July 2022 - nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Re: [nexa] Could new countries be founded – on the internet? | Sam Venis

by M. Fioretti

On Tue, Jul 05, 2022 13:11:22 PM +0000, Alberto Cammozzo via nexa wrote: > <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/05/ > could-new-countries-be-founded-on-the-internet> > > In The Network State, a buzzy new book by Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief > technology officer of Coinbase, poses a devious question: how do you Larp a > country into existence? Ancora???? Come provocazione intellettual/politica e null'altro, perche' il sistema attuale fa acqua, OK. Ma solo quello. > Central government is simply no longer capable of addressing our needs because > the world for which it was designed has changed. > > The internet, for example, has made place less important, so national borders > seem increasingly arbitrary. Ripeto: Ancora 'ste favole???? Facciamo una cosa (in questo e tutti gli altri casi del genere): provate a sostituire "national borders" con "tazze del cesso, fogne e acqua potabile". Se il risultato vi sembra che regga senza dover diventare tutti entita' incorporee, ne riparliamo. E infatti, qui si parla di comprare terra, mica spazi web: > And with a currency like bitcoin, they could control their own money > supply and protect their funds from encroaching governments. First > they would buy small plots of land, like a national Soho house, and > eventually, they would begin to migrate into chosen cities – > probably to sympathetic jurisdictions like Miami, which, Srinivasan > says, will compete to acquire these brave new digital citizens. Questa roba esiste gia' da decenni, senza nessun bisogno di bitcoin e "acrobazie mentali". Ed e' regolarmente allagata (proprio perche' le bufale le puoi virtualizzare, gli escrementi no, vedi sopra): https://ideas.ted.com/skyscrapers-but-no-sewage-system-meet-a-city-run-by-p… > That a bunch of crypto bros might test their fate on an eccentric leader > doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Far fetched no, ma e' una fregatura. Anche qui, nulla di nuovo, e fa la fine ovvia che merita: https://stop.zona-m.net/2021/09/one-more-proof-that-cyberspace-does-not-exi… > And with over 650,000 Twitter followers – an army of young, tech-savvy and > politically credulous acolytes Appunto: credulous Bah, Marco -- Help me write my NEXT MILLION WORDS for digital awareness: https://stop.zona-m.net/2021/10/funding-2021-2022/

July 5, 2022

Re: [nexa] Could new countries be founded – on the internet? | Sam Venis

by Enrico Nardelli

Grazie Alberto. Mi entusiasma molto di più /Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius/ di Jorge Luis Borges, splendidamente tradotto da Franco Lucentini in Finzioni (Einaudi). Ciao, Enrico Il 05/07/2022 15:11, Alberto Cammozzo via nexa ha scritto: > <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/05/could-new-countries-b…> > > In The Network State, a buzzy new book by Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer of Coinbase, poses a devious question: how do you Larp a country into existence? > > Released provocatively this 4 July, the book presents Srinivasan’s case for a new model of digital statehood run and managed in the cloud. A network state, as he describes it, is basically a group of people who get together on the internet and decide that they’re going to start a country. With a social network to connect them, a leader to unite them, and a cryptocurrency to protect their assets, Srinivasan says a country can be born with laws, social services and all. A network state is a country that “anyone can start from your computer, beginning by building a following” – not unlike companies, cryptocurrencies, or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). In a world where billionaires can run companies larger than countries, Srinivasan asks, could such a state achieve recognition from the United Nations? > > Like all utopian visions, this one, too, is diagnostic – an answer to a growing list of “wicked” social problems like surveillance capitalism, economic stagnation, political polarization, and conflict among great powers. Just when we need leaders to solve our problems, Balaji argues, they are failing, and the reason isn’t just corruption or incompetence – the reason is technological. Central government is simply no longer capable of addressing our needs because the world for which it was designed has changed. > > The internet, for example, has made place less important, so national borders seem increasingly arbitrary. And cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have proven that if enough people believe in the value of an idea you can create something worth trillions of dollars. Software has made it so that a few engineers can outcompete nations (think hacker groups and startups). And, in the age of social networks, millions of anonymous people can fit into groups that act and coordinate together; just look at r/wallstreetbets and Gamestop. > > “Very few institutions that predated the internet will survive the internet,” Srinivasan said recently, in a lecture describing the book. So the solution, he argues, is to build an institution based on it. Here’s how it would work: a person on Twitter decides to start a country so they float the idea to their pals and begin to gather recruits. They put together a vision statement and a list of values, and soon enough people begin to join and tell their friends. It starts off like a social network. > > By pooling their money and lending their skills, the community begins to develop social services and spawn its own mini-culture, providing things like healthcare and insurance and passports and dope parties. With something like a hybrid of Twitter and Discord, they could connect, share ideas, and vote (think up- and down-voting on your favorite legislation). And with a currency like bitcoin, they could control their own money supply and protect their funds from encroaching governments. First they would buy small plots of land, like a national Soho house, and eventually, they would begin to migrate into chosen cities – probably to sympathetic jurisdictions like Miami, which, Srinivasan says, will compete to acquire these brave new digital citizens. > > To make it happen, no wars need to be fought and no laws need to be violated. With rockstar leaders to blaze their path and negotiate on the international stage, these new states would slowly but surely obtain rights and recognition, eventually breaking off from their home countries once and for all. When it works, Srinivasan writes, “it will eventually become a template … the modern version of Jefferson’s natural aristocracy.” First, there was Brexit; then other movements like Wexit; now, a few years later, there’s a new romantic vision of escape for techies – “Texit”? > > When The Network State drops this week it is likely to solicit a number of heated reactions. Some, grumbling about rightwing Silicon Valley figures like Peter Thiel and Curtis Yarvin, will call the ideas of The Network State fascist and tyrannical, and others, likely those on the libertarian right, will call it visionary and scholarly. Srinivasan, you might hear from them, is a soothsayer – a truth-teller. But beneath the posturing there will be a lingering question: is any of this actually possible? > > While the concept might bend our idea of nationality, the fact remains that a lot of precursors already exist. Consider Dudeism, a religion based on a character from the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film, with a reported population of 450,000 Dudeist priests. Or even, as Srinivasan points out, the state of Israel, which brought together a people scattered around the world and organized them around a common ideal. Many countries, Srinivasan says, that are recognized by the UN have populations around five to 10 million people with economies much smaller than what an equal size of tech workers might produce. That a bunch of crypto bros might test their fate on an eccentric leader doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Plus, the tech already exists. > > And with over 650,000 Twitter followers – an army of young, tech-savvy and politically credulous acolytes – Srinivasan might just be the man to do it. There’s an expression that circulates on Twitter about him every so often: that “Balaji was right” is the most terrifying phrase in the English language. Among the crypto-rich and the billionaire class this book will be positioned as a north star, levied to support the long-running claim that technologists can run society better than the bureaucrats. And now, with this book, Srinivasan has given them the framework to prove it. > > What doesn’t fit so neatly into Srinivasan’s vision are little things like death and ageing and sickness. How will poverty be dealt with in a network state? “The future,” he wrote in 2015, “is nationalists vs technologists. A full-throated, jealous defender of borders, language, and culture. Or a rootless cosmopolitan with a laptop, bent on callow disruption.” It’s romantic, sure, but one could ask: what about people that just want a stable job? > > Of course, Srinivasan isn’t the first technologist to offer a tarot reading of our tech-mediated future. In 2019, the theorist Aaron Bastani wrote another popular formulation, this one from the left, explaining how robots will make us all rich. His book Fully Automated Luxury Communism starts with the same general diagnoses: that we’re going into the third industrial revolution, that we’re at an epochal moment of human history, that technology has rendered our systems obsolete. But his conclusion, as the title suggests, is that we need more centralization, not less. Let the robots do our work, the book argues, and let us enjoy the spoils. Hunger, disease, energy crises, jobs – these will all be relics of a scarce and squalid past that came before the age of abundance. The future is the nanny state, Bastani suggests – only better. > > What these visions point to is a growing cleavage among the strange cohort of people who call themselves futurists. On the one hand, there are those who imagine a world of centralization, marked by super-blocs and mass redistribution of wealth. And on the other, there are those who claim that the world already mirrors the feudal systems of yore. In this sort of vision, like the one offered by Balaji Srinivasan, fragmentation is on the docket and rugged individualism is the outstanding moral code. And this book, or better yet, this playbook, is just the first attempt to make it official. > > _______________________________________________ > nexa mailing list > nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it > https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa -- EN ===================================================================== Prof. Enrico Nardelli Presidente di "Informatics Europe" Direttore del Laboratorio Nazionale "Informatica e Scuola" del CINI Dipartimento di Matematica - Università di Roma "Tor Vergata" Via della Ricerca Scientifica snc - 00133 Roma home page:http://www.mat.uniroma2.it/~nardelli blog:http://link-and-think.blogspot.it/ tel: +39 06 7259.4204 fax: +39 06 7259.4699 mobile: +39 335 590.2331 e-mail:nardelli@mat.uniroma2.it online meeting:https://blue.meet.garr.it/b/enr-y7f-t0q-ont ===================================================================== --

July 5, 2022

Could new countries be founded – on the internet? | Sam Venis

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/05/could-new-countries-b…> In The Network State, a buzzy new book by Balaji Srinivasan, the former chief technology officer of Coinbase, poses a devious question: how do you Larp a country into existence? Released provocatively this 4 July, the book presents Srinivasan’s case for a new model of digital statehood run and managed in the cloud. A network state, as he describes it, is basically a group of people who get together on the internet and decide that they’re going to start a country. With a social network to connect them, a leader to unite them, and a cryptocurrency to protect their assets, Srinivasan says a country can be born with laws, social services and all. A network state is a country that “anyone can start from your computer, beginning by building a following” – not unlike companies, cryptocurrencies, or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). In a world where billionaires can run companies larger than countries, Srinivasan asks, could such a state achieve recognition from the United Nations? Like all utopian visions, this one, too, is diagnostic – an answer to a growing list of “wicked” social problems like surveillance capitalism, economic stagnation, political polarization, and conflict among great powers. Just when we need leaders to solve our problems, Balaji argues, they are failing, and the reason isn’t just corruption or incompetence – the reason is technological. Central government is simply no longer capable of addressing our needs because the world for which it was designed has changed. The internet, for example, has made place less important, so national borders seem increasingly arbitrary. And cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have proven that if enough people believe in the value of an idea you can create something worth trillions of dollars. Software has made it so that a few engineers can outcompete nations (think hacker groups and startups). And, in the age of social networks, millions of anonymous people can fit into groups that act and coordinate together; just look at r/wallstreetbets and Gamestop. “Very few institutions that predated the internet will survive the internet,” Srinivasan said recently, in a lecture describing the book. So the solution, he argues, is to build an institution based on it. Here’s how it would work: a person on Twitter decides to start a country so they float the idea to their pals and begin to gather recruits. They put together a vision statement and a list of values, and soon enough people begin to join and tell their friends. It starts off like a social network. By pooling their money and lending their skills, the community begins to develop social services and spawn its own mini-culture, providing things like healthcare and insurance and passports and dope parties. With something like a hybrid of Twitter and Discord, they could connect, share ideas, and vote (think up- and down-voting on your favorite legislation). And with a currency like bitcoin, they could control their own money supply and protect their funds from encroaching governments. First they would buy small plots of land, like a national Soho house, and eventually, they would begin to migrate into chosen cities – probably to sympathetic jurisdictions like Miami, which, Srinivasan says, will compete to acquire these brave new digital citizens. To make it happen, no wars need to be fought and no laws need to be violated. With rockstar leaders to blaze their path and negotiate on the international stage, these new states would slowly but surely obtain rights and recognition, eventually breaking off from their home countries once and for all. When it works, Srinivasan writes, “it will eventually become a template … the modern version of Jefferson’s natural aristocracy.” First, there was Brexit; then other movements like Wexit; now, a few years later, there’s a new romantic vision of escape for techies – “Texit”? When The Network State drops this week it is likely to solicit a number of heated reactions. Some, grumbling about rightwing Silicon Valley figures like Peter Thiel and Curtis Yarvin, will call the ideas of The Network State fascist and tyrannical, and others, likely those on the libertarian right, will call it visionary and scholarly. Srinivasan, you might hear from them, is a soothsayer – a truth-teller. But beneath the posturing there will be a lingering question: is any of this actually possible? While the concept might bend our idea of nationality, the fact remains that a lot of precursors already exist. Consider Dudeism, a religion based on a character from the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film, with a reported population of 450,000 Dudeist priests. Or even, as Srinivasan points out, the state of Israel, which brought together a people scattered around the world and organized them around a common ideal. Many countries, Srinivasan says, that are recognized by the UN have populations around five to 10 million people with economies much smaller than what an equal size of tech workers might produce. That a bunch of crypto bros might test their fate on an eccentric leader doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Plus, the tech already exists. And with over 650,000 Twitter followers – an army of young, tech-savvy and politically credulous acolytes – Srinivasan might just be the man to do it. There’s an expression that circulates on Twitter about him every so often: that “Balaji was right” is the most terrifying phrase in the English language. Among the crypto-rich and the billionaire class this book will be positioned as a north star, levied to support the long-running claim that technologists can run society better than the bureaucrats. And now, with this book, Srinivasan has given them the framework to prove it. What doesn’t fit so neatly into Srinivasan’s vision are little things like death and ageing and sickness. How will poverty be dealt with in a network state? “The future,” he wrote in 2015, “is nationalists vs technologists. A full-throated, jealous defender of borders, language, and culture. Or a rootless cosmopolitan with a laptop, bent on callow disruption.” It’s romantic, sure, but one could ask: what about people that just want a stable job? Of course, Srinivasan isn’t the first technologist to offer a tarot reading of our tech-mediated future. In 2019, the theorist Aaron Bastani wrote another popular formulation, this one from the left, explaining how robots will make us all rich. His book Fully Automated Luxury Communism starts with the same general diagnoses: that we’re going into the third industrial revolution, that we’re at an epochal moment of human history, that technology has rendered our systems obsolete. But his conclusion, as the title suggests, is that we need more centralization, not less. Let the robots do our work, the book argues, and let us enjoy the spoils. Hunger, disease, energy crises, jobs – these will all be relics of a scarce and squalid past that came before the age of abundance. The future is the nanny state, Bastani suggests – only better. What these visions point to is a growing cleavage among the strange cohort of people who call themselves futurists. On the one hand, there are those who imagine a world of centralization, marked by super-blocs and mass redistribution of wealth. And on the other, there are those who claim that the world already mirrors the feudal systems of yore. In this sort of vision, like the one offered by Balaji Srinivasan, fragmentation is on the docket and rugged individualism is the outstanding moral code. And this book, or better yet, this playbook, is just the first attempt to make it official.

July 5, 2022

153° Mercoledì di Nexa | 13 Luglio 2022 | Modalità Telematica

by Nexa Media

Gentilissimi, vi segnaliamo che il 153° Mercoledì di Nexa, /*"I meccanismi di cooperazione e coerenza per la definizione di casi relativi a trattamenti transfrontalieri a quattro anni dall'applicazione del GDPR"*/, con ospite *Monica A. Senor* (Funzionario presso l'Autorità garante per la protezione dei dati personali e Fellow Centro Nexa), si svolgerà *mercoledì 13 luglio*, dalle ore 18.00 alle ore 20.00, in modalità telematica, utilizzando la piattaforma di videoconferenza BigBlueButton. L'Avv. Senor, partendo da un'analisi sul concreto funzionamento dei meccanismi di cooperazione e coerenza e di alcune importanti decisioni su casi transfrontalieri adottate nell'ultimo anno, svilupperà nel corso dell'incontro alcune considerazioni sul tema dell'enforcement del GDPR e sulle sue prospettive future, anche alla luce del pacchetto digitale e sulla strategia dei dati della Commissione europea. Sarà possibile partecipare al seminario connettendosi al seguente indirizzo: https://didattica.polito.it/VClass/NexaEvent Di seguito maggiori dettagli sull'incontro: Nexa Center for Internet and Society Newsletter Se non visualizzi correttamente questo messaggio clicca qui <https://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-153> NEXA 153° Mercoledì di Nexa Mercoledì 13 luglio 2022, ore 18.00 - 20.00 Politecnico di Torino https://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi-153 I meccanismi di cooperazione e coerenza per la definizione di casi relativi a trattamenti transfrontalieri di dati personali a quattro anni dall'applicazione del GDPR Speaker Avv. Monica A. Senor (Funzionario presso l’Autorità garante per la protezione dei dati personali e Fellow Centro Nexa) This event will be webcast live: https://nexa.polito.it/nexa-hangout-on-air L'INCONTRO SI SVOLGERÀ IN MODALITÀ TELEMATICA UTILIZZANDO IL SOFTWARE DI CONFERENCE CALL *BIGBLUEBUTTON*. Per partecipare all'incontro: https://didattica.polito.it/VClass/NexaEvent Il *Regolamento UE 2016/679 (GDPR)* ha introdotto nell’ordinamento unionale un innovativo sistema di ripartizione delle competenze tra autorità di controllo per la definizione di *casi relativi a trattamenti transfontalieri di dati personali* basato sul principio del one-stop-shop. Il sistema è regolato da due procedure amministrative (cd. meccanismi) che disciplinano la cooperazione tra autorità di controllo e tra autorità e il Comitato europeo per la protezione dei dati personali (EDPB). Il quadro normativo così strutturato, unico nel suo genere in quanto comporta l’abdicazione di una porzione di sovranità nazionale da parte dei singoli Stati membri, periodicamente crea momenti di tensione a livello politico e solleva dubbi sulla reale efficacia del sistema a garantire la tutela effettiva del diritto fondamentale (art. 8 della Carta dei diritti fondamentali UE) alla protezione dei dati personali. Partendo da un’analisi sul concreto funzionamento dei due meccanismi e di alcune importanti decisioni su casi transfrontalieri adottate nell’ultimo anno, nel corso dell’incontro verranno sviluppate alcune considerazioni sul tema dell’*enforcement del GDPR* e sulle sue prospettive future, anche alla luce del pacchetto digitale e sulla strategia dei dati della Commissione europea. BIOGRAFIA - e informazioni supplementari [mercoledì153] *Monica A. SENOR.* Former criminal lawyer specializing in privacy, data protection, ICT law and digital forensics, Monica A. Senor has been a member of the staff of the Italian Supervisory Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) since December 2018. She is fellow of the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at the Politecnico di Torino (DAUIN), an indipendent research center focusing on interdisciplinary analysis of the force of the Internet and of its impact on society. She is the author or co-author of many publications, including online reviews (Medialaws.eu, ictsecuritymagazine.com, AgendaDigitale.eu), scientific journals and law textbooks (edited by Egea, Giappichelli, Springer, UTET Giuridica and Aracne publishing houses). *Letture consigliate e link utili:* * EDPB /Statement on enforcement cooperation/, Link <https://edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2022-04/edpb_statement_20220428_on_enfo…> * EDPB /Binding decision 1/2021 on the dispute arisen on the draft decision of the Irish Supervisory Authority regarding WhatsApp Ireland under Article 65(1)(a) GDPR/, Link <https://edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2021-09/edpb_bindingdecision_202101_ie_…> * /Décision sur le fond 21/2022 du 2 février 2022 (IAB Europe)/, Link <https://www.autoriteprotectiondonnees.be/publications/decision-quant-au-fon…> * EDPS /speech at the “Future of Data Protection: Effective Enforcement in the Digital World/, Link <https://edps.europa.eu/system/files/2022-06/2022-06-17-edps-conference-spee…> * EDPB /Statement on the Digital Services Package and Data Strategy/, Link <https://edpb.europa.eu/system/files/2021-11/edpb_statement_on_the_digital_s…> Che cosa sono il Centro Nexa e i cicli di incontri “Mercoledì di Nexa” e “Nexa Lunch Seminar” <https://www.facebook.com/nexa.center/> <https://twitter.com/nexacenter> <https://www.youtube.com/user/NexaCenter> <https://www.instagram.com/nexa_center/> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/3054864/admin/> #nexawednesday <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nexawednesday&src=typd> #MonicaASenor <https://twitter.com/MASenor> #EDPB <https://twitter.com/EU_EDPB> #EDPS <https://twitter.com/EU_EDPS> Il Centro Nexa su Internet & Società del Politecnico di Torino (Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica) dal 2006 è un centro di ricerca indipendente e interdisciplinare che, in collaborazione con l'Università di Torino, studia Internet (e più in generale le Tecnologie digitali) e i suoi rapporti con la società. Maggiori informazioni all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/about. Durante i “*Mercoledì di Nexa*”, che si tengono *ogni 2° mercoledì del mese* alle *ore 18 in punto*, il Centro Nexa su Internet e Società apre le sue porte non solo agli esperti e a tutti coloro i quali lavorano con Internet, ma anche a semplici appassionati e cittadini. Il ciclo di incontri intende approfondire, con un linguaggio preciso ma accessibile, i temi legati alla Rete: motori di ricerca, Creative Commons, social networks, open source/software libero, neutralità della rete, libertà di espressione, privacy, file sharing, big e open data, smart cities e molto altro. Al centro di quasi tutti gli incontri un ospite pronto a dialogare con i direttori del Centro Nexa, il Prof. Juan Carlos De Martin del Politecnico di Torino e il Prof. Marco Ricolfi dell'Università di Torino, nonché lo staff e i Fellows del Centro Nexa. Maggiori informazioni sui Mercoledì di Nexa, incluso un elenco di tutti i “Mercoledì” passati, sono disponibili all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/mercoledi. Si segnala inoltre che dal maggio 2012 *ogni 4° mercoledì* del mese *dalle ore 13 alle ore 14* il Centro Nexa organizza anche i "*Nexa Lunch Seminar*". Una lista di tutti i “Lunch Seminar” passati è disponibile all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/lunch-seminars. See our events calendar <http://nexa.polito.it/events> if you're curious about future luncheons, discussions, lectures, and conferences not listed in this email. Our events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Responsabile Comunicazione Centro Nexa su Internet & Società: *Anita Botta*, tel: +39 011 090 7219, Mob: +39 347 131 3903, anita.botta(a)polito.it. Maggiori informazioni sui Mercoledì di Nexa e i Nexa Lunch Seminar, sono disponibili all'indirizzo: http://nexa.polito.it/events. Weekly Events Newsletter. Sign up <http://nexa.polito.it/mailing-lists> to receive this newsletter if this email was forwarded to you. To manage your subscription preferences, please click here <https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa>. Connect & get involved: Jobs, internships, and more <http://nexa.polito.it/get-involved>. Cordiali saluti, -- Anita Botta Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino – DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino web: https://nexa.polito.it/ mail: anita.botta(a)polito.it tel: 011 090 7219

July 5, 2022

Re: [nexa] Engineer writes biometric code to ID anonymous faces in Holocaust photos

by M. Fioretti

On Mon, Jul 04, 2022 16:22:17 PM +0200, Alberto Cammozzo via nexa wrote: > <https://www.biometricupdate.com/202207/ > engineer-writes-biometric-code-to-id-anonymous-faces-in-holocaust-photos> > > Google engineer Daniel Patt claims to have created facial recognition software > that can identify unidentified faces in photos from prewar Europe and the > Holocaust by linking them to people living today. "I have a bad feeling about this..." Marco -- Help me write my NEXT MILLION WORDS for digital awareness: https://stop.zona-m.net/2021/10/funding-2021-2022/

July 4, 2022

Engineer writes biometric code to ID anonymous faces in Holocaust photos

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.biometricupdate.com/202207/engineer-writes-biometric-code-to-id…> Google engineer Daniel Patt claims to have created facial recognition software that can identify unidentified faces in photos from prewar Europe and the Holocaust by linking them to people living today. Dubbed From Numbers to Names (N2N) <https://numberstonames.org/>, Patt says the project came together as he tried to help his grandmother find photos of family members killed by Nazis. “I started this project after visiting the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland, in 2016,” Patt told The Times of Israel <https://www.timesofisrael.com/google-engineer-identifies-anonymous-faces-in…> earlier this month. “I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had potentially walked past a photo of a family member without even knowing it. I’m the grandson of Holocaust survivors, all from Poland,” he says. The N2N software is free at the time of this writing. It works by returning the 10 best potential matches from within the 34,000-photo database in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s photographs collection. “We make no software-based assertions about identifications and leave this judgment to individuals using the site,” Patt explained. “We simply show results with similarity scores, and let individuals decide whether the results contain a positive identification.” The engineer also said there are nearly 1 million additional photos that can be used to improve the scope and quality of the tool. N2N started as Patt’s solo project, but it attracted engineers, data scientists and researchers, now a small technical team expanding the project’s scope. “From Numbers to Names provides a new way to explore Holocaust photo and video archives through AI,” reads the N2N site. N2N team members have said they would like the project to become a vehicle for Holocaust education and a way to give students an opportunity to directly contribute to the historical record. “Students can use the software to help identify faces and artifacts in photo and video archives and potentially discover new connections between living Holocaust descendants and their ancestors,” said Patt. The software has already been used to identify a few individuals including the mother of Canadian prog rocker Geddy Lee. <https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/tech-and-start-ups/article-71…> Effective face biometric databases can take on a number of humanitarian and historical roles. The Holocaust Memorial Museum holds photos <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/newly-released-photos-may-place-d…> alleged to show a German extermination camp guard, who, through biometric sleuthing, appeared to be a German post-war immigrant to the United States. In another example, the Australian Federal Police and Monash University recently entered a new collaboration aimed at creating an ethically-sourced face biometrics database <https://www.biometricupdate.com/202206/ailecs-lab-to-create-ethically-sourc…> to combat child exploitation.

July 4, 2022

Re: [nexa] ‘Eventually it will just be a barcode, won’t it?’ Why Britain’s new stamps are causing outrage and upset | Society | The Guardian

by 380°

Buongiorno, vedo che l'annuncio della Royal Mail è di Febbraio: https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/02/02/royal-mail-unveils-new-stamps-with… --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- A pattern similar to a QR code will appear next to the iconic portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. It can be scanned using the Royal Mail app. "The introduction of unique barcodes on our postage stamps allows us to connect the physical letter to the digital world," said Nick Landon, the group's commercial director, said in a statement. While it will improve "operational efficiency," the new generation stamp will also provide "additional security features and open the door to innovative services," the company said. The barcoded stamps will have a "digital twin" linked by the Royal Mail app. [...] Stamps with similar barcodes exist in other countries including France on international stamps and Germany, where trackable stamps went on sale in February 2021. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- «allows us to connect the physical letter to the digital world» Credo che ci sia poco da aggiungere, chiaro no?!? Non è per nulla chiaro se le "additional security features" (cosa non si fa per la nostra sicurezza, eh!) comporteranno - prima o poi - l'obbligo di identificazione del mittente attraverso la app "digital twin", così il cerchio si chiuderebbe, definitivamente. Alberto Cammozzo via nexa <nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it> writes: > <https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/04/eventually-it-will-just-be-…> [...] --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- Gold says the codes mean Royal Mail can track all letters, allowing it to better monitor, predict and respond to regional changes in demand, for example. He is also confident the unique codes will stop the fraudulent washing of postmark ink and resale of used stamps – a crime that he claims costs Royal Mail “tens of millions” of pounds a year. --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- Ah ecco, ci sono di mezzo anche frodi per decine di milioni, è chiaro. 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>.

July 4, 2022

‘Eventually it will just be a barcode, won’t it?’ Why Britain’s new stamps are causing outrage and upset | Society | The Guardian

by Alberto Cammozzo

<https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/04/eventually-it-will-just-be-…> [...] In February, Royal Mail introduced a new design for its standard stamps, which have changed so little since the launch of the Penny Black in 1840 that they are officially known as “definitives”. The new stamps – “plum purple” for first class, “holly green” for second – still feature the same regal profile introduced more than 50 years ago. But what is most bothering purists – and leading Johnson to the brink of direct action – is the addition next to the Queen of a digital barcode. The rectangular codes – which look like QR codes but are apparently not QR codes, which are a particular, and trademarked, kind of code – are designed are designed to stop counterfeiting and to enable the tracking of all letters to improve efficiency. Correspondents will soon be able to share photo or video messages by linking digital content to their coded stamps. Recipients will view it via the Royal Mail app [...] From 1 February 2023, only the new stamps will be accepted. Any old stamps must be used before then or traded in. Christmas and other themed special stamps will remain valid indefinitely. Swapping definitives, which can still be done after the deadline, is free but will involve downloading and printing a form, or requesting one by phone or letter, and posting it to Royal Mail along with the old stamps. Royal Mail describes the change as a postal “reinvention” that connects stamps to the digital world for a new generation. “But the whole point of my society was to give us a break from having to be engaged with digital content,” says Johnson, 49, from her home in Swanage in Dorset. [...]

July 4, 2022

Worker-Owned Apps Are Redefining the Sharing Economy | WIRED

by J.C. DE MARTIN

Worker-Owned Apps Are Redefining the Sharing Economy As Uber and its ilk face high prices, increased regulation, and labor shortages, a new cooperative model is thriving. https://www.wired.com/story/gig-economy-worker-owned-apps/ (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

July 2, 2022

Re: [nexa] Crypto: 'Blockchain is hype' – MPs warnedui

by Giacomo Tesio

Ciao Roberto, Enrico e Nexa On Thu, 30 Jun 2022 19:34:47 +0000 Roberto Dolci wrote: > non e' detto che vada nell'uno o nell'altro modo dal punto di vista tecnico, la blockchain non funziona. Non solo: non può funzionare, per il teorema CAP e per moltissime altre ragioni che sono già state enumerate innumerevoli volte su questa lista. > i piu' grandi fondi di investimento, dagli arabi ai norvegesi... seguono l'hype, per nulla interessati alla solidità del sottostante. Non è la prima volta e non sarà l'ultima. Del resto, in una miope prospettiva individuale, può persino sembrare razionale: la gente "investe" dove _crede_ che potrà guadagnare. E' la ragione del successo di ogni singolo schema Ponzi. E i fondi vanno dove _credono_ che la gente "investirà". Giacomo

July 2, 2022