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NYT: "A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Nov. 9, 2018

Nov. 9, 2018

*A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley** * /“I am convinced the devil lives in our phones.”// / By Nellie Bowles Oct. 26, 2018 SAN FRANCISCO — The people who are closest to a thing are often the most wary of it. Technologists know how phones really work, and many have decided they don’t want their own children anywhere near them. A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is O.K. “Doing no screen time is almost easier than doing a little,” said Kristin Stecher, a former social computing researcher married to a Facebook engineer. “If my kids do get it at all, they just want it more.” [...] Continua qui: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/26/style/phones-children-silicon-valley.html

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How a Month without Computers Changed Me
by Alberto Cammozzo Nov. 9, 2018

Nov. 9, 2018

Resoconto molto interessante ... <https://dev.to/iskin/how-a-month-without-computers-changed-me-1ho4> No emails left for me to read. Nor write. I’ve sent a message to my family and delegated my open source projects (Autoprefixer and PostCSS) to my friends. With my last tweet sent, I turn off my laptop, phone, and tablet. My Digital Sabbath begins in 10 minutes: no digital devices for the next month. The Month of Ramadan It began with a post <https://sajjadi.livejournal.com/158713.html> about the Islamic month of Ramadan <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan>, when one is not allowed to drink or eat until ‘the first star appears in the sky’ (imagine how difficult it must be fasting like that in Norway, during the polar day). The Ambassador explained that religious people deny themselves what everyday life has to offer to understand how great God’s grace is. This idea gave birth in my imagination to a technocratic state where people do without soy and genetically modified foods for a year just to see: natural agriculture is costly and might lead to global hunger. Then I asked myself if ‘technological fasting’ could do one good in modern society. Technology has changed the world in the blink of an eye, leaving us no time to reflect on it. What if a month without modern technology could ‘travel’ you to the past? What if there is a way you could compare your technology-relying self to what you once were? I had doubts. My love of IT and addiction to digital overload were not going to make it easy. But then I learned about this effort of a computer-weary <https://www.theverge.com/2013/5/1/4279674/im-still-here-back-online-after-a…> The Verge journalist. My life, he wrote, had become so much better without the computers. To me, his report seemed not without bias, and I decided to take my own journey into the pre-digital world—this time to be seen through the eyes of a programmer. [...] Digital technologies are something more than routine tools we use without thought. The digital world has grown into our souls, created whole new worlds for our imagination and creativity, introduced us to so many people we would have never met otherwise—without us noticing it. The digital world needed no neuro-interfaces or cyberpunk-books to become part of us. The most painful thing about my Digital Sabbath was the feeling of something missing deep down inside. I came to the conclusion that IT hadn’t changed the world around, but created another, a parallel one. The reason we are always nervous and never have enough time is that we are living two lives now. It’s without a doubt difficult, yet how interesting it is to be living two times as much! [...]

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Microsoft’s president says we need to regulate facial recognition tech before ‘the year 2024 looks like the book “1984”’
by Alberto Cammozzo Nov. 9, 2018

Nov. 9, 2018

<https://www.recode.net/2018/11/7/18072048/facial-recognition-regulation-bra…> Facial recognition software is already prevalent in a lot of mainstream technology products. You may even use a few of them, like Facebook photo tagging, Snapchat or Instagram face filters, or the iPhone’s Face ID, which uses facial recognition to unlock the phone. Future uses of the technology may not be so harmless. Microsoft President Brad Smith laid out a frightening scenario in which facial recognition technology, if left unchecked, could totally change the way we live and what privacy people are able to retain, if any. “It potentially means every time you walk into a store, a retailer knows when you were in there last, what good you picked out, what you purchased,” he said at Web Summit, a tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday. “I think even that frankly pales in comparison to what it could do to relationships between individuals and the state.” Smith went on to describe what sounds like a total doomsday scenario for facial recognition technology, a scenario on par with the idea that automation will replace all jobs, or Elon Musk’s projected AI apocalypse <https://www.recode.net/2017/7/25/16026184/mark-zuckerberg-artificial-intell…>. Here’s Smith’s concern: For the first time, the world is on the threshold of technology that would give a government the ability to follow anyone anywhere, and everyone everywhere. It could know exactly where you are going, where you have been and where you were yesterday as well. And this has profound potential ramifications for even just the fundamental civil liberties on which democratic societies rely. Before we wake up and find that the year 2024 looks like the book “1984,” let’s figure out what kind of world we want to create, and what are the safeguards and what are the limitations of both companies and governments for the use of this technology. Microsoft does build facial recognition technology, and Smith has been public in the past about the need for regulation <https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2018/07/13/facial-recognition-tec…>. Facebook and Apple do, too. Amazon sells its facial recognition technology to law enforcement agencies, an arrangement that has angered some of the company’s employees <https://www.recode.net/2018/11/5/18062008/amazon-ice-we-wont-build-it-all-h…> who are worried about how it’s used for surveillance purposes. The logical move to prevent this is to put regulations or rules in place to limit how the technology can be used. The problem is that, at least in the U.S., politicians haven’t shown an ability to agree on much tech regulation. Even with some new leadership in place following this week’s U.S. midterms, it’s unclear if there is any kind of consensus to keep tech companies in check. Smith isn’t the only one concerned about tech regulation. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who joined Smith onstage at Web Summit, also stressed the importance of tech regulation. “I don’t think the governments are yet equipped to understand [these issues], but I think they need to be,” Blair said. “It really is necessary for those in the tech world ... to educate the policy makers as to what this means.” Blair believes there is a real pessimism around technology right now — which also means an opportunity for politicians to lean into regulation and use that to shape a positive story around how technology will impact people’s lives moving forward. “The first group of politicians to seize that opportunity and to create that narrative will be the ones that [own] the future of politics,” he said.

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Awful AI
by Giacomo Tesio Nov. 8, 2018

Nov. 8, 2018

> *Awful AI* is a curated list to track *current* scary usages of AI - > hoping to raise awareness to its misuses in society > > Artificial intelligence in its current state is unfair > <https://github.com/rockita/criticalML> and easily susceptible to attacks > <http://www.cleverhans.io/security/privacy/ml/2016/12/16/breaking-things-is-…>. > Nevertheless, more and more concerning the uses of AI technology are > appearing in the wild. This list aims to track *all of them*. We hope > that *Awful AI* can be a platform to spur discussion for the development > of possible contestational technology (to fight back!). > https://github.com/daviddao/awful-ai Raccolta interessante, sebbene sicuramente parziale. Al momento mancano, per esempio, tutte le applicazioni robotiche autonome che hanno effettivamente ucciso esseri umani. Giacomo

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To regulate AI we need new laws, not just a code of ethics | Paul Chadwick | Opinion | The Guardian
by J.C. DE MARTIN Nov. 8, 2018

Nov. 8, 2018

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/28/regulate-ai-new-laws-… (Sent from my wireless device; please excuse brevity and typos (if any))

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universal guidelines for artificial intelligence
by Enrico Nardelli Nov. 7, 2018

Nov. 7, 2018

"We propose these Universal Guidelines to inform and improve the design and use of AI. The Guidelines are intended to maximize the benefits of AI, to minimize the risk, and to ensure the protection of human rights..." https://thepublicvoice.org/ai-universal-guidelines/ https://thepublicvoice.org/ai-universal-guidelines/memo/ -- 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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a contract for the web
by Enrico Nardelli Nov. 7, 2018

Nov. 7, 2018

(from he MIT Technology Review) Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the web, kicked off proceedings with an impassioned plea to save his creation from “fake people, fake ideas and fake truth.” He launched a “Contract for the Web,” https://fortheweb.webfoundation.org/principles-1 a set of principles for companies, governments and citizens, which will be turned into full guidelines by May 2019, when half the world is due to be online. These include a promise that companies will “respect consumers’ privacy and personal data.” Two of the early signatories are Google and Facebook. -- 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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Facial image matching system risks 'chilling effect' on freedoms, rights groups say | World news | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo Nov. 7, 2018

Nov. 7, 2018

Australia, non Cina. <https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/07/facial-image-matching-system-…> Civil rights groups have warned a vast, powerful system allowing the near real-time matching of citizens’ facial images risks a “profound chilling effect” on protest and dissent. The technology – known in shorthand as “the capability” – collects and pools facial imagery from various state and federal government sources, including driver’s licences, passports and visas. The biometric information can then rapidly – almost in real time – be compared with other sources, such as CCTV footage, to match identities. The system, chiefly controlled by the federal Department of Home Affairs, is designed to give intelligence and security agencies a powerful tool to deter identity crime, and quickly identify terror and crime suspects. [...]

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Blockchain. Intorno alla moneta digitale | 19 novembre 2018, Torino
by Francesco Ruggiero Nov. 6, 2018

Nov. 6, 2018

Gentilissimi, vi segnalo un incontro in programma il *19 novembre, ore 18-20*, al Circolo dei Lettori di Torino, in via Bogino 9. Tema: *“Blockchain. Intorno alla moneta digitale”.* L’incontro sarà introdotto da *Maurizio Ferraris* (Università di Torino). Interverranno *Marco Conoscenti *(Nexa Center for Internet & Society), *Francesco Guala* (Università di Milano), *Michele Manente* (Commissione informatica del Consiglio Nazionale del Notariato e *Angela Condello *(Università di Torino) in qualità di moderatrice. Maggiori informazioni sono disponibili all’indirizzo: https://www.circololettori.it/scienza-nuova-3/ Cordiali saluti, Francesco -- Francesco Ruggiero Communication Manager Nexa Center for Internet & Society Politecnico di Torino - DAUIN Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino web: http://nexa.polito.it mail: francesco.ruggiero(a)polito.it tel: 011 090 7219

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Release of RESET Issue 7 'Political Forms and Movements in the Digital Era'
by Francesca Musiani Nov. 5, 2018

Nov. 5, 2018

(With apologies for cross-posting) ------- Dear colleagues, Clément Mabi and Célya Gruson-Daniel (issue editors), and the editorial board of the RESET journal (Social Science Research on the Internet) are delighted to announce the publication of Issue 7, 'Political Forms and Movements in the Digital Era'. The ambition of this issue of the RESET journal is indeed to question how digital technologies, embedded in different contexts, produce new forms of political mobilization and organization, or stabilize older ones, while conveying multiple values and principles which are, in turn, transforming technologies themselves. The issue is freely accessible in its entirety at the following address: https://journals.openedition.org/reset/899 with a bilingual introduction. With kindest regards The issue editors and the RESET editorial board. --------- Cher-e-s collègues, Clément Mabi et Célya Gruson-Daniel (coord.) ainsi que le comité de rédaction de la revue RESET (Recherches en sciences sociales sur Internet) sont heureux de vous annoncer la parution du numéro 7 de la revue, 'Formes et mouvements politiques à l'ère numérique'. Ce numéro de la revue RESET cherche à questionner la manière dont le « numérique », inséré dans différents contextes, produit de nouvelles formes de mobilisation et d’organisation politiques, ou en stabilise d’anciennes, tout en embarquant avec lui une série de valeurs et de principes qui contribuent en retour à les faire elles-mêmes évoluer. Le numéro est librement accessible en texte intégral à l'adresse: https://journals.openedition.org/reset/899. Bien cordialement, Les coordinateurs et le CR RESET -- Francesca Musiani (ph.d.) associate research professor (*chargée de recherche*), CNRS, ISCC <http://www.iscc.cnrs.fr/> associate researcher, i3, CSI <http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/>, MINES ParisTech vice-chair, CPT <http://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/cp-t>, IAMCR academic editor, @PolicyR <http://policyreview.info/> on the web <http://www.iscc.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article1960> | on twitter <https://twitter.com/franmusiani>

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