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Google AI propaganda comics
by Antonio Casilli Sept. 15, 2019

Sept. 15, 2019

Remember those old US Christian propaganda comics? Google AI did the same, but for machine learning. Admittedly, this is a useful artifact if you want to summarize the rudiments of it. Plus, it is impeccably crafted, because Google money bought "Bite Me" artist Dylan Meconis and... OMG, Scott McCloud himself. But the amount of ideological BS is unbearable. Especially in light of how they went the extra mile to conceal the #digitallabor that is necessary to generate and annotate data. I mean, for pete's sake, in this story labeled data literally fall from the frigging sky (see case n. 28). And, yes, it is mentioned in passing that when you practice machine learning "you will need humans to sort data by hand". But those humans are not considered essential to and never depicted within the narrative. The story takes place in a STEM world: a white limbo whose only characters are an engineer, a mascot-like computer, and a cat. Here be coders, coders' machines and coders' pets! In this worldwiew, even a feline is more important than a micro-worker to explain how ML comes to be. But enough with me ranting. Here's the story: https://cloud.google.com/products/ai/ml-comic-1/ You can read it, discuss it with friends, use it to teach your "AI & society 101" class. But always remember that, in the immortal words of Shakespeare, "this is a tale told by a software engineer, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing (but their own viewpoint)". -- Antonio A. Casilli Associate Professor (HDR), Telecom Paris (Paris School of Telecommunications) Member, Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation (i3 UMR 9217 CNRS) Associate Member, LACI-IIAC (EHESS) Faculty Fellow, Nexa Center for Internet & Society

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Libraries and Archivists Are Scanning and Uploading Books That Are Secretly in the Public Domain - VICE
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 15, 2019

Sept. 15, 2019

Libraries and Archivists Are Scanning and Uploading Books That Are Secretly in the Public Domain Millions of books are secretly in the public domain thanks to a copyright loophole, a new project seeks to put them on the Internet Archive. By Karl Bode | Sep 10 2019, 2:26pm https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3534j/libraries-and-archivists-are-scan… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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LA Times: "48 states are probing Google on antitrust grounds. Why isn’t California?"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 14, 2019

Sept. 14, 2019

*48 states are probing Google on antitrust grounds. Why isn’t California?* By Suhauna Hussain Staff Writer Sep. 10, 2019 10 AM Attorneys general from nearly every U.S. state have jointly launched an investigation into Google’s “potential monopolistic behavior.” Notable for its absence: California, Google’s home state. Citing a need to protect the integrity of “potential and ongoing investigations,” Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra declined to say why he refused to join the chief law enforcement officers of 48 other states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, in examining the Mountain View-based internet giant’s dominance in online advertising. Alabama is the only other state not participating in the probe, announced Monday. [...] continua qui: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-09-09/48-states-are-…

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Tragedy of the Commons after 50 Years by Alain Marciano, Brett M. Frischmann , Giovanni Battista Ramello :: SSRN
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 14, 2019

Sept. 14, 2019

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3451688 (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Walmart Grocery is expanding its $98 per year ‘Delivery Unlimited’ subscription across the US
by Luigi Scorca Sept. 14, 2019

Sept. 14, 2019

Walmart is expanding its brand-new “Delivery Unlimited” grocery delivery membership program to more stores across the U.S., with plans to reach more than 50% of the country by year-end. https://techcrunch-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/techcrunch.com/2019/09/11/wal… Luigi

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Trasporto aereo, entro il 2025 il 70% dei passeggeri sarà “all digital”
by don Luca Peyron Sept. 14, 2019

Sept. 14, 2019

La *biometria* <https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/tag/biometria/>è un’alleata chiave per una sempre maggiore automatizzazione delle operazioni e un passaggio fluido tra le diverse fasi del viaggio. *Entro il 2021 il 63% delle aerolinee implementerà gate self-service che utilizzano tecnologia biometrica e il riconoscimento delle identità*, il 48% gate che sfruttano la sola biometria; il 58% degli aeroporti installerà gate biometrici. E tale tecnologia è destinata a espandere le proprie funzionalità: il 54% dei responsabili IT di compagnie aeree e aeroporti ritiene che “token” di viaggio biometrici duraturi – cioè non più validi per un solo viaggio o aeroporto, ma per più spostamenti – siano un elemento chiave per definire la passenger experience del futuro. Con annessi e connessi che aprono mondi i più vari, ovviamente. Buona lettura e buona domenica dl https://www.corrierecomunicazioni.it/digital-economy/trasporto-aereo-entro-… _________________________ www.universitari.to.it via XX settembre 83, Torino tel. 011 5156239

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'They wanted me gone': Edward Snowden tells of whistleblowing, his AI fears and six years in Russia | US news | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo Sept. 14, 2019

Sept. 14, 2019

<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2019/sep/13/edward-snowd…> The man whose state surveillance revelations rocked the world speaks exclusively to the Guardian about his new life and concerns for the future The world’s most famous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, says he has detected a softening in public hostility towards him in the US over his disclosure of top-secret documents that revealed the extent of the global surveillance programmes run by American and British spy agencies. In an exclusive two-hour interview in Moscow to mark the publication of his memoirs, Permanent Record, Snowden said dire warnings that his disclosures would cause harm had not come to pass, and even former critics now conceded “we live in a better, freer and safer world” because of his revelations. In the book, Snowden describes in detail for the first time his background, and what led him to leak details of the secret programmes being run by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK’s secret communication headquarters, GCHQ. He describes the 18 years since the September 11 attacks as “a litany of American destruction by way of American self-destruction, with the promulgation of secret policies, secret laws, secret courts and secret wars”. Snowden also said: “The greatest danger still lies ahead, with the refinement of artificial intelligence capabilities, such as facial and pattern recognition. Watch the Guardian’s exclusive video interview with Edward Snowden. “An AI-equipped surveillance camera would be not a mere recording device, but could be made into something closer to an automated police officer.” He is concerned the US and other governments, aided by the big internet companies, are moving towards creating a permanent record of everyone on earth, recording the whole of their daily lives. While Snowden feels justified in what he did six years ago, he told the Guardian he was reconciled to being in Russia for years to come and was planning for his future on that basis. He reveals he secretly married his partner, Lindsay Mills, two years ago in a Russian courthouse. While he would rather be in the US or somewhere like Germany, he is relaxed in Russia, now able to lead a more or less normal daily life. He is less fearful than when he first arrived in 2013, when he felt lonely, isolated and paranoid that he could be targeted in the streets by US agents seeking retribution. “I was very much a person the most powerful government in the world wanted to go away. They did not care whether I went away to prison. They did not care whether I went away into the ground. They just wanted me gone,” he said. He has dispensed with the scarves, hats and coats he once used as disguises and now moves freely around the city, riding the metro, visiting art galleries or the ballet, joining friends in cafes and restaurants. [...]

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Intervista a Snowden
by Marco Ciurcina Sept. 13, 2019

Sept. 13, 2019

Interessante https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2019/09/13/news/ roberto_saviano_intervista_edward_snowden_national_security_agency-235853255/ m.c.

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Amazon's Alexa Answers lets anyone teach facts to Alexa
by J.C. DE MARTIN Sept. 13, 2019

Sept. 13, 2019

Il genio allo stato puro. A noi comuni mortali una cosa simile non verrebbe mai in mente. jc https://www.fastcompany.com/90402924/exclusive-amazon-will-let-anyone-answe… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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Copyright ed editoria digitale
by Rossana Morriello Sept. 13, 2019

Sept. 13, 2019

Mi aggiungo ai commenti conseguenti allinteressante conferenza Nexa sul copyright di mercoledì scorso nella quale qualcuno auspicava la disponibilità di libri in open access. Ecco invece cosa succede purtroppo nel mondo delleditoria digitale https://slate.com/business/2019/09/e-book-library-publisher-buying-controver sy-petition.html Saluti Rossana Morriello

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