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Surprising results after activists test facial recognition technology on Denver City Council
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 15, 2020

Jan. 15, 2020

https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/surprising-results-after-a… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Instagram says it's removing posts supporting Soleimani to comply with US sanctions - CNN
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 15, 2020

Jan. 15, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/tech/instagram-iran-soleimani-posts/index.ht… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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An open letter to Google
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 14, 2020

Jan. 14, 2020

Credo non sia passata in lista: https://privacyinternational.org/advocacy/3320/open-letter-google Giacomo ____ Dear Mr. Pichai, We, the undersigned, agree with you: privacy cannot be a luxury offered only to those people who can afford it. And yet, Android Partners - who use the Android trademark and branding - are manufacturing devices that contain pre-installed apps that cannot be deleted (often known as "bloatware"), which can leave users vulnerable to their data being collected, shared and exposed without their knowledge or consent. These phones carry the "Google Play Protect" branding, but research shows that 91% of pre-installed apps do not appear in Google Play – Google’s app store. These pre-installed apps can have privileged custom permissions that let them operate outside the Android security model. This means permissions can be defined by the app - including access to the microphone, camera and location - without triggering the standard Android security prompts. Users are therefore completely in the dark about these serious intrusions. We are concerned that this leaves users vulnerable to the exploitative business practices of cheap smartphone manufacturers around the world. The changes we believe are needed most urgently are as follows: - Individuals should be able to permanently uninstall the apps on their phones. This should include any related background services that continue to run even if the apps are disabled. - Pre-installed apps should adhere to the same scrutiny as Play Store apps, especially in relation to custom permissions. - Pre-installed apps should have some update mechanism, preferably through Google Play and without a user account. Google should refuse to certify a device on privacy grounds, where manufacturers or vendors have attempted to exploit users in this way. We, the undersigned, believe these fair and reasonable changes would make a huge difference to millions of people around the world who should not have to trade their privacy and security for access to a smartphone. We urge you to use your position as an influential agent in the ecosystem to protect people and stop manufacturers from exploiting them in a race to the bottom on the pricing of smartphones.

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NYTimes: Prime Leverage: How Amazon Wields Power in the Technology World
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 14, 2020

Jan. 14, 2020

Prime Leverage: How Amazon Wields Power in the Technology World https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/technology/amazon-aws-cloud-competition.… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Consultazione: 2025 Strategia per l’innovazione tecnologica e la digitalizzazione del Paese
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 13, 2020

Jan. 13, 2020

Consultazione aperta fino al 30 aprile: https://partecipa.gov.it/processes/innovazione-tecnologica jc (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Microsoft: Developer's Mind Control (Evangelism is War, ~2000)
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 13, 2020

Jan. 13, 2020

http://techrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/comes-3096.pdf A distanza di anni mi è ricapitato davanti questo leak di Microsoft risalente al 2000. E' una lettura molto interessante. A pagina 118 abbiamo una slide sul controllo mentale degli sviluppatori: > # Mind Control > > - To control mental output you have to control mental input. > - Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, > - then they can only think about the things you tell them. > - Thus, you control mindshare! Insomma, Google ha perfezionato il metodo... ma non l'ha inventato. Giacomo

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Three years after the W3C approved a DRM standard, it's no longer possible to make a functional indie browser
by Giacomo Tesio Jan. 13, 2020

Jan. 13, 2020

Una ulteriore prospettiva sugli enormi problemi tecno-politici del web odierno. Giacomo PS si consiglia di visitarlo con uMatrix o simili precauzioni. ____ https://boingboing.net/2020/01/08/rip-open-web-platform.html Back in 2017, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) approved the most controversial standard in its long history: Encrypted Media Extensions, or EME, which enabled Netflix and other big media companies to use DRM despite changes to browsers extensions that eliminated the kinds of deep hooks that DRM requires. At the time, the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that, by approving its first non-unanimous standard, the W3C would give control over browser design to the big browser companies, and two years later, that warning has fully proven out. First, Google -- whose proprietary technology must be licensed in most cases if you want to make a new browser -- stopped permitting open source browsers to use its DRM technology, effectively requiring all new browsers to be proprietary. Now, Microsoft and Apple -- the remaining two vendors who can also supply the proprietary components that Google won't license -- have effectively stopped answering the phone when small browser creators call. Microsoft might let you license its tools if you pay them $10,000 to submit an application and then $0.35 for every browser you ship. Samuel Maddock has been trying to create a rival "indie" browser, and has been to each of the EME DRM vendors and has been sent away by all of them. The W3C's mission is to create an Open Web Platform" so that "everyone has the right to implement a software component of the Web without requiring any approvals or waiving license fees." When EME was approved, we warned that they were effectively ending the Open Web era by putting every future browser developer at the mercy of three giant incumbent browser developers. And here we are. Next up: watch for lurking software bugs in EME that compromise user security and privacy to go unreported while they are exploited by criminals and spies. DRM laws like Section 1201 of the DMCA allow software vendors to threaten whistleblowers who disclose bugs without permission with both civil and criminal liability, and the W3C specifically turned down every single proposal to make its members promise not to abuse this power -- even when those members signalled that they viewed the power to decide who could criticize their products as a feature of the EME process, and not a bug. The web is not merely reduced to five giant sites, each filled from screenshots from the other four, it's also a near-monoculture of browsers, almost all of them controlled by tech giants who have been complicit in both commercial and state surveillance, including surveillance by the world's most notorious torturing and murdering autocracies. The W3C's decision to hand these monopolists perpetual Internet Domination Licenses was the gravest mistake in its history, just when we needed its principled leadership the most. We are living in the aftermath of that decision today and things will get worse long before they get better. Meanwhile, the W3C's own page on EME is completely silent on the most controversial standarization process in the organization's history. > Since the introduction of EME to web standards, the ability > for new browsers to compete has become restricted by > gatekeepers, which goes against the promises of the platform. > > Using the Open Web Platform, everyone has the right to > implement a software componet of the Web without requiring > any approvals or waiving license fees. > > Yes, the EME standard can be implemented by anyone, but > it's moot when the requirement of a CDM says otherwise.

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MIT’s Inconvenient Truth - The Boston Globe
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 13, 2020

Jan. 13, 2020

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/01/12/opinion/mits-inconvenient-truth/ (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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France's digital minister says tax on big tech is just the start | France | The Guardian
by J.C. DE MARTIN Jan. 13, 2020

Jan. 13, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/12/frances-digital-minister-tax-… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Inside Google’s Quest for Millions of Medical Records
by Enrico Nardelli Jan. 12, 2020

Jan. 12, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/paging-dr-google-how-the-tech-giant-is-laying-… ... The failed Cerner deal reveals an emerging challenge to Google’s move into health care: gaining the trust of health care partners and the public. So far, that has hardly slowed the search giant. Google has struck partnerships with some of the country’s largest hospital systems and most-renowned health-care providers, many of them vast in scope and few of their details previously reported. In just a few years, the company has achieved the ability to view or analyze tens of millions of patient health records in at least three-quarters of U.S. states, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of contractual agreements. In certain instances, the deals allow Google to access personally identifiable health information without the knowledge of patients or doctors. The company can review complete health records, including names, dates of birth, medications and other ailments, according to people familiar with the deals. The prospect of tech giants’ amassing huge troves of health records has raised concerns among lawmakers, patients and doctors, who fear such intimate data could be used without individuals’ knowledge or permission, or in ways they might not anticipate. Google is developing a search tool, similar to its flagship search engine, in which patient information is stored, collated and analyzed by the company’s engineers, on its own servers. The portal is designed for use by doctors and nurses, and eventually perhaps patients themselves, though some Google staffers would have access sooner. Google executives and some health systems say that detailed data sharing has the potential to improve health outcomes. Large troves of data help fuel algorithms Google is creating to detect lung cancer, eye disease and kidney injuries. Hospital executives have long sought better electronic record systems to reduce error rates and cut down on paperwork. ... -- 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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