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Paper: "State, platform capitalism and infrastructural power: Microsoft's data centres in Greece 2.0"
by J.C. DE MARTIN May 16, 2025

May 16, 2025

*State, platform capitalism and infrastructural power: Microsoft's data centres in Greece 2.0* Charis Papaevangelou et al. *Abstract* This article examines the under-explored role of the state in enabling platform capitalism by analysing Microsoft's infrastructural investment in Greece, as part of the country's post-pandemic ‘National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Greece 2.0’. While much of the critical literature emphasises platform companies’ control over infrastructure and data, we argue that state facilitation is a crucial component of platform capital accumulation. Through a case study of Microsoft's construction of three data centres in the region of Attica, we show how the Greek state actively facilitated this investment, framing it as a driver of modernisation and economic recovery. We base our study on a comprehensive document analysis of official communications, regulatory frameworks and legal documents. This involvement exemplifies how semi-peripheral states like Greece, shaped by neoliberal restructuring and economic dependence, contribute to consolidating the power of tech corporations, often at the expense of local communities and the environment. By integrating theories of state capitalism and techno-colonialism with critical platform scholarship, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the political economy of platform capitalism, revealing the symbiotic yet exploitative nature of state-tech partnerships and urging a re-centring of the state's role in facilitating corporate dominance over digital infrastructures and global platform capitalism. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/29768624251323325

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Bevins, "Nostalgia for 2021"
by J.C. DE MARTIN May 16, 2025

May 16, 2025

*Nostalgia for 2021 */Missing (2023) — Directed by Will Merrick and Nicholas D. Johnson / Vincent Bevins 15 May 2025 When did Google stop working? Was it this year? Maybe, a few years ago? Or maybe it never actually worked, and I am just remembering the years of my youth as I wish that I had lived them? I know what I am supposed to do: I ask Google Gemini. [...] continua qui: https://www.northsouthnotes.org/p/nostalgia-for-2021

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CfP - Big Tech in Global Security Governance, Internet Policy Review
by Francesca Musiani May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025

Cari colleghi e care colleghe, ancora una prima riga in italiano seguita da un annuncio in inglese :) We are pleased to share with you a call for papers for a thematic issue of the Internet Policy Review entitled "Big Tech in Global Security Governance," scheduled for the third quarter of 2026. You can find all the details and the text of the call here: https://policyreview.info/events/call-papers-big-tech-global-security-gover… The themes are: Big Tech in International Relations Big Tech in the Global Landscape of Trust & Safety Big Tech as Arbiters in the Field of Security A variety of perspectives are relevant to addressing these themes, and proposals for contributions from the following disciplines are particularly welcome: information and communication studies, international relations, political science, media studies, security studies, STS, and political economy. Reflections on the methodological challenges associated with research on these topics are encouraged. 400-word proposals (in English) are due by September 21st to bigtechinsec(a)protonmail.com. Responses will be sent by December 15th, and full texts should be submitted by March 15th, 2026. Best regards, Marguerite Borelli Ksenia Ermoshina Francesca Musiani Gulnara Zakharova -- Francesca Musiani, Ph.D. Directrice de recherche | Research Professor, CNRS <http://www.cnrs.fr> Directrice | Director, Centre Internet et Société <https://cis.cnrs.fr/> (UPR 2000 CNRS) Directrice adjointe | Deputy Director, GDR Internet, IA et Société <https://cis.cnrs.fr/presentation-gdr/> (GDR 2091 CNRS) I'm also associated with: i3-CSI <http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/>, MINES ParisTech | Internet Governance Lab <https://internetgovernancelab.org>, American University I co-lead projects: DIGISOV <https://digisov.org> | TIGre <https://netgouv.hypotheses.org/projet-technologie-internet-et-gouvernance-t…> I help co-editing: Internet Policy Review <https://policyreview.info> | RESET <https://journals.openedition.org/reset/> I'm an advisor for: ISOC France <https://www.isoc.fr> | ANSSI <https://www.ssi.gouv.fr/agence/rayonnement-scientifique/conseil-scientifiqu…> | IAMCR <https://iamcr.org/governance/int-council> I'm here on the Web (FR <https://cis.cnrs.fr/francesca-musiani/> | EN <https://cis.cnrs.fr/en/francesca_musiani/>), including my publications.

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EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe has no legal basis
by Giacomo Tesio May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025

Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, and the entire tracking-based advertising industry rely on the “Transparency & Consent Framework” (TCF) to obtain “consent” for data processing. This evening the Belgian Court of Appeal ruled that the TCF is illegal. The TCF is live on 80% of the Internet. [...] Dr Johnny Ryan said "Today's court's decision shows that the consent system used by Google, Amazon, X, Microsoft, deceives hundreds of millions of Europeans. The tech industry has sought to hide its vast data breach behind sham consent popups. Tech companies turned the GDPR into a daily nuisance rather than a shield for people." [...] Today’s judgement confirms the Belgian Data Protection Authority’s 2022 decision. It applies immediately across Europe. <https://www.iccl.ie/digital-data/eu-ruling-tracking-based-advertising-by-go…>

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Peace and Stability in the Age of Militarized AI and Cyber-conflicts: New Challenges and Risks - 63rd ISODARCO Course
by diego latella May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025

Car* Collegh*, All'URL https://www.isodarco.it/63rd-isodarco-course/preliminary-detailed-program/ e' disponibile il programma preliminare del 63mo corso dell'International School On Disarmament And Research On Conflicts, organizzato da G. P. Siroli, G. Tamburrini e il sottoscritto. Penso che il corso possa essere di interesse per vostr* dottorand* e giovani ricercatrici/ricercatori (e forse anche meno giovani). Abbiamo ancora posti liberi (e registriamo una cerca carenza di presenze italiane ...) Per tutte le informazioni rimando al sito del corso: https://www.isodarco.it/63rd-isodarco-course/ Buona giornata DL -- Dott. Diego Latella - Formerly Senior Researcher with CNR/ISTI - Now retired

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un po meno di bla bla
by Juan Carlos Gentile Fag�ndez May 15, 2025

May 15, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NoWKb9a78Q -- _________________________________________ / Ci sono tre ragioni per le quali si \ | diventa scrittori: la prima e' che hai | | bisogno di soldi; la seconda e' che hai | | qualcosa da dire e ritieni che il mondo | | dovrebbe saperla; la terza e' che non | | riesci a pensare a cos'altro fare nelle | | lunghe sere invernali. | | | \ -- Quentin Crisp / ----------------------------------------- \ \ ,__, | | (oo)\| |___ (__)\| | )\_ | |_w | \ | | || * Cower.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In support of Richard Stallman, Normalizing Truth, Reason, Dialogue: https://stallmansupport.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.hipatia.net - wiki.hipatia.net xmpp: jucar at hipatia.net friends: stallman.org - Frangar, non flectar - Homo mundus minor - gutta cavat lapidem Karmanyaevaadhikaarasthe ma phaleshu kadachana Fingerprint: 7464 DDDE 9D5D 3B6C CBF9 7699 A021 CE74 EA7A D95A Public key 0xa021ce74ea7ad95a at pgp.mit.edu keys.openpgp.org -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Osservatorio Nessuno
by Roberto Resoli May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025

Magari scopro l'acqua calda (specie per chi è di Torino), ma: https://osservatorionessuno.org/it/associazione/ > Osservatorio Nessuno è un’Organizzazione di Volontariato (OdV), apartitica, aconfessionale, con struttura democratica e senza scopo di lucro. > Nata dall’esigenza di aumentare il numero di exit node Tor sul territorio italiano, l’associazione ha progressivamente ampliato il proprio ambito d’azione, occupandosi di privacy, anonimato, e dei diritti digitali in rete, attraverso attività di divulgazione e supporto tecnico. > > Osservatorio Nessuno si prefigge i seguenti obiettivi: > > Tutelare la privacy e l’anonimato, anche attraverso il supporto allo sviluppo e alla manutenzione di progetti esistenti; > Difendere la libertà di informazione, espressione e comunicazione sulle reti telematiche; > Promuovere la consapevolezza sui diritti digitali e l’uso critico degli strumenti tecnologici; > Analizzare la sicurezza di dispositivi e tecnologie digitali; > Fornire supporto tecnico a persone esposte al rischio di violazioni dei propri diritti. > rob

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Company Regrets Replacing All Those Pesky Human Workers With AI, Just Wants Its Humans Back
by Daniela Tafani May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025

Company Regrets Replacing All Those Pesky Human Workers With AI, Just Wants Its Humans Back "What you end up having is lower quality." May 13, Joe Wilkins Two years after partnering with OpenAI to automate marketing and customer service jobs, financial tech startup Klarna says it's longing for human connection again. Once gunning to be OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's "favorite guinea pig," Klarna is now plotting a big recruitment drive after its AI customer service agents couldn't quite hack it. The buy-now-pay-later company had previously shredded its marketing contracts in 2023, followed by its customer service team in 2024, which it proudly began replacing with AI agents. Now, the company says it imagines an "Uber-type of setup" to fill their ranks, with gig workers logging in remotely to argue with customers from the comfort of their own homes. "From a brand perspective, a company perspective, I just think it’s so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will be always a human if you want," admitted Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the Swedish fintech's CEO. That's a pretty big shift from his comments in December of 2024, when he told Bloomberg he was "of the opinion that AI can already do all of the jobs that we, as humans, do." A year before that, Klarna had stopped hiring humans altogether, reducing its workforce by 22 percent. A few months after freezing new hires, Klarna bragged that it saved $10 million on marketing costs by outsourcing tasks like translation, art production, and data analysis to generative AI. It likewise claimed that its automated customer service agents could do the work of "700 full-time agents." So why the sudden about-face? As it turns out, leaving your already-frustrated customers to deal with a slop-spinning algorithm isn't exactly best practice. As Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg, "cost unfortunately seems to have been a too predominant evaluation factor when organizing this, what you end up having is lower quality." Klarna isn't alone. Though executives in every industry, from news media to fast food, seem to think AI is ready for the hot seat — an attitude that's more grounded in investor relations than an honest assessment of the tech — there are growing signs that robot chickens are coming home to roost. In January of last year, a survey of over 1,400 business executives found that 66 percent were "ambivalent or outright dissatisfied with their organization’s progress on AI and GenAI so far." The top issue corporate bosses cited was AI's "lack of talent and skills." It's a problem that evidently hasn't improved over the year. Another survey recently found that over 55 percent of UK business leaders who rushed to replace jobs with AI now regret their decision. It's not hard to see why. An experiment carried out by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University stuffed a fake software company full of AI employees, and their performance was laughably bad — the best AI worker finished just 24 percent of the tasks assigned to it. When it comes to the question of whether AI will take jobs, there seem to be as many answers as there are CEOs excited to save a buck. There are gray areas, to be sure — AI is certainly helping corporations speed up low-wage outsourcing, and the tech is having a verifiable effect on labor market volatility — just don't count on CEOs to have much patience as AI starts to chomp at their bottom line. <https://futurism.com/klarna-openai-humans-ai-back>

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NOYB sends Meta a cease and desist letter over Ai optimization
by Stefano Borroni Barale May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025

https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-sends-meta-cease-and-desist-letter-over-ai-training… TL;DR: DPAs do not seem to approve. The national Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) should – theoretically – take enforcement action against non-complaince with the GDPR. However, in a climate where the EU is pushing hard for less regulation and more "innovation" at any costs, we now observe that DPAs in some EU countries just largely function as a messenger for Meta: Many DPAs have just "informed" people that they should urgently opt-out of Meta’s AI training. This is putting the responsibility on the users instead of Meta. Meta also publicly claims to have "engaged" with EU regulators on using social media data for AI training. However, as far as noyb is informed, DPAs largely stayed silent on the legality of AI training without consent. It therefore seems that Meta simply moved ahead anyways – taking another huge legal risk in the EU and trampling over users’ rights. Max Schrems: "As far as we have heard, Meta has 'engaged' with the authorities, but this hasn't led to any 'green light'. It seems that Meta is simply moving ahead and ignores EU Data Protection Authorities. The Authorities in turn seem to just stay silent, telling users to protect themselves. We are witnessing how data protection authorities loose more and more relevance and NGOs have to take action before the courts." Inviato da Proton Mail Android

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Job opportunity: post-doctoral researcher on "AI and society (governance, geopolitics, social issues)" at Centre Internet et Société of CNRS
by Francesca Musiani May 14, 2025

May 14, 2025

Care colleghe e cari colleghi, Mi permetto il resto del messaggio in inglese per maggior circolabilità :) The Centre Internet et Société of CNRS is launching a call for applications for a 2-year post-doctoral contract on the theme "AI and society (governance, geopolitics, social issues)", supported by CNRS Humanities and Social Sciences. The job offer in French and English is here: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UPR2000-FRAMUS-004/Default.aspx?lang=FR https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UPR2000-FRAMUS-004/Default.aspx?lang=EN The deadline for applications is June 4, for an envisaged start of the position on September 1. Do not hesitate to apply if you are interested, and/or to disseminate the offer to your doctoral students and colleagues! All best Francesca -- Francesca Musiani, Ph.D. Directrice de recherche | Research Professor, CNRS <http://www.cnrs.fr> Directrice | Director, Centre Internet et Société <https://cis.cnrs.fr/> (UPR 2000 CNRS) Directrice adjointe | Deputy Director, GDR Internet, IA et Société <https://cis.cnrs.fr/presentation-gdr/> (GDR 2091 CNRS) I'm also associated with: i3-CSI <http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/>, MINES ParisTech | Internet Governance Lab <https://internetgovernancelab.org>, American University I co-lead projects: DIGISOV <https://digisov.org> | TIGre <https://netgouv.hypotheses.org/projet-technologie-internet-et-gouvernance-t…> I help co-editing: Internet Policy Review <https://policyreview.info> | RESET <https://journals.openedition.org/reset/> I'm an advisor for: ISOC France <https://www.isoc.fr> | ANSSI <https://www.ssi.gouv.fr/agence/rayonnement-scientifique/conseil-scientifiqu…> | IAMCR <https://iamcr.org/governance/int-council> I'm here on the Web (FR <https://cis.cnrs.fr/francesca-musiani/> | EN <https://cis.cnrs.fr/en/francesca_musiani/>), including my publications.

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