities, which he co-sponsored with Franco Moretti (FMSH Paris-Fellon Foundation). Following on his directorship of a research program devoted to the fictions of Artificial Intelligence (ia-fictions.net) he is now the principal investigator of the ANR project "CulturIA, for a cultural history of AI". The event is organized by the Comparative Literature Program and the English Department's Transcriptions Center at UC Santa Barbara. It is open to all, and can be attended in person or through Zoom (see below). PRE-CIRCULATED PAPER "AI: a Deep History" – By Alexandre Gefen (pre-circulated by request or through event registration; see below) Abstract: Artificial Intelligence must be considered as a total cultural question and not only as a technological advance. This is a project of the CulturIA team funded by the French National Research Agency that I launched in January. In this presentation, I will show that it is particularly necessary to address the long history of AI, exploring both the complex advance of science and the myths and fictions of AI, which go back to the most remote antiquity. Respondents: Fabian Offert and Rita Raley (https://zentralwerkstatt.org/, http://raley.english.ucsb.edu/) EVENT LOCATION (& SIMULTANEOUS ZOOM MEETING) The Generative AI event will take place in the Transcriptions Center, South Hall 2509, on Tuesday Feb. 1, 2022, with Alexandre physically present. In awareness that on that date the UCSB campus will be transitioning back from remote activities to in-person instruction and other events, we also welcome participation by campus and worldwide participants through a simultaneous, real-time Zoom meeting (advance registration required). The audience may thus choose to attend in person or online. To receive a copy of Alexandre Gefen's pre-circulated paper, please take one of the following steps depending on whether you plan to be at the event in person or through Zoom: * For in-person participants: please send a request by email directly to ayliu(a)ucsb.edu <mailto:ayliu@ucsb.edu> (with a cc: to rrbaker(a)ucsb.edu <mailto:rrbaker@ucsb.edu>). * For Zoom participants: please register for the simultaneous, real-time Zoom meeting. Once approved by the event organizers (there may be a delay), you will receive an email with instructions for joining the Zoom and also a passcode (look for the passcode at the bottom of the email). The event organizers will also send you a copy of Alexandre Gefen's pre-circulated paper. Register for the Zoom meeting here: https://ucsb.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAof-yoqD8oG9XPgX271yIdofI2c3wlOXvL <https://ucsb.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAof-yoqD8oG9XPgX271yIdofI2c3wlOXvL> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |mural of Giulio Regeni in Mohammed Mahmoud Street, Cairo the source is https://alwafd.news/images/thumbs/752/new/027f918bb62bf148193d5920ca67ded7.… the meaning of the place https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20395260| ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maurizio Lana Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici Università del Piemonte Orientale piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli tel. +39 347 7370925

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"The Worker as a Data Subject: Resources for Data Protection Day"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 28, 2022

Jan. 28, 2022

*The Worker as a Data Subject: Resources for Data Protection Day* Jeremias Adams-Prassl /Professor of Law// //Oxford University/ Since 2006, the Council of Europe has celebrated 28 January as Data Protection Day—known globally as Privacy Day. Data processing now impacts on many spheres of life. One of these is employment: increases in the scale and ease of data processing have led to a sharp increase in employers’ use of algorithmic management tools, which facilitate hitherto inconceivable worker surveillance and analysis and enable the automation of functions that were once carried out by HR. To help raise awareness of data protection at work, the team at iManage—Halefom Abraha, Aislinn Kelly-Lyth, and Prof Jeremias Adams-Prassl—have brought together ten resources examining this new phenomenon through a data protection lens. As the GDPR enters its fourth year of application, these papers provide a great starting point for stakeholders to understand and address data protection issues around AI systems in the workplace. We explore these and related challenges in the course of our weekly Algorithms at Work Discussion group (held in hybrid format)—if you are interested in joining, please get in touch. And, most importantly: Happy Data Protection Day! [...] continua qui: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2022/01/worker-data-subject…

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Qualcuno sta rubando la nostra attenzione
by Antonio Iacono Jan. 28, 2022

Jan. 28, 2022

Tradotto in italiano per Internazionale [1] l'articolo di Johann Hari apparso sul Guardian ad inizio mese [2]. Un tratto dell'articolo è stato letto stamattina nel corso della rubrica "Pagina 3" di Radio Tre [3] A. [1] https://www.internazionale.it/magazine/johann-hari/2022/01/27/qualcuno-sta-… [2] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screen… [3] https://www.raiplaysound.it/audio/2022/01/Pagina-3-del-28012022-9b4ade83-6c…

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Harmonising Artificial Intelligence OXIL authors explore the role of standards in the EU AI regulation
by don Luca Peyron Jan. 28, 2022

Jan. 28, 2022

Mi pare non sia passato in lista, buona lettura dl https://oxcaigg.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2021/12/Harmonisi… _________________________ don Luca Peyron Direttore Ufficio per la Pastorale Universitaria Arcidiocesi di Torino www.universitari.to.it via XX settembre 83, Torino tel. 011 5156239

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A bug lurking for 12 years gives attackers root on most major Linux distros
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 27, 2022

Jan. 27, 2022

Since 2009, pkexec has contained a memory-corruption vulnerability that people with limited control of a vulnerable machine can exploit to escalate privileges all the way to root. Exploiting the flaw is trivial and, by some accounts, 100 percent reliable. Attackers who already have a toehold on a vulnerable machine can abuse the vulnerability to ensure a malicious payload or command runs with the highest system rights available. PwnKit, as researchers are calling the vulnerability, is also exploitable even if the Polkit daemon itself isn’t running. PwnKit was discovered by researchers from security firm Qualys in November and was disclosed on Tuesday after being patched in most Linux distributions. PwnKit is tracked as CVE-2021-4034. [...] Major Linux distributors have released patches for the vulnerability, and security professionals are strongly urging administrators to prioritize installing the patch. Those who can’t patch immediately should use the chmod 0755 /usr/bin/pkexec command to remove the SUID-bit from pkexec, which prevents it from running as root when executed by a non-privileged user. Advisories from Debian, Ubuntu, and Red Hat are here, here, and here. Those who want to know if the vulnerability has been exploited on their systems can check for log entries that say either “The value for the SHELL variable was not found the /etc/shells file” or “The value for environment variable […] contains suspicious content.” Qualys, however, cautioned people that PwnKit is also exploitable without leaving any traces. Continua su https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/01/a-bug-lurking-for-12… Insomma non temete: dopo 12 anni dalla sua introduzione, questa vulnerabilità è stata corretta entro poche ore dalla propria diffusione pubblica. Giacomo

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Google's Topics API: Rebranding FLoC Without Addressing Key Privacy Issues
by Stefano Traverso Jan. 27, 2022

Jan. 27, 2022

Condivisibilissima critica di Brave alle Topics APIs annunciate da G per Chrome. ‘This isn’t a debate about whether “Topics API is better than FLoC,” or vice versa. […] Choosing the lesser of two evils is no choice at all.’ https://brave.com/web-standards-at-brave/7-googles-topics-api/ Ciao, Stefano -- [signature_79922475] Stefano Traverso, PhD Research Lead Ermes – Intelligent Web Protection www.ermes.company<https://www.ermes.company/> Mobile : +39 331 455 9794

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"Commission puts forward declaration on digital rights and principles for everyone in the EU"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 26, 2022

Jan. 26, 2022

Today, the Commission is proposing to the European Parliament and Council to sign up to a declaration <https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news-redirect/733938> of rights and principles that will guide the digital transformation in the EU. The draft declaration on digital rights and principles aims to give everyone a clear reference point about the kind of digital transformation Europe promotes and defends. It will also provide a guide for policy makers and companies when dealing with new technologies. The rights and freedoms enshrined in the EU's legal framework, and the European values expressed by the principles, should be respected online as they are offline. Once jointly endorsed, the Declaration will also define the approach to the digital transformation which the EU will promote throughout the world. Executive Vice-President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, Margrethe*Vestager*, said: /“We want safe technologies that work for people, and that respect our rights and values. Also when we are online. And we want everyone to be empowered to take an active part in our increasingly digitised societies. This declaration gives us a clear reference point to the rights and principles for the online world.”/ Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry*Breton*, said: “/We want Europeans to know: living, studying, working, doing business in Europe, you can count on top class connectivity, seamless access to public services, a safe and fair digital space. The declaration of digital rights and principles also establishes once and for all that what is illegal offline should also be illegal online. We also aim to promote these principles as a standard for the world./” [...] continua qui: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_452

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Appalti di innovazione in Italia: strumenti ed esperienze
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 26, 2022

Jan. 26, 2022

Scusandomi per lo scarso preavviso, vi segnalo questo webminar che si terrà oggi alle 15.30. Sono certo che molti qui potrebbero contribuire al discorso. Appalti di innovazione: una priorità per l’Europa, su cui il nostro Paese non ha ancora espresso al massimo il proprio potenziale. Tra le criticità principali, una forte disomogeneità nella capacità delle diverse regioni di fare ricorso a soluzioni innovative. Eppure gli strumenti ci sono, basta sapere come utilizzarli al meglio. E un ruolo potrà giocarlo anche il PNRR. Con Guglielmo de Gennaro dell'Agenzia per l'Italia digitale (AgID) discuteremo di opportunità e potenzialità del settore, dialogando con Salvatore Tufano che condividerà l’esperienza della Società Regionale per la Sanità (Soresa) Campania, che nel 2018 con AgID e Regione Campania ha stipulato un protocollo di intesa con l'obiettivo di favorire il ricorso agli appalti d'innovazione e pre-commerciali in particolare nei settori dell’ICT e della sanità digitale. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7916400766052/WN_z4avgTIWRmWkL2BAC… Giacomo

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Digitalizzare la PA rispettando la privacy? Un'iniziativa dalla Francia nel settore dell'educazione
by Enrico Nardelli Jan. 26, 2022

Jan. 26, 2022

https://www.cnil.fr/fr/la-cnil-propose-un-nouveau-bac-sable-pour-accompagne… -- EN ===================================================================== Prof. Enrico Nardelli Dipartimento di Matematica - Universita' di Roma "Tor Vergata" Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc - 00133 Roma tel: +39 06 7259.4204 fax: +39 06 7259.4699 mobile: +39 335 590.2331 e-mail: nardelli(a)mat.uniroma2.it home page: http://www.mat.uniroma2.it/~nardelli blog: http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/blog/enardelli/ http://link-and-think.blogspot.it/ ===================================================================== --

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chi è un tech worker? un cittadino digitale?
by 380° Jan. 25, 2022

Jan. 25, 2022

Buongiorno nexiane, https://t.me/twc_ita/529 (canale Telegram di Tech Workers Coalition Italia aka TWC Italia): --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Ma quindi chi è un tech worker? Se lo chiede Rachel Kraus sulle pagine di Mashable, magazine solitamente più interessato ai nuovi telefoni di Apple che non a domanda di questo tipo. Intervistando la nostra Clarissa Redwine, raccolgono la nostra stessa conclusione: bisogna organizzare tecnici, creativi, personale di servizio e tutte le altre categorie di lavoratori impiegati nel mondo della tecnologia, rompendo le divisioni inventate dai manager per renderci più deboli. [...] https://mashable.com/article/tech-union-organizing --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Nota: IMHO potete anche fare a meno di leggere l'articolo su Mashable (io a metà l'ho mollato, roba già trita e ritrita mi pare) chi è "tech worker" me lo chiedo anche io da un sacco di tempo e, mi perdonino gli organizzatori di TWC Italia e i sindacalisti, ho la netta sensazione che non solo classificare i lavoratori in "tech" e "non tech" sia fuorviante ma è anche fuorviante classificare i cittadini in lavoratori e non lavoratori... sempre, ma in particolar modo quando si parla del ruolo della tecnologia nell'amministrare le nostre vite sulla pagina principale di https://twc-italia.org/ si legge: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Siamo programmatrici, rider, magazzinieri, ingegneri, sistemiste, grafici, copywriter, personale di servizio e di cucina. Siamo persone di ogni età, genere e livello di esperienza. Senza di noi l’industria della tecnologia non esisterebbe [...] Organizziamo i lavoratori e le lavoratrici del settore tecnologico per conquistare maggiori diritti e migliori condizioni di lavoro, per noi e per tutti. Vogliamo ridefinire come la tecnologia viene prodotta, da chi e per quali scopi. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Anche solo limitandosi ai lavoratori, perché un addetto al servizio di cucina delle mense scolastiche o universitarie sarebbe escluso dai "tech worker"? Perché un magazziniere di Amazon è tech worker mentre uno di Esselunga no? E un sistemista di un'azienda casearia? Inoltre, faccio notare quanto in realtà sia ESTREMAMENTE più delicato l'impatto della tecnologia sulle condizioni di lavoro di /altri/ lavoratori, tra i quali per esempio insegnanti (e i loro studenti) e medici (e i loro pazienti) Ma SOPRATTUTTO: perché dovrebbero essere i tech workers a "ridefinire come la tecnologia viene prodotta, da chi e per quali scopi"? E gli altri dovrebbero /limitarsi/ a utilizzarla, in silenzio? Queste (banali?) considerazioni mi servono soprattutto per sottolineare il fatto che tutte le ricerche svolte sulle condizioni dei cosidetti tech workers e in generale di tutti i lavoratori DEVONO valere (con le debite e /facili/ trasposizioni concettuali) per tutti i cittadini Ad esempio, semrpe TWC Italia rilancia questo sudio: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Lavoro: la sorveglianza digitale sul lavoro indotta dal CoViD-19 non ha precedenti, e sta riconfigurando in modo preoccupante e silenzioso i rapporti di potere sui luoghi di lavoro. Questo è quanto emerge da uno studio accademico: che venga esercitata tramite dispositivi indossabili sui lavoratori e lavoratrici in presenza, o programmi che monitorano l'attività svolta - dal monitoraggio dei siti visitati fino al tracciamento dello sguardo - su chi lavora in remoto, la sorveglianza sta creando un pericoloso precedente le cui conseguenze peggiori possono essere evitate solo tramite il dibattito sociale, la legge e l'alfabetizzazione digitale. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ilr.12219 --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- (via https://t.me/twc_ita/528) Lo studio indicato sopra è intitolato «Essentialjobs, remote workand digital surveillance: addressing the COVID-19 pandemic panopticon» e in introduzione recita tra l'altro: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- However, all these actions found a surrogate promptly offered by digital means, especially but not exclusively in the world of work. It is undisputed that new technologies have largely benefitted from forced isolation and are likely to play an ever more pervasive role in workplaces and society at large. An instant effect has been a powerful digital acceleration, which could have taken decades to occur. Predominantly described as a magnifierof pre-existing movements, the pandemic should be therefore regardedas a window into some possible futures of work, arrived sooner than anticipatedand causing growing anxiety. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- ecco: nel brano sopra provate a sostituire i concetti "work" con "citizenship" e "workplaces" con "social relationships" [1]: il risultato non è forse più accademicamente utile e socialmente efficace? credo che questi ragionamenti valgano anche per risorse come «Boss ex machina» https://bossexmachina.ie.edu/ et al --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Today, cyber-physical devices make it possible to implement new practices of organizing, executing, monitoring and evaluating employees’ performance – in each and every industry. These tools determine a “genetic mutation” of prerogatives legitimately exercised by employers, managers, coworkers and clients in workplaces driven by machines, AI and online platforms.‪ ‪Management by algorithms and workforce analytics are salient instantiations of widespread evidence-based human resources models, which can be lumped together under the definition of “boss ex machina”, a modern calque from the intriguing Latin expression “God from the machine”. ‪‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- anche qui provate a sostituire i termini legati al lavoro con quelli legati alla cittadinanza (es. "monitoring and evaluating" [2] dei cittadini, come nei sistemi di social scoring) penso che gli studi sul - e le lotte nel - mondo del lavoro dovrebbero essere "rifocalizzate", evitando di auto-sottoporsi (come una sorta di autocensura, per non fare troppo casino) al "dividi et impera" di antica memoria penso anche che tali studi non dovrebbero prescindere da una sufficiente analisi della storia e mitologia dell'automazione cibernetica, come giustamente suggerito da Maurizio Lana ieri: https://server-nexa.polito.it/pipermail/nexa/2022-January/023065.html Saluti, 380° [1] tra l'altro, faccio sommessamente notare che è praticamente ovvio che la stragrande maggioranza dei datori di lavoro stanno subendo /notevoli/ pressioni socioeconomiche per essere /spinti/ (attraverso sofisticate tecniche di nudging) ad adottare di "propria sponte" misure /tecnologiche/ - nel 99% dei casi fuori dal proprio diretto controllo - per la sorveglianza (più precisamente il "captunring") dei propri collaboratori [2] cioè "capturing" -- 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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