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Harvard: "Overcoming inequality by improving Internet access"
by J.C. DE MARTIN July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014

Overcoming inequality by improving Internet access July 22, 2014 --- Health and wealth are intimately connected. In the United States, people with lower incomes and less education are more likely to smoke <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/topic/tobacco/>, to be overweight <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/topic/obesity/>, and to be less healthy <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/topic/health-disparities/>. One reason for this may be the divide between the ways in which people from different classes access and are exposed to health-related information. "If you are in a higher socioeconomic position, you are more likely to know about and better understand health risk factors, and to have the capacity to act on this information," said K. "Vish" Viswanath <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/kasisomayajula-viswanath/>/,/ professor of health communication at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), in a July 15, 2014 "Hot Topics" lecture. Lower income people have less access to all types of media, Viswanath said, and greater exposure to advertising for unhealthy products <http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/food-e…> such as tobacco and fast food. This information environment can affect their health in a variety of ways, such as influencing their beliefs about healthy behavior and limiting their ability to make informed decisions about medical treatments. Viswanath identified a potential way to bridge the health information divide: Treat access to the Internet as a right and provide subsidies for those unable to pay. Despite the seeming ubiquity of smartphones, only 70% of low-income people have Internet access, Viswanath said, and even that number may be an overstatement. Poor people who get online are often unable to keep up with the bill and are cut off--- losing access to a key tool for participating in modern life. [...] Continua qui: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/overcoming-inequality-by-improvin…

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Vittoria in Italia: il tribunale dichiara Wikipedia “un servizio basato sulla libertà degli utenti”
by J.C. DE MARTIN July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014

*Vittoria in Italia: il tribunale dichiara Wikipedia “un servizio basato sulla libertà degli utenti”* La scorsa settimana, la comunità di Wikimedia ha ottenuto dal tribunale italiano una vittoria fragorosa. Per oltre quattro anni, Wikimedia Foundation e Wikimedia Italia[1] sono state coinvolte in una causa avviata dal politico italiano Antonio Angelucci e suo figlio, Giampaolo. Gli Angelucci chiedevano a Wikimedia Foundation €20.000.000 per affermazioni presumibilmente diffamatorie, che comparivano su due pagine in lingua italiana di Wikipedia. Il 9 luglio 2014 il Tribunale Civile di Roma ha emesso la sua sentenza in relazione a Wikimedia Foundation, archiviando il caso dichiarando che la Fondazione non è legalmente responsabile per i contenuti che gli utenti caricano liberamente sui progetti Wikimedia. Ad ogni modo, la vittoria, ha delle ripercussioni più profonde del caso in questione. La sentenza costituisce il primo e completo riconoscimento della posizione di Wikimedia in Italia [2]e la sentenza stessa ha spianato la strada a una maggiore tutela della libera comunicazione su Internet nell’ordinamento giuridico italiano. [...] Continua qui: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/07/22/victory-in-italy-based-on-freedom-of-…

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Intermediary Liability News from Italy: Courts block Mega and Mail.ru and Force YouTube to Proactively Monitor its Platform for Copyright Infringement | Center for Internet and Society
by vale.it.newsletters＠gmail.com July 23, 2014

July 23, 2014

https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2014/07/intermediary-liability-news-ital… > In the last few days, Italian courts have been busy tackling online copyright infringement and sanctioning platforms that allegedly facilitate infringement. A criminal court in Rome blocked access in Italy to several websites for copyright infringement, including Mega, the new Kim Dotcom’s cloud storage service, and the Russian Internet giant Mail.ru. Meanwhile, the civil Court of Turin issued an injunction forcing YouTube to proactively monitor its platform for copyright infringement for certain South American soap operas uploaded by users. > Mail.ru is the most-visited Russian website and the largest Russian Internet company. It is as if the court blocked access to Gmail, Yahoo!, or one of the leading Italian portals and email providers like Virgilio or Libero.it. V

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un Morozov da leggere: se la tecnologia fornisce la risposta a tutti i problemi della società, che ne è dei governi?
by Federico Guerrini July 22, 2014

July 22, 2014

In gran parte sono concetti tratti dal suo ultimo libro, messi in fila così, però, fanno una certa impressione... The rise of data and the death of politics Tech pioneers in the US are advocating a new data-based approach to governance – 'algorithmic regulation'. But if technology provides the answers to society's problems, what happens to governments? (...) In addition to making our lives more efficient, this smart world also presents us with an exciting political choice. If so much of our everyday behaviour is already captured, analysed and nudged, why stick with unempirical approaches to regulation? Why rely on laws when one has sensors and feedback mechanisms? If policy interventions are to be – to use the buzzwords of the day – "evidence-based" and "results-oriented," technology is here to help. (...) Algorithmic regulation, whatever its immediate benefits, will give us a political regime where technology corporations and government bureaucrats call all the shots. The Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem, in a pointed critique of cybernetics <http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/summa-technologiae> published, as it happens, roughly at the same time as *The Automated State*, put it best: "Society cannot give up the burden of having to decide about its own fate by sacrificing this freedom for the sake of the cybernetic regulator." qui: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/20/rise-of-data-death-of-pol… -- https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fellowships/journalist-fellows/p… www.federicoguerrini.com Il mio ultimo libro: Vivere Social http://www.bol.it/libri/Vivere-social.-Manuale/Federico-Guerrini/ea97888971…

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pour le numérique à l'école 700 millions d'euros
by Barbara Demo July 22, 2014

July 22, 2014

Informatica e scuola. La Francia è parecchio indietro rispetto a molta parte di Europa e mondo ma ci sono iniziative per accorciare le distanze! Ciao, Barbara Da http://www.vousnousils.fr/2014/07/16/700-millions-euros-enseignement-code-n… <<L'enseignement du langage informatique sera proposé en primaire dès la rentrée de manière facultative, annonce au Journal du dimanche (édition du 13 juillet) le ministre de l'éducation nationale, Benoît Hamon. /Benoît Hamon et François Hollande ont annoncé un grand plan pour le numérique à l'école, auquel seraient consacrés 700 millions d'euros./ <<Proposition de loi pour rendre l'enseignement du codage informatique obligatoire à l'école. Des députés UMP souhaitent rendre l'apprentissage de l'informatique obligatoire à l'école primaire, /comme de nombreux pays l'ont déjà fait/>> ___________________________________________________ G. Barbara Demo Dipartimento di Informatica - Universita' di Torino c.so Svizzera 185, 10149 Torino, Italy skype: barbara.demo tel +39 011 6706754 tel +39 011 7496973 www.di.unito.it/~barbara

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Paper: "The Rise of Social Bots"
by J.C. DE MARTIN July 22, 2014

July 22, 2014

*The Rise of Social Bots** * Emilio Ferrara <http://arxiv.org/find/cs/1/au:+Ferrara_E/0/1/0/all/0/1>, Onur Varol <http://arxiv.org/find/cs/1/au:+Varol_O/0/1/0/all/0/1>, Clayton Davis <http://arxiv.org/find/cs/1/au:+Davis_C/0/1/0/all/0/1>, Filippo Menczer <http://arxiv.org/find/cs/1/au:+Menczer_F/0/1/0/all/0/1>, Alessandro Flammini <http://arxiv.org/find/cs/1/au:+Flammini_A/0/1/0/all/0/1> (Submitted on 19 Jul 2014) The Turing test asked whether one could recognize the behavior of a human from that of a computer algorithm. Today this question has suddenly become very relevant in the context of social media, where text constraints limit the expressive power of humans, and real incentives abound to develop human-mimicking software agents called social bots. These elusive entities wildly populate social media ecosystems, often going unnoticed among the population of real people. Bots can be benign or harmful, aiming at persuading, smearing, or deceiving. Here we discuss the characteristics of modern, sophisticated social bots, and how their presence can endanger online ecosystems and our society. We then discuss current efforts aimed at detection of social bots in Twitter. Characteristics related to content, network, sentiment, and temporal patterns of activity are imitated by bots but at the same time can help discriminate synthetic behaviors from human ones, yielding signatures of engineered social tampering. Comments: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. 'Bot or Not?' is available at: this http URL <http://truthy.indiana.edu/botornot/> Subjects: Social and Information Networks (cs.SI); Computers and Society (cs.CY); Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an); Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) Cite as: arXiv:1407.5225 <http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.5225> [cs.SI] (or arXiv:1407.5225v1 <http://arxiv.org/abs/1407.5225v1> [cs.SI] for this version)

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Sterling: "Beyond the Coming Age of Networked Matter"
by J.C. DE MARTIN July 22, 2014

July 22, 2014

** Introduction /In 2013 at Institute for the Future <http://www.iftf.org/fanfutures/>, the non-profit forecasting thinktank where I'm a researcher, we explored what we're calling the Coming Age of Networked Matter. Over the next few decades, a confluence of breakthroughs in physics, engineering, biology, computation, and complexity science will give us new lenses to observe the wondrous interconnections surrounding us and within us. In the future we're moving toward, we won't only observe complex systems, we'll also modify and even create them /in vivo/ and with purpose. It will be an era of huge possibility, daunting pitfalls, and high weirdness. / /To help make this future tangible, we commissioned some of our favorite writers of speculative fiction -- Cory Doctorow, Rudy Rucker, Ramez Naam, Bruce Sterling, Madeline Ashby, and Warren Ellis -- to write short stories tied to our research theme. The anthology, titled An Aura of Familiarity: Visions from the Coming Age of Networked Matter, contains six stories all released under a Creative Commons license. The accompanying art is by Daniel Martin Diaz. / /We are thrilled to premier these stories on Boing Boing. At IFTF's site <http://www.iftf.org/fanfutures/>, you can watch an animated author interview and find out how to win <http://www.iftf.org/fanfutures/sterling/#contest> a limited edition print copy of the book and a t-shirt. In August, the entire book will be available as a free PDF at IFTF.org <http://www.iftf.org/fanfutures/>. -- David Pescovitz/ *Beyond the Coming Age of Networked Matter* By Bruce Sterling I wasn't too chuffed about the weird changes I saw in my favorite start-up guy. Crawferd was a techie I knew from my circuit: GE Industrial Internet, IBM Smart Cities, the Internet-of-Things in Hackney hackathons. The kind of guy I thought I understood. I relied on Crawferd to deliver an out-there networked-matter pitch to my potential investors. He was great at this, since he was imaginative, inventive, fearless, tireless, and he had no formal education. Crawferd wore unlaced Converse shoes and a lot of Armani. He had all the bumbling sincerity of a Twitter Arab Spring. [...] Continua qui: http://boingboing.net/2013/07/16/bruce-sterling-from-beyond.html

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Fwd: [IP] Apple's iOS 'dishing out a lot of data behind our backs, ' security researcher charges
by J.C. DE MARTIN July 21, 2014

July 21, 2014

(Sent from my tiny-screen wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any)) Begin forwarded message: > Resent-From: <d004620(a)polito.it> > From: "Dave Farber via ip" <ip(a)listbox.com> > Date: 21 luglio 2014 23:50:16 CEST > To: "ip" <ip(a)listbox.com> > Subject: [IP] Apple's iOS 'dishing out a lot of data behind our backs,' security researcher charges > Reply-To: dave(a)farber.net > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Dewayne Hendricks" <dewayne(a)warpspeed.com> > Date: Jul 21, 2014 12:16 PM > Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Apple's iOS 'dishing out a lot of data behind our backs,' security researcher charges > To: "Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net" <dewayne-net(a)warpspeed.com> > Cc: > > [Note: This item comes from friend Geoff Goodfellow. DLH] > > From: the keyboard of geoff goodfellow <geoff(a)iconia.com> > Subject: Apple's iOS 'dishing out a lot of data behind our backs,' security researcher charges > Date: July 21, 2014 at 14:27:07 EDT > To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne(a)warpspeed.com>, Dave Farber <dave(a)farber.net> > > Apple's iOS 'dishing out a lot of data behind our backs,' security researcher charges > By Sam Oliver > Jul 21 2014 > <http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/07/21/apples-ios-dishing-out-a-lot-of-d…> > > Noted forensic scientist and iOS hacker Jonathan Zdziarski has uncovered a number of undocumented "backdoor" services in Apple's mobile operating system that he argues could be exploited by law enforcement agencies, the NSA, or other malicious actors to bypass encryption and siphon sensitive personal data from iOS devices... > > [SNIP] > > > Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/

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“A rischio email e telefonate degli italiani” il dossier segreto sul tavolo del governo
by Marco Ciurcina July 21, 2014

July 21, 2014

http://iusletter.com/a-rischio-email-e-telefonate-degli-italiani-il-dossier… C’è un enorme buco nero nella sicurezza delle telecomunicazioni italiane. Una falla talmente ampia da mettere a disposizione di chiunque volesse attrezzarsi telefonate, sms, email, chat, contenuti postati sui social network. Tutto il traffico online del Paese, insomma. Non si tratta di un allarme generico ma di un pericolo più che concreto, tanto che negli ambienti dello spionaggio internazionale si dà per scontato che l’Italia sia da anni «interamente controllata». Da Nord a Sud. Quello che non si sa, però, è da chi. A denunciare questo buco è una relazione riservata del Dipartimento attività ispettive dell’Autorità garante per la protezione dei dati personali, inviata al presidente del Consiglio dei ministri, al ministro per lo Sviluppo economico, a quello dell’Interno e al sottosegretario con delega all’Intelligence Marco Minniti. Tre pagine che riassumono un rapporto lunghissimo, stilato dagli ingegneri informatici del Garante tra aprile e maggio dopo lo scandalo mondiale del Datagate del 2013. E nonostante le rassicurazioni del governo italiano, che in quell’occasione, per bocca dello stesso Minniti, aveva detto che «la tutela della privacy delle comunicazioni interne in Italia è garantita con ragionevole certezza». ...

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Job Announcement: Open Government Policy Analyst
by agatalotauro＠libero.it July 21, 2014

July 21, 2014

Job Announcement: Open Government Policy Analyst The Center for Effective Government seeks a Policy Analyst to join its Open Government Program. The Open Government Program advocates for proactive government disclosure of timely, useful information that empowers people to participate in democracy and to safeguard the well-being of their families and communities. The Policy Analyst will work to increase access to public information through improved implementation of the Freedom of Information Act, greater transparency of government spending, expanded disclosure of open government data, and more user-friendly public websites. For more than 30 years, the Center for Effective Government has been at the forefront of fighting for social justice and the public interest. Nationally known and impactful beyond its size, the Center strives for an open, effective government that invests in the common good, protects people and the environment, and advances the national priorities defined by an active, informed citizenry. We build broad-based coalitions to advance these values, create tools to encourage citizen participation in our government, work with policymakers to develop reform proposals, and publish research reports. This work is widely used by partners and allies, and it has been featured by MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, NPR, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, prominent online outlets such as The Huffington Post, and a wide selection of regional, state, and local papers, radio outlets, and television stations. Job Overview The Policy Analyst reports to Center for Effective Government’s Director of Open Government Policy. Responsibilities include: Monitoring and analyzing developments in public policies related to open government, with emphasis on the Freedom of Information Act, spending transparency, and environmental and regulatory data. Researching and writing blog posts, articles, and analysis related to these issue areas. Developing research projects and drafting reports, factsheets, and papers. Communicating relevant news, analyses, and statements to the media, policymakers, partner organizations, and other audiences through press releases, interviews, briefings, and op-eds. Advocating for the development and effective implementation of strong open government policies; this involves interacting with staff at federal agencies and responding to Congressional staff. Representing the Center for Effective Government at meetings, briefings, hearings, and other relevant events. Participating in strategic planning and project development. Coordinating work with coalition partners and conducting outreach to stakeholders around open government and government accountability issues. Other duties as assigned. Qualifications Candidates must have at least a bachelor’s degree and should have at least two years of relevant post-college work experience; an advanced degree is preferred. Candidates should have excellent analytic capacities; strong research skills; excellent writing skills, and an interest in open government issues. He or she should be intellectually curious, able to work independently, and value input from colleagues. The successful candidate will be positive, open, flexible, and enjoy mastering new subject areas and skills. Experience conducting advocacy, communicating with the media, and working with coalitions is preferred. The position is based in our Washington, DC office. Salary & Benefits Salary is commensurate with relevant experience, in the $36K-$45K range. The Center for Effective Government’s competitive benefits package includes health care and dental coverage, paid vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan, long- term disability insurance and access to Metro SmartBenefits. How to Apply Email the following to Sean Moulton, Director of Open Government Policy, at hiring(a)foreffectivegov.org: A compelling cover letter explaining your interest in the position, our organization, and your recent salary history; Resume; and Writing sample (no longer than four pages). Please mention where you saw our job advertised. The Center for Effective Government is an equal opportunity employer and encourages minority applicants and veterans to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, age, handicap, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Gavin Baker Open Government Policy Analyst Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) gbaker(a)foreffectivegov.org Phone: (202) 683-4834 Twitter: @opengavin LinkedIn: gavinrbaker "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Agata) >----Messaggio originale---- >Da: demartin(a)polito.it >Data: 21-lug-2014 17.15 >A: <nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it> >Ogg: Re: [nexa] "INTERNET BILL OF RIGHTS", AL VIA COMMISSIONE. BOLDRINI: > > >On 20/07/14 19:13, fiorella de cindio wrote: >> [...] davvero mi sfugge perchè aspettare a renderli noti. La discreta >> domanda di Fiorello Cortiana che, da senatore, fu promotore delle >> iniziative italiane su Internet Bill of Right, meriterebbe una >> risposta che renda non solo trasparente ma *limpida* la scelta, >> immagino fatta dalla Presidente Boldrini, non tanto tra i >> parlamentari, ma tra gli "studiosi ed esperti, operatori del settore e >> rappresentanti di associazioni." ed i criteri che l'anno guidata. [...] > >Premesso 1) che non sono un esperto di come si costituiscono commissioni di >studio e 2) che parlo solo a nome di me stesso (ovviamente), confesso di >non >capire i rilievi di Fiorella De Cindio in merito al modo con cui è stata >costituita >la commissione. > >Il 16 giugno, infatti, al termine di un convegno a Roma, la Presidente >della >Camera annunciò pubblicamente di voler costituire "una commissione di >studio >sulla Rete, sui diritti e i doveri dei cittadini nell'età digitale, che >elabori i contenuti >di un "Internet Bill of Rights" a livello italiano ed europeo" >(v. http://presidente.camera.it/20?shadow_comunicatostampa=8169) > >Sempre quel comunicato riportava anche la seguenti parole: > >"Del gruppo di lavoro la Presidente Boldrini chiamerà nei prossimi >giorni a far parte i presidenti delle Commissioni competenti, i >deputati attivi sui temi dell'innovazione tecnologica, studiosi, >operatori del settore, associazioni." > >Che è quanto immagino abbia fatto la Presidente della Camera >nei giorni dopo il 16 giugno. > >Fino al comunicato stampa di venerdì 18 luglio >relativo alla prima convocazione della commissione di studio: > >http://presidente.camera.it/20?shadow_comunicatostampa=8291 > >Come processo di costituzione di una Commissione di studio >a me (ignorante) sembra del tutto normale. >Dopotutto non è mica una gara pubblica o un concorso universitario >o un'elezione, no? >E' una commissione della Presidenza della Camera, >della cui composizione risponde chi l'ha creata >e che andrà valutata per quello che farà (o non farà). > >Ma magari mi sembra normale solo perché, ripeto, >sono ignorante. > >juan carlos > > > >_______________________________________________ >nexa mailing list >nexa(a)server-nexa.polito.it >https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa >

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