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The Geographic Spread of COVID-19 Correlates with Structure of Social Networks as Measured by Facebook
by Alberto Cammozzo April 14, 2020

April 14, 2020

<https://www.nber.org/papers/w26990> The Geographic Spread of COVID-19 Correlates with Structure of Social Networks as Measured by Facebook Theresa Kuchler, Dominic Russel, Johannes Stroebel NBER Working Paper No. 26990 Issued in April 2020 NBER Program(s):Corporate Finance, Economic Fluctuations and Growth, Health Care, Health Economics, International Trade and Investment, Public Economics, Political Economy We use anonymized and aggregated data from Facebook to show that areas with stronger social ties to two early COVID-19 "hotspots" (Westchester County, NY, in the U.S. and Lodi province in Italy) generally have more confirmed COVID-19 cases as of March 30, 2020. These relationships hold after controlling for geographic distance to the hotspots as well as for the income and population density of the regions. These results suggest that data from online social networks may prove useful to epidemiologists and others hoping to forecast the spread of communicable diseases such as COVID-19.

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Fwd: CFP: Special issue of the Journal of Extreme Anthropology on Algorithmic Governance - deadline tomorrow
by Alberto Cammozzo April 14, 2020

April 14, 2020

-------- Forwarded Message -------- Return-Path: <owner-surveillance(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> List-Archive: <https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?LIST=SURVEILLANCE> Call for Papers: Algorithmic Governance and the Futures of Social Control For submission guidelines, and other details, please visit: *https://journals.uio.no/JEA* *deadline: 15th of April, 2020 * Special Issue of the Journal of Extreme Anthropology Edited by: Tereza Kuldova, Christin Thea Wathne, Heidi Enehaug & Bitten Nordrik Social bots, deep fakes, document fraud, fake news, propaganda, spam, lies, hoaxes, disinformation and deception. In the digital era of /surveillance capitalism/ (Zuboff 2019), the sources and means of deception and make-believe proliferate as do the means of /social sorting, targeting,/ and /profiling/ (Bauman & Lyon 2013). They threaten to create a world where distinguishing between the fake and the real, truth and lie, machine and human, becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible. A world where making these distinctions becomes an obsessive preoccupation – a preoccupation that replaces critical thinking with fact-checking, Truth-O-Meters, and audit, openness with borders and gates, trust with transparency and control, and the politics of citizenship with identity management (Muller 2009). Paradoxically, the very source of our confusion – the massive flow of data and new technologies – are also touted as the very solution. Data is marketed as neutral, as pure – as the ‘truth’. The results of data-driven predictions, of algorithmic decisions, of opaque artificial intelligence systems are labelled as ‘evidence’ and ‘intelligence’ – as something ‘solid’ and hard in ‘liquid times’ (Bauman 2000; Bauman & Lyon 2013), as something to reliably build our lives on, as well as our organizations and governance. And yet, we know well that raw and pure data is an oxymoron (Gitelman 2013); context is erased as ‘data’ becomes de-contextualized and consequently re-contextualized in statistical models and algorithms we are to rely on. This obsession with data-driven ‘truth’ and governance, and the monetization of this ‘new oil’ of personal information and individuals digital footprint, generates new forms of harm and injustices. It sacrifices privacy, rights, liberties, the presumption of innocence, and due process on the altar of security (Benjamin 2019; O’Neil 2016) – and with it, more often than not, security itself. This obsession threatens to create a world where the omnipresent corporate and governmental surveillance (the two increasingly blurred) and the continual manufacturing and mediatization of new threats, risks, and fear feeds societal paranoia, generalized suspicion and mistrust (Frosh 2016; Breton). Everyone is a potential fraud or fake; nobody can be trusted. Distrust is institutionalized (Whelan 2013). This, paradoxically, again provides legitimacy to the very system that simultaneously manufactures both risks and threats and solutions to these risks. Artificial intelligence, deep learning and big data analytics are viewed as /the/ technologies of the future, capable of delivering /expert/ intelligence decisions, risk assessments and predictions within milliseconds. Accurate or not, algorithms are transforming our societies, with profound consequences. Corporations have been investing in AI and harvesting enormous amounts of data to increase their profits by perfecting predictive consumerism, monitoring their employees, ad targeting, or credit score ratings, while cutting costs. Governments have been equally eager to collaborate with the private sector, invest in new AI technologies for predictive policing, and military intelligence, and enter ever new cross-sector partnerships in the name of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, data-driven decision making and forecasting, and streamlining of the workflow in public administration and services; in this sense, the technologies embody more than anything the visions of New Public Management. Jeremy Bentham’s ideas on governance as much as the panopticon come to a new expression through algorithmic governance (Bowrey & Smark 2010), which can be defined as follows: ‘Algorithmic governance has many faces: it is seen as ordering, regulation and behaviour modification, as a form of management, of optimisation and of participation. Depending on the research area it is characterised by inscrutability, the inscription of values and interests, by efficiency and effectiveness, by power asymmetry, by social inclusiveness, new exclusions, competition, responsiveness, participation, co-creation and overload. For most observers, governance becomes more powerful, intrusive and pervasive with algorithmization and datafication’ (Katzenbach & Ulbricht 2019: 11). While the risks associated with AI are typically downplayed or reduced to ‘the effects on the labour market’, we are already seeing the contours of the societal effects of using AI models and automated decision making with inherent bias – such as in the welfare systems in the UK and US (Eubanks 2018), or in predictive policing across an increasing number of countries (Kaufmann, Egbert, & Leese 2018) – AI models that not merely reproduce existing societal and systemic inequities but magnify them in the manner of self-fulfilling prophecy, and put them fully into system, resulting in ‘technological redlining’ (Benjamin 2019) while clearing from its way /human/ discretion (Benjamin 2019). Despite these challenges, and driven by tech-optimism and fears of missing out and falling on diverse rankings measuring levels of digitization, governments have been eager to collaborate with the private sector and invest in AI systems for improved and more efficient public administration, new AI technologies for (predictive) policing, and military intelligence. The special issue /Algorithmic Governance and the Futures of Social Control /invites anthropological and interdisciplinary contributions that investigate the multiple effects as well as unintended and harmful consequences of algorithmic governance and new forms of social sorting, control, and surveillance. In particular, we invite papers dealing with: * transformation of expert knowledge, professionalism, professional judgement, and discretion * algorithmic governance, surveillance and policing as a societal and institutional logic * risk-based governance and the manufacturing of threat and insecurity, as well as the visions of the Other as fundamentally threatening * organization of work, workplace surveillance and transformation of organizations, esp. in relation to questions of accountability, responsibility and transparency * larger societal consequences of algorithmic governance for workers and citizens * questions of legitimacy and societal trust, in light of the insight that AI models are, more than anything, an instantiation of policy Interested contributors are encouraged to submit an *abstract of 300 words* and *a short bio by the 15th of April 2020 *to the journal Editor-in-Chief , Tereza Kuldova, at *tkuld(a)oslomet.no* <mailto:tkuld@oslomet.no> Deadline for *full submissions *will be the* 1st of October 2020.* /Journal of Extreme Anthropology /is an international, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary and indexed journal that publishes articles written in the fields of anthropology, social sciences and humanities, specializing on extreme subjects, practices and theory. Bauman, Z. 2000. /Liquid modernity/. Cambridge: Polity Press. Bauman, Z., and D. Lyon. 2013. /Liquid surveillance: a conversation/. Cambridge: Polity. Benjamin, R. 2019. /Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code/. Medford, MA: Polity Press. Bowrey, G. D., and C. J. Smark. 2010. ‘The influence of Jeremy Bentham on recent public sector financial reforms.’ /Journal of New Business Ideas and Trends/ 8 (1): 1-10. Breton, H. O. ‘Coping with a Crisis of Meaning: Televised Paranoia.’ In /Media and the Inner World: Psycho-cultural Approaches to Emotion, Media and Popular Culture/, edited by Caroline Brainbridge and Candida Yates, 113-134. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Eubanks, V. 2018. /Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor/. St. Martin's Publishing Group. Frosh, S. 2016. ‘Relationality in a Time of Surveillance: Narcissism, Melancholia, Paranoia.’ /Subjectivity/ 9 (1): 1-16. Gitelman, L., ed. 2013. /“Raw Data” Is an Oxymoron/. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Katzenbach, C., and L. Ulbricht. 2019. ‘Algorithmic Governance.’ /Internet Policy Review/ 8 (4): 1-18. Kaufmann, M., S. Egbert, and M. Leese. 2018. ‘Predictive Policing and the Politics of Patters.’ /The British Journal of Criminology/: 1-19. https://doi.org/doi:10.1093/bjc/azy060. Muller, B. F. 2009. ‘(Dis)qualified bodies: Securitization, Citizenship and ‘identity management’.’ In /Securitizations of Citizenship/, edited by P. Nyers, 77-93. London: Routledge. O’Neil, C. 2016. /Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy/. New York: Crown. Whelan, A. 2013. ‘First as Tragedy, then as Corpse.’ In /Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in the Higher Education/, edited by Andrew Whelan, Ruth Walker and Christopher Moore, 11-26. Bristol: Intellect. Zuboff, S. 2019. /The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power/. London: Profile Books. *Tereza Kuldova, PhD* Researcher II * * Work Research Institute Oslo Metropolitan University * * https://www.tereza-kuldova.com <https://www.tereza-kuldova.com/> Editor-in-chief of the /Journal of Extreme Anthropology/ https://www.journals.uio.no/index.php/JEA/index Founder of the /Extreme Anthropology Research Network/ http://www.extreme-anthropology.com <http://www.extreme-anthropology.com/> Latest monograph: /How Outlaws Win Friends and Influence People / https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030152055 **************************************************** This is a message from the SURVEILLANCE listserv for research and teaching in surveillance studies. To unsubscribe, please send the following message to : UNSUBSCRIBE SURVEILLANCE For further help, please visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help ****************************************************

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77° Nexa Lunch Seminar | 22 Aprile 2020 | Modalità Telematica
by Nexa Media April 14, 2020

April 14, 2020

Gentilissimi, a seguito delle disposizioni adottate per far fronte all'emergenza da Covid-19, vi segnaliamo che il 77° Nexa Lunch Seminar, "Etica e Intelligenza Artificiale: l'approccio delle Compagnie Telefoniche", con ospite Giacomo Conti (Centro Nexa), si svolgerà mercoledì 22 aprile, dalle ore 13.00 alle ore 14.00, in *modalità telematica*, utilizzando il software open source di conference call *Jitsi Meet*. Per chi vorrà partecipare live al seminario sarà possibile accedere alla conference call attraverso il seguente link: https://meet.nexacenter.org/LunchSeminar <https://meet.nexacenter.org/MercolediNexa> Nexa Center for Internet and Society Newsletter Se non visualizzi correttamente questo messaggio clicca qui <https://nexa.polito.it/lunch-77> NEXA 77° Nexa Lunch Seminar Mercoledì 22 aprile 2020, ore 13.00 - 14.00 Politecnico di Torino https://nexa.polito.it/lunch-77 Etica e Intelligenza Artificiale: l'approccio delle Compagnie Telefoniche Speaker Giacomo Conti (Centro Nexa su Internet & Società) 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 *JITSI MEET*. Per partecipare all'incontro: https://meet.nexacenter.org/LunchSeminar L'*Intelligenza Artificiale* è una tecnologia sempre più utilizzata nella nostra società all’interno degli ambiti più disparati. E questo è ancora più vero nel mondo delle *telecomunicazioni*, dove l'uso degli strumenti di IA è determinante e particolarmente diffuso a causa dell'enorme mole di dati che interessa il settore. Utilizzare strumenti di IA significa, tuttavia, esporsi a dei rischi: da una parte si pongono *questioni di responsabilità*, qualora l'intelligenza artificiale fosse mal utilizzata e causasse un danno a qualcuno; dall'altra, la novità della tecnologia e il suo enorme potenziale potrebbero provocare nei confronti di essa una certa sfiducia da parte del pubblico. Le compagnie telefoniche sono quindi chiamate a dare una risposta nell'uno e nell'altro verso, e lo fanno in due modi: attraverso la stesura di *norme specifiche nei loro codici etici* e mediante diverse *strategie comunicative sui loro siti web*. Nel corso dell'intervento si avrà modo di analizzare, attraverso una serie di esempi pratici, come alcune compagnie di telecomunicazione abbiano voluto normare il proprio approccio agli strumenti di IA, quali regole abbiano dettato per se stesse e per i loro dipendenti, e per quale motivo, e in che modo esse dichiarino di utilizzare la tecnologia in esame. BIOGRAFIE - e informazioni supplementari [Morra] *Giacomo CONTI* è laureato in Giurisprudenza e grande appassionato di informatica. È alla sua seconda esperienza come borsista al Centro Nexa. Il suo ambito primario di competenza è la responsabilità nell'uso del software, ma si è occupato anche di IA e delle norme sul volo dei droni. Amante dei videogiochi, gestisce il sito di critica e approfondimento MMO.it. Letture consigliate e link utili: * Luciano Floridi, /Soft Ethics and the Governance of the Digital/, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature, 2018, https://www.academia.edu/35948664/Soft_Ethics_and_the_Governance_of_the_Dig… * Decreto legislativo 231/2001, in particolare gli articoli 5 e 6: http://www.parlamento.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/01231dl.htm * Un codice etico a scelta tra TIM, Fastweb, H3G per avere piena coscienza dell’argomento di cui si parla * U. Pagallo et Al., /AI4People - On Good AI Governance: 14 Priority Actions, a S.M.A.R.T. Model of Governance, and a Regulatory Toolbox/, AI 4 PEOPLE, 6 novembre 2019, https://www.eismd.eu/pdf/AI4PEOPLE%20On%20Good%20Ai%20Governance%202019.pdf (nello specifico p. 11) 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> #nexalunchseminar <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nexalunchseminar&src=typd> #AI <https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AI&src=typeahead_click> 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 <mailto:anita.botta@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@polito.it <mailto:anita.botta@polito.it> tel: 011 090 7219

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Problematiche del tracciamento dei contatti: non dobbiamo scegliere tra privacy e salute
by Enrico Nardelli April 13, 2020

April 13, 2020

Alcune riflessioni sull'impatto delle soluzioni digitali di tracciamento dei contatti che secondo me vengono trascurate. https://link-and-think.blogspot.com/2020/04/problematiche-del-tracciamento-… Ogni commento è benvenuto. -- 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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Approccio olistico e coordinamento pubblico/privato - caso Ferrari e FCA
by monica.palmirani April 13, 2020

April 13, 2020

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Governo SG: nessuna soluzione tecnologica di Contact Tracing, rimpiazza il Contact Tracing manuale
by Fabio Pietrosanti (naif) April 13, 2020

April 13, 2020

In risposta all'entuiasmo dell'annuncio di Apple e Google per il supporto di API Bluetooth di CT, il Product lead for TraceTogether del Governo Singaporegno: "If you ask me whether any Bluetooth contact tracing system deployed or under development, anywhere in the world, is ready to replace manual contact tracing, I will say without qualification that the answer is, No." https://blog.gds-gov.tech/automated-contact-tracing-is-not-a-coronavirus-pa… Particolarmente rilevante la sezione "Human-in-the-loop vs Human-out-of-the-loop" che ci riporta alla considerazione della rilevanza della attività di intermediazione umana, e non algoritmica, nelle attività di Contact Tracing, anche quando supportate da dati e strumenti digitali. Cioè, dice il Senior Director (Government Digital Services) del Government Technology Agency, Singapore, nonché product lead della unica App di Bluetooth Contact Tracing in produzione (TraceTogether): "Since Bluetooth-based contact tracing solutions do not, by themselves, record location/environment data, this information needs to be obtained through other means — a human-led contact tracing interview." Cioè che a decidere se inviare un alert o meno, non può essere l'algoritmo, ma deve essere un umano, *dopo* la intervista di CT. L'italia che vuole fare, alert automatici o usare i dati per interviste di CT fatte da umani? Fabio

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descrizione in inglese della nuova versione di DP-3T per il tracciamento dei contatti
by Enrico Nardelli April 13, 2020

April 13, 2020

https://link-and-think.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-new-version-april-10-of-dp-… -- 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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Ovio Explore | Empowering developers to become active open source contributors
by Alberto Cammozzo April 13, 2020

April 13, 2020

<https://explore.ovio.org/covid-19> Covid-19 We are curating open-source initiatives combating the Covid-19 pandemic. Browse software, hardware, and data projects you can use or contribute to! The list is itself a collaborative project. Help us scout for projects and join our GitHub or contact us at covid19(a)ovio.org. Open Source Software As Covid-19 spreads, OSS initiatives have sprung up rapidly to address the crisis. Here is a list of software projects helping societies fight the virus. Open Data - Data Science Monitoring the spread of Covid-19 is essential to control it. Here is a list of projects using data science against the coronavirus Open Source Hardware Testing for Covid-19 is necessary to prevent it from spreading. New open source hardware initiatives are trying to make the process easier, cheaper and accessible.

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aggiornamento sul protocollo DP-3T per il tracciamento dei contatti
by Enrico Nardelli April 12, 2020

April 12, 2020

https://link-and-think.blogspot.com/2020/04/come-funziona-la-nuova-versione… Grazie in anticipo per ogni commento. PS Versione in inglese in lavorazione... -- 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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Evgeny Morozov and Renata Ávila: “Tech in the Times of the Pandemic” Webinar - 11/04/2020 @ 20:00
by Giovanni Battista Gallus April 11, 2020

April 11, 2020

Carissimi, segnalo il Webinar di Evgeny Morozov and Renata Ávila: “Tech in the Times of the Pandemic”, stasera 11/04/2020 alle 20. Questo il link per l'iscrizione: https://internal.diem25.org/it/events/625 A presto G.Battista Gallus

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