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A Scramble for Virus Apps That Do No Harm
by Enrico Nardelli April 30, 2020

April 30, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/business/coronavirus-cellphone-apps-cont… ... At their core, the apps are intended to gather information about the movements of people who have tested positive for the virus, alert others who might have crossed their paths, and in some cases make sure infected people stay quarantined. They use smartphone technologies, such as GPS and Bluetooth, to collect and share the data, which make them agile and easy to use but also provide an enticing target for hackers or government surveillance. ... There is no evidence that the apps will be effective without widespread testing for the virus and without enormous numbers of voluntary participants, which could be hampered by years of privacy scandals involving both governments and companies. ... “We’ve already learned what moving fast and breaking things can do to society,” said Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, referring to the negative consequences of a tech mind-set that values speed and disruption above all else. -- 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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Una app non ci salverà: tracciamo i contatti per ritracciare la rotta
by Roberto Resoli April 30, 2020

April 30, 2020

Segnalo questo articolo ringraziando Piergiovanna Grossi che ne ha dato nota sulla ml assoli (discussioni(a)lists.softwarelibero.it) https://www.offtopiclab.org/si-tracciamo-i-contatti/ "Cosa ci spaventa del duo Apple/Google non è la questione di quanto il framework rispetti la nostra privacy (d’altronde privacy non è sinonimo di libertà), ma piuttosto le possibilità che le due corporation vengano considerate come le uniche entità in grado di dare risposte e (pseudo) soluzioni a dei problemi di governance politica e sociale, sostituendosi di fatto ad interi apparati statali." rob

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Webinar | Il ruolo del Public Procurement per un rilancio economico a seguito dell'emergenza
by Silvia Sanna April 30, 2020

April 30, 2020

Buongiorno a tutti, sono Silvia Sanna, responsabile del marketing e comunicazione a Synapta, spin off del Centro Nexa. Con estremo piacere, vi segnalo il webinar che stiamo organizzando il *7 maggio* dalle *15:00 alle 16:30* che affronterà il tema del *ruolo del Public Procurement in vista di un rilancio economico a seguito dell'emergenza* *sanitaria*. Si tratta di un webinar di circa 1 ora e mezza strutturato con degli interventi iniziali da parte dei relatori e una parte finale (più interattiva) dove i partecipanti potranno fare domande e commentare assieme ai relatori ciò che si è affrontato durante la prima parte. Condivido di seguito il link della pagina ufficiale dell'evento <https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-public-procurement-cambiamenti-per-il…> dove sarà possibile iscriversi e accedere al link ufficiale del meeting che ospiterà l'evento. Cordiali saluti, Silvia Sanna -- *Silvia Sanna* *Marketing Communication Manager* *Mob: +39 342 504 1145* *Mail: silvia.sanna(a)synapta.it <gloria.tonello(a)synapta.it>* *Web: www.synapta.it <http://www.synapta.it>*

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Testimonianza di Ron Deibert (Citizen Lab)
by Roberto Resoli April 30, 2020

April 30, 2020

... ad una commissione parlamentare riguardo alla sicurezza di piattaforme e sistemi informatici diventati di uso corrente durante la pandemia: https://citizenlab.ca/2020/04/ronald-deibert-delivers-testimony-to-the-hous… rob

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Antonio Casilli: I nuovi conflitti del lavoro digitale nella società virale
by Roberto Resoli April 30, 2020

April 30, 2020

https://ilmanifesto.it/antonio-casilli-i-nuovi-conflitti-del-lavoro-digital… « ... Didattica a distanza, piattaforme, social media, logistica. Il capitalismo digitale sarà uno dei vincitori della crisi? È una conclusione probabile. È in atto una cattura sociale e un’appropriazione del valore. Una serie di servizi offerti in modalità alternative sono stati sussunti da WhatsApp, Instagram, Zoom e compagnia. È urgente capire come organizzare diversamente una società evitando la subalternità alle retoriche sull’automazione che occultano l’attività di persone senza diritti ma svolgono un lavoro fondamentale.» rob

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Brookings: “Contact-tracing apps are not a solution to the COVID-19 crisis”
by J.C. DE MARTIN April 29, 2020

April 29, 2020

https://www.brookings.edu/techstream/inaccurate-and-insecure-why-contact-tr… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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A Scramble for Virus Apps That Do No Harm - The New York Times
by J.C. DE MARTIN April 29, 2020

April 29, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/29/business/coronavirus-cellphone-apps-cont… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Special Report: Cyber-Intel Firms Pitch Governments on Spy Tools to Trace Coronavirus
by Giacomo Tesio April 29, 2020

April 29, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/28/technology/28reuters-health-coro… When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met. Now, as governments fight the spread of COVID-19, Cellebrite is pitching the same capability to help authorities learn who a coronavirus sufferer may have infected. When someone tests positive, authorities can siphon up the patient’s location data and contacts, making it easy to “quarantine the right people,” according to a Cellebrite email pitch to the Delhi police force this month. This would usually be done with consent, the email said. But in legally justified cases, such as when a patient violates a law against public gatherings, police could use the tools to break into a confiscated device, Cellebrite advised. “We do not need the phone passcode to collect the data,” the salesman wrote to a senior officer in an April 22 email reviewed by Reuters. A Cellebrite spokeswoman said the salesman was offering the same tools the company has long sold to help police enforce the law. The company is also offering a version of its product line for use by healthcare workers to trace the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, but the tools can only be used with patient consent and can’t hack phones, she said. Cellebrite’s marketing overtures are part of a wave of efforts by at least eight surveillance and cyber-intelligence companies attempting to sell repurposed spy and law enforcement tools to track the virus and enforce quarantines, according to interviews with executives and non-public company promotional materials reviewed by Reuters. For a graphic on Tracing COVID-19, click https://tmsnrt.rs/3f00GRK The executives declined to specify which countries have purchased their surveillance products, citing confidentiality agreements with governments. But executives at four of the companies said they are piloting or in the process of installing products to counter coronavirus in more than a dozen countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia. A Delhi police spokesman said the force wasn’t using Cellebrite for coronavirus containment. Reuters is not aware of any purchases by the U.S. government. So far, Israel is the only country known to be testing a mass surveillance system pitched by the companies, asking NSO Group, one of the industry’s biggest players, to help build its platform. But the rollout of NSO’s surveillance project with the Israeli Ministry of Defense is on hold pending legal challenges related to privacy issues, an NSO executive said. A spokesman for Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said NSO was involved in the project but did not provide further details. Surveillance-tech companies have flourished in recent years as law enforcement and spy agencies around the world have sought new methods for countering adversaries who now often communicate through encrypted mobile apps. The firms argue that their experience helping governments track shadowy networks of militants makes them uniquely qualified to uncover the silent spread of a novel disease. “I really believe this industry is doing more good than bad,” said Tal Dilian, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now a co-chief executive officer of Cyprus-based Intellexa, a cyber-surveillance firm that works with intelligence agencies in Southeast Asia and Europe. “Now is a good time to show that to the world.” Yet some technologists remain skeptical that spying tools reliant on phone location data can be used to effectively combat a virus. “It’s not precise enough, that’s the point. It’s not nearly going to get you down to whether you're next to a certain person or not,” said Michael Veale, a lecturer in digital rights and regulation at University College London. While the methods for location tracking and accuracy vary, surveillance companies say they can narrow down a person’s coordinates to within three feet, depending on conditions. PRIVACY RIGHTS VS. HEALTH CONCERNS Privacy issues loom. Civil liberties advocates fear that virus tracking efforts could open the door to the kind of ubiquitous government surveillance efforts they have fought for decades. Some are alarmed by the potential role of spyware firms, arguing their involvement could undermine the public trust governments need to restrain the spread of the virus. "This public health crisis needs a public health solution - not the interjection of for-profit surveillance companies looking to exploit this crisis,” said Edin Omanovic, advocacy director for the UK-based civil liberties group Privacy International. Claudio Guarnieri, a technologist with the human rights organization Amnesty International, said any new surveillance powers embraced by states to combat the virus should be met with “high scrutiny.” “New systems of control, from location tracking to contact tracing, all raise different concerns on necessity and proportionality,” said Guarnieri. Cellebrite, for one, said it requires “agencies that use our solutions to uphold the standards of international human rights law.” Government officials have sought to address such concerns by pointing to the unprecedented nature of the crisis. COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, has so far infected more than 3 million people worldwide, killing over 210,000. In South Africa, for example, after the government last month announced it would use telecom data to track the movements of citizens infected with COVID-19, a communications minister acknowledged concerns about loss of privacy. “We do respect that everyone has a right to privacy, but in a situation like this our individual rights do not supersede the country’s rights,” Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, the communications minister, said at a press conference for South Africa’s COVID-19 command council this month. The South African Health Ministry declined to comment on details of the program and whether it had contracted with any of the intelligence firms. A number of countries are developing and deploying COVID-19 contact-tracing apps that do not rely on location data. Instead, these apps, already in use in Singapore, India and Colombia, tap the smartphone connectivity technology Bluetooth to sense and record when other devices are nearby. When someone tests positive for coronavirus, typically, everyone that person made contact with is notified. Christophe Fraser, an epidemiologist at Oxford University’s Big Data Institute, said this approach, if implemented properly, could save lives and shorten lockdowns. “The idea is to try and maximize social distancing practices of those at risk of infection and minimize the impact on all the other people,” he said. This app-based approach to contact tracing is considered, by its advocates, as more privacy friendly because people voluntarily download the app and sensitive personal data are visible only to health authorities. This method of containing the disease is the focus of a rare collaboration between Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to quickly deploy the Bluetooth-based technology for use in the United States and elsewhere. But the approach relies on widespread adoption of the apps, and its accuracy remains unproven. Apple says its plan is designed to “help amplify the efforts of the public health authorities” and that “many factors will help flatten [infection] curves — no one believes this is the only one.” A Google spokesman referred to a prior statement, which said “each user will have to make an explicit choice to turn on the technology.” By contrast, deploying a mass surveillance platform like Intellexa’s means everyone would be under collection right away; no one needs to opt in, nor could anyone opt out. Such a setup can be done remotely in a matter of weeks, said an executive at NSO Group, which is also offering its wares to fight the coronavirus. PUBLIC HEALTH SPY TECH The surging spyware business is estimated by research firm MarketsandMarkets to be worth $3.6 billion this year. But the industry has been dogged by legal and ethical concerns. Human rights groups have accused some companies of helping undemocratic governments target dissidents and activists. The companies say they help governments prevent terrorism and capture criminals. Last year, for example, Facebook’s WhatsApp unit accused NSO Group of helping governments hack 1,400 targets that included activists, journalists, diplomats and state officials. NSO denies the allegations, saying it only provides the technology to government agencies under strict controls and is not involved in operations. Intellexa’s Dilian fled Cyprus last year after an arrest warrant was issued for him, on accusations that he used a surveillance van to illegally intercept communications in the country. Dilian denies the allegations, returned to Cyprus last month and said he is cooperating with authorities. A Cypriot police spokesman told Reuters the investigation is active. Now, industry executives, investors and analysts say the coronavirus crisis offers intelligence firms the possibility of billions of dollars in business, while burnishing their reputations. India is among the courted countries. In April, New York-based Verint Systems asked Indian officials to pay $5 million for a year’s subscription to a host of services designed to track and surveil people with coronavirus. Those included a cellphone tower geolocation platform and a program to monitor social media activity, according to documents seen by Reuters and a person with knowledge of the negotiations. No sale has yet been agreed in India, the source said. A Verint spokesman declined to answer questions, instead referring to an April 16 press release which said unspecified products were being used by an unnamed country to help respond to COVID-19. India’s Ministry of Interior said it had not purchased a system from Verint. NSO Group and Intellexa are also both pitching COVID-19 tracking platforms to countries across Asia, Latin America and Europe. Their technology could allow a government to track the movement of nearly every person in the country who carries a cellphone, sucking up a continuous trove of location data. Installed within telecom providers, the technology functions through the analysis of call records, said NSO and Intellexa executives. When a person tests positive, the systems would allow authorities to input the result, tracking those who made contact with the patient in the past few weeks. Those exposed would receive a text message encouraging them to get tested or self-isolate. NSO said the system’s administrators would not see the identity of individuals. Revelations in 2013 that the U.S. National Security Agency had collected this kind of mobile phone data about Americans to track national security threats created a storm of controversy and fueled new restrictions on surveillance. Suzanne Spaulding, a former U.S. intelligence community lawyer and senior Homeland Security official, described this potential COVID-19 tracking approach as “among the most privacy-invasive.” That’s because it “envisions all of the data about everyone's movements, not just infected individuals and their known contacts, going to the government.” South Korea, Pakistan, Ecuador and South Africa have all indicated in public statements they were rolling out contact tracing systems using telecom data to track infected citizens, though the details haven’t been released. South Korean officials say any loss of privacy from surveillance must be weighed against the disastrous economic consequences caused from a long-term shutdown. “It is also a restriction of freedom when you ban free movement of people in crisis,” Jung Seung-soo, a deputy director at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, told Reuters. The country is not using outside surveillance vendors, the official said. Intellexa is in the process of installing its system in two Western European countries, Dilian said. He declined to name them. In an interview with Reuters, NSO employees responsible for the product said the company is piloting the approach in 10 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, but declined to name them. Three other Israeli companies, Rayzone Group, Cobwebs Technologies and Patternz, are offering countries coronavirus tracking capabilities. These largely rely on location data gathered from mobile advertising platforms, according to company promotional documents reviewed by Reuters and people familiar with the companies. Rayzone Group declined to comment. Requests for comment to Patternz went unanswered. Omri Timianker, president and co-founder of Cobwebs Technologies, said his company is working with five governments to help track the spread of the virus, but declined to identify them. While some experts say advertising data isn’t precise enough to combat the spread of COVID-19, the documents reviewed by Reuters suggest the three firms are marketing technology which they contend can ingest and process advertising data into a form that’s useful for narrowly tracking individuals. Intellexa’s Dilian said his company’s platform will cost between $9 million and $16 million for countries with large populations. He believes COVID-19 tracking will be just the beginning. Once the pandemic ends, he hopes countries that invested in his mass surveillance tool will adapt it for espionage and security. “We want to enable them to upgrade,” he said.

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Noi App
by Alberto Cammozzo April 29, 2020

April 29, 2020

<https://www.protetti.app> Noi App Lo scopo del progetto è creare un app mobile di tracciamento dei contatti basata sullo standard DP-3T <https://github.com/DP-3T>, specificamente per la popolazione Italiana Lo standard è disegnato per rispettare la privacy per non condividere informazioni, se non dati anonimizzati per divulgazione volontaria di persone che hanno scoperto di essere infette. Questi dati possono essere controllati dall’app per verificare se sei stato in contatto con qualche persona infetta. Questo standard, inoltre, sembra essere compatibile con le API in arrivo da Apple/Google per il tracciamento dei contatti. L’applicazione, nella sua attuale realizzazion, sarà un applicazione React Native, con incluso un modulo DP-3T SDK, con un backend in Java basato su Spring. Lo stack tecnologico è soggetto a cambiamenti durante la sua evoluzione. Premesse Declinazione di responsabilità: se ritente che ci siano informazioni errate, per favore apriteci una segnalazione per permetterci di correggere le informazioni errate. Si suppone che venga sviluppata un app “ufficiale” italiana, ma il suo stato è ingnoto. Quello che si sa è che: * Una Società privata italiana è stata selezionata per sviluppare l’applicazione. * Abbiamo richiesto esplicitamente chiarimenti sul rilascio del codice sorgente, ma non c’ è stata data (ancora) nessuna risposta * Ci è stato detto informalmente che i sorgenti del codice saranno rilasciati, ma non in modo ufficiale. * Anche se il codice sarà rilasciato, bisgna vedere quanto cio che sarà rilasciato sarà completo e adeguatamente documentato da poter consentire di essere revisionato dalla comunità. * La Società è membro dell’organizzazione PEPP-PT <https://github.com/pepp-pt/pepp-pt-documentation> , ed è stato divulgato che l’app userà o standard PPPT-DT. * l’organizzazione PPPT-DT è fondamentalmente di tipo ad invito. Non si sa nulla di come funzioni internamente. Al momento nessun sorgente pubblico è stato rilasciato, sebbene sia dichiarato che il codice rispetti la lincenza Mozilla. * Inoltre lo standard PPPT-DP prevede il controllo centralizzato delle informazioni dei contatti. * Negli ultimi giorni la relationship tra PEPP-DP e DP-3T <https://twitter.com/mikarv/status/1250850682904760320?s=20> non è andata benissimo ed ogni riferimento al DP-3T è stato rimosso dal PEPP-DP. Motivazioni fondamentali Date queste premesse, qualunque sarà il risultato dello sviluppo dell’app “ufficiale”, riteniamo che sia fondamentale avere un app alternativa con i seguenti obbiettivi: * Sviluppata da zero come progetto opensource * Orientata alla comunità, senza alcuna relazione con organizazioni private * Basata sullo standard “alternativo” D3PT (decentralizzato) in luogo del PEPP-DP (centralizzato). * In grado di integrarsi con le imminenti API di Apple e Google. Attualmente stiamo lavorando all’app DP3T in modo che sia localizzata e disponibile per l’italia, e a fornire l’infrastruttura server.

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Press Release: EDRi calls for fundamental rights-based responses to COVID-19 - EDRi
by Alberto Cammozzo April 29, 2020

April 29, 2020

EDRI ha stilato un elenco di risorse pregevole. <https://edri.org/edri-calls-for-fundamental-rights-based-responses-to-covid…> In a recent statement released on 20 March 2020, European Digital Rights (EDRi) calls on the Member States and institutions of the European Union (EU) to ensure that, while developing public health measures to tackle COVID-19, they: Strictly uphold fundamental rights; Protect data for now and the future; Limit the purpose of data for COVID-19 crisis only; Implement exceptional measures for the duration of the crisis only; Condemn racism and discrimination; Defend freedom of expression and information. EDRi’s Head of Policy, Diego Naranjo, explains that: EDRi supports necessary, proportionate measures, fully in line with national and international human rights and data protection and privacy legislation, taken in order to tackle the COVID – 19 global pandemic. These measures must not, however, set a precedent for rolling back the fundamental rights obligations enshrined in European law. [...] EDRi Members and Observers’ Responses to COVID-19: Joint civil society statement – “States use of digital surveillance technologies to fight pandemic must respect human rights.” https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Joint-statement-COVID-19-and-su… noyb – Active overview of projects using personal data to combat SARS-CoV-2. https://gdprhub.eu/index.php?title=Data_Protection_under_SARS-CoV-2 Access Now – “Protect digital rights, promote public health: toward a better coronavirus response.” https://www.accessnow.org/protect-digital-rights-promote-public-health-towa… Article 19 – “Coronavirus: New ARTICLE 19 briefing on tackling misinformation.” https://www.article19.org/resources/coronavirus-new-article-19-briefing-on-… Bits of Freedom – “Privacy is geen absoluut recht, maar wel een noodzaak.” https://www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2020/03/20/privacy-is-geen-absoluut-recht-maar… Defesa dos Dereitos Digitais (D3) – ” A pandemia COVID19 e os direitos digitais.” https://direitosdigitais.pt/comunicacao/noticias/88-a-pandemia-covid19-e-os… Digitalcourage – “Coronavirus: Tipps fürs Onlineleben und Grundrechtsfragen.” https://digitalcourage.de/corona Digitale Gesellschaft – “Menschenrechte gelten nicht nur in „guten“ Zeiten.” https://digitalegesellschaft.de/2020/03/menschenrechte-gelten-nicht-nur-in-… EFF – “EFF and COVID-19: Protecting Openness, Security, and Civil Liberties.” https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/eff-and-covid-19-protecting-openness-… epicenter.works – “Digital rights implications of the COVID-19 crisis.” https://en.epicenter.works/content/digital-rights-implications-of-the-covid… GFF – “Corona und Grundrechte: Fragen und Antworten.” https://freiheitsrechte.org/corona-und-grundrechte/ Hermes Center – “Il Centro Hermes chiede al governo una risposta all’emergenza COVID-19 nel pieno rispetto dei diritti umani.” https://www.hermescenter.org/hermes-governo-emergenza-covid19-rispetto-priv… Homo Digitalis – “Homo Digitalis για την πανδημία του Κορωνοϊού.” https://www.homodigitalis.gr/posts/5340 noyb – “Data protection in times of corona: not a question of if, but of how.” https://noyb.eu/en/data-protection-times-corona Open Rights Group – “In the Coronavirus crisis, privacy will be compromised—but our right to know must not be.” https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2020/in-the-coronavirus-crisis-privacy… Panoptykon – “Wolność i prywatność w dobie koronawirusa.” https://panoptykon.org/wiadomosc/wolnosc-i-prywatnosc-w-dobie-koronawirusa Privacy International – “Extraordinary powers need extraordinary protections.” https://privacyinternational.org/news-analysis/3461/extraordinary-powers-ne… SHARE Foundation – “Digitalna prava, pandemija i Balkan.” https://www.sharefoundation.info/sr/digitalna-prava-pandemija-i-balkan/

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