- nexa - server-nexa.polito.it

Borse di studio Fondazione Feltrinelli
by Luigi Scorca July 20, 2018

July 20, 2018

La Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli ha lanciato un bando per due borse di studio: - “Lavoro, competenze e politiche industriali nell’era digitale”; -“Regole, pratiche, innovazioni sociali e nuove economie per un futuro sostenibile”. Le trovate qui: http://fondazionefeltrinelli.it/eventi/ Luigi

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PwC: Artificial intelligence will create as many jobs as it destroys - Business Insider
by gabriele elia July 19, 2018

July 19, 2018

vexata questio Ma siamo sul filo di lana: p.es. in UK nel 2037: "In absolute terms, around 7 million existing jobs are projected to be displaced, but around 7.2 million are projected to be created, giving a net jobs boost of around 0.2 million." http://uk.businessinsider.com/pwc-artificial-intelligence-wont-destroy-all-… Artificial intelligence will create as many jobs as it destroys, according to a PwC analysis • Shona Ghosh • • Jul. 17, 2018, 8:06 AM • Billionaires including Bill Gates and Elon Musk have argued that robots will basically replace humans at work. • People are now worried about vast swathes of unemployment where a few wealthy people own the robots and the rest survive on government handouts. • But a new PwC forecast suggests artificial intelligence will create as many jobs as it destroys. • AI will disproportionately affect certain sectors negatively such as manufacturing and transport, but will create jobs in healthcare and education. ________________________________________ The likes of Elon Musk and Bill Gates have made repeated doomsday warnings about artificial intelligence becoming more skilled at humans at just about everything. So it's little surprise that people are scared about a post-AI future where a mostly jobless population subsists on universal basic income while rich people own and operate all the robots. But a new report from consultancy firm PwC joins a growing chorus of more cautious economic forecasts that suggest the future is brighter than we might think. Looking at the UK, PwC found that it's true that robots will replace some jobs, especially in sectors like transport or manufacturing. AI will "displace" 38% of transport jobs, and 30% of manufacturing jobs, according to the report. But other sectors will actually see greater job creation thanks to AI, evening out the balance. Only 12% of jobs in healthcare will be displaced by AI, while 34% will be created, PwC predicts. The upshot is that AI will create as many jobs as it destroys, when evened out across different sectors. The report said: "Our estimates suggest that AI will not lead to technological unemployment as we project that it will displace around 20% of existing UK jobs by 2037, but create a similar number. "In absolute terms, around 7 million existing jobs are projected to be displaced, but around 7.2 million are projected to be created, giving a net jobs boost of around 0.2 million." The OECD was even more conservative about job displacement in a report earlier this year. The economic organisation concluded that just 14% of jobs in its member countries were at risk of automation. Both PwC and the OECD suggested that sectors that would benefit the most from AI, or are at least risk from automation, are those that involve complex, specialised tasks and people. This includes: • Education • Scientific and technical work • Information and communication • Accommodation and food services Sectors that will do badly include those that involve repetitive, administrative tasks such as: • Finance and insurance • Retail • Construction • Public administration • Construction • Transport • Manufacturing Here are the full UK numbers from PwC showing AI job creation and displacement in different sectors: PwC [cid:344390ae-969b-4b6b-b34d-3333ef5461dd]

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Open source, software libero e altre libertà - Un'introduzione alle libertà digitali
by Giovanni Battista Gallus July 19, 2018

July 19, 2018

Care amiche e amici nexiani, mi permetto di segnalare, dato che si tratta di temi strettamente attinenti a Nexa, l'ultima fatica dell'amico e Collega in Array Carlo Piana, il libro "Open source, software libero e altre libertà - Un'introduzione alle libertà digitali", con prefazione di Roberto Di Cosmo e postfazione di Simone Aliprandi. Il libro è rilasciato con licenza CC. Maggioni informazioni su http://www.copyleft-italia.it/libri/open-source-software-libero.html. Saluti cari G.Battista Gallus

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The cashless society is a con – and big finance is behind it | Brett Scott | Opinion | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo July 19, 2018

July 19, 2018

<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/19/cashless-society-con-…> All over the western world banks are shutting down cash machines and branches. They are trying to push you into using their digital payments and digital banking infrastructure. Just like Google wants everyone to access and navigate the broader internet via its privately controlled search portal, so financial institutions want everyone to access and navigate the broader economy through their systems. Another aim is to cut costs in order to boost profits. Branches require staff. Replacing them with standardised self-service apps allows the senior managers of financial institutions to directly control and monitor interactions with customers. [...]

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EU/US Privacy Shield agreement failing – US must correct by September, say MEPs
by Alberto Cammozzo July 18, 2018

July 18, 2018

<https://www.shoeman.eu/eu-us-privacy-shield-agreement-failing-meps/> European Parliament Brussels, 12/06/2018. The Civil Liberties committee of the European Parliament (LIBE) has called on the EU Commission to suspend the EU/US Privacy Shield agreement on data exchange of personal data, since this (relatively new) agreement still fails to provide sufficient data protection for EU citizens. Privacy Shield should be suspended unless the US complies with it by 1 September 2018, said the committee’s MEPs, in a resolution passed by 29 votes to 25, with three abstentions. They added that the US authorities need to comply with the agreement terms in full. [...]

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Annual Conference of the Master of Laws in Intellectual Property | 15th October 2018
by Francesco Ruggiero July 18, 2018

July 18, 2018

Dear all, the International Training Centre of the ILO, the University of Turin and WIPO Academy are pleased to invite you to the *Annual Conference of the Master of Laws in Intellectual Property*. The Annual Conference will be held at the campus of the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Viale Maestri del Lavoro 10, in Piedmont Conference Hall, classrooms 135-136, o*n 15th October, from 09:30 am to 13:00.* The theme of the Annual Conference will be "Trade Secrets”. The Senior Day meeting of the LL.M alumni with the students of the current edition will follow in the afternoon. The Director of the Turin School of Development, *Mr Giuseppe Casale*, the Head, Academic Institutions Program of WIPO Academy,* Mr Joe Bradley* and *Prof. Alessandro Enrico Cogo*, Scientific Director by the University of Turin will chair the opening of the Annual Conference. Please confirm your participation by phone +39 011 6936518 or by e-mail: llm_ip(a)itcilo.org. The agenda will follow. Kind regards -- 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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Carpenter v. U.S.
by avv. Monica A. Senor July 17, 2018

July 17, 2018

Cari tutti, sperando sia di interesse, mi permetto di linkare un mio commento per Medialaws a Carpenter v. U.S., una recente sentenza con cui la Corte Suprema americana ha sancito il riconoscimento costituzionale della reasonable expectation of privacy doctrine, teoria già espressa nelle cuncurring opinion dei giudici Alito e Sotomayor nel caso U.S. v. Jones del 2012, ora assurta a principio giurisprudenziale vincolante sotteso al IV Emendamento della Costituzione americana. Buona serata, Monica http://www.medialaws.eu/carpenter-v-united-stated-unimportante-sentenza-tas…

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The US government claims it’s swabbing the cheeks of immigrants to match them using DNA
by Alberto Cammozzo July 17, 2018

July 17, 2018

Esempio lampante della strategia di creare l'emergenza per creare l'eccezione, che poi diventerà la regola. <https://www.technologyreview.com/the-download/611631/the-us-government-clai…> The Department of Health and Human Services says it’s using DNA tests to help reunite 3,000 immigrant children separated from their parents—but won’t say who is doing the tests. *The situation:* The agency is under an order from a US. federal district court to reunite alien minors under five years old with their parents. It says DNA tests are a fast way to do it. *The background:* Immigrants frequently pay for DNA tests to establish that they’re related to someone in the US. However, genetic tests have never been used to untangle a mass round-up like this one. *Ethical problems:* Testing a child’s DNA requires consent of a parent or guardian. Without knowing who the children’s parents are, it’s unclear how the US government can obtain that consent. “If a child can’t verbalize who their parent is, DNA is an excellent way to find out,” says Michael Baird, chief science officer of DNA Diagnostics Center, a testing company based in Ohio. “But I don’t know how a child under five, or even over five, can legally consent to a test.” Nevertheless, federal law states that unaccompanied kids in HHS’s custody are the agency’s responsibility, and it can place them in foster homes and make medical decisions for them. That could include taking their DNA. *How the tests work:* Identification tests look at a dozen genetic markers calls short-tandem repeats, or STRs. They’re the same kind used in paternity disputes and by police. STRs don’t contain any health information. The government says the testing results on immigrants will be discarded later. *Results so far:* According to HHS, some people claiming to be parents aren’t really—and a few have already admitted it when asked to take a DNA test. On July 10, the agency said <https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2018/07/10/administration-is-following-court…> 34 parents had already cleared a criminal check and taken a DNA test linking them to their kids. *The mystery:* HHS has refused to say who is performing the tests. Although the DNA tests themselves are mostly infallible, the logistics of keeping track of everyone’s samples isn’t. A mix-up could lead to a wrong conclusion that a parent and child aren’t actually related.

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Our phones and gadgets are now endangering the planet | John Harris | Opinion | The Guardian
by Alberto Cammozzo July 17, 2018

July 17, 2018

La questione ambientale sempre più nell'agenda ICT. <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/17/internet-climate-carb…> [] Most of us communicate with this small and wealthy corner of the US every day. Thanks to a combination of factors – its proximity to Washington DC, competitive electricity prices, and its low susceptibility to natural disasters – the county is the home of data centres used by about 3,000 tech companies: huge agglomerations of circuitry, cables and cooling systems that sit in corners of the world most of us rarely see, but that are now at the core of how we live. About 70% of the world’s online traffic is reckoned to pass through Loudoun County. But there is a big problem, centred on a power company called Dominion, which supplies the vast majority of Loudoun County’s electricity. According to a 2017 Greenpeace report, only 1% of Dominion’s total electricity comes from credibly renewable sources: 2% originates in hydroelectric plants, and the rest is split evenly between coal, gas and nuclear power. Dominion is also in the middle of a huge regional controversy about a proposed pipeline that will carry fracked gas to its power plants, which it says is partly driven by data centres’ insatiable appetite for electricity. Clearly, then, the video streams, digital photographs and messaging that pour out of all those servers come with a price. I was reminded of all this by the recently published book New Dark Age, by the British writer James Bridle. He cites a study in Japan that suggests that by 2030, the power requirements of digital services will outstrip the nation’s entire current generation capacity. He quotes an American report from 2013 – ironically enough, commissioned by coal industry lobbyists – that pointed out that using either a tablet or smartphone to wirelessly watch an hour of video a week used roughly the same amount of electricity (largely consumed at the data-centre end of the process) as two new domestic fridges. If you worry about climate change and a cause celebre such as the expansion of Heathrow airport, it is worth considering that data centres are set to soon have a bigger carbon footprint than the entire aviation industry. Yet as Bridle points out, even that statistic doesn’t quite do justice to some huge potential problems. He mentions the vast amounts of electricity consumed by the operations of the online currency Bitcoin – which, at the height of the speculative frenzies earlier this year, was set to produce an annual amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to 1m transatlantic flights. And he’s anxious about what will happen next: “In response to vast increases in data storage and computational capacity in the last decade, the amount of energy used by data centres has doubled every four years, and is expected to triple in the next 10 years.” These changes are partly being driven by the so-called internet of things: the increasing array of everyday devices – from TVs, through domestic security devices, to lighting systems, and countless modes of transport – that constantly emit and receive data. If driverless cars ever arrive in our lives, those same flows will increase hugely. At the same time, the accelerating rollout of the internet and its associated technologies in the developing world will add to the load. []

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Uber has terminated its self-driving car operators in Pittsburgh
by Alberto Cammozzo July 17, 2018

July 17, 2018

<https://qz.com/1326155/uber-has-terminated-its-self-driving-car-operators-i…> Uber has laid off its self-driving car operators in Pittsburgh as the company rethinks its autonomous vehicle strategy following a fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona The company held a meeting earlier today (July 11) to inform about 100 autonomous vehicle operators—people who monitor its self-driving cars—that their jobs were being terminated, a source close to the situation told Quartz. Uber said it was eliminating the position of autonomous vehicle operator, and that operators were free to apply to other roles at the company, the source said. Uber confirmed it laid off about 100 autonomous vehicle operators in Pittsburgh and eliminated the position. The company plans to replace these jobs with about 55 “mission specialists”—specialists who are trained in both on-road and more advanced test-track operations, and who are expected to provide more technical feedback to self-driving car developers. Uber said affected operators could apply for these positions. “Our team remains committed to building safe self-driving technology, and we look forward to returning to public roads in the coming months,” an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Uber suspended driverless-car testing at all sites—Pittsburgh, Tempe, Toronto, and San Francisco—after one of its vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe on March 18. Elaine Herzberg was walking her bike across a highway at night when she was hit by Uber’s vehicle, which was in autonomous mode at the time. A Tempe police report released in June deemed the crash “entirely avoidable.” Tempe detectives believe that the safety driver involved in the incident, Rafaela Vasquez, was likely distracted watching NBC talent show The Voice on her phone at the time of the collision. In late May, Uber shut down its driverless cars tests in Arizona, laying off about 300 people it had employed as safety drivers and continued to pay since the fatal crash. After it shuttered operations in Arizona, Uber said it hoped to resume self-driving car operations in Pittsburgh this summer. That statement drew a strong rebuke from Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto, who claimed the company failed to inform him of its plans, forcing him to learn about it “through social media reports.” Uber contended that it had “reached out to relevant officials” at every step. Uber’s autonomous vehicle operators originally worked in pairs, but around November 2017 the company switched to having a single operator per vehicle, the person familiar with the matter told Quartz. Uber justified the change as an intermediate step between going from two operators to none in a fully autonomous vehicle, this person said, but also admitted to it being a cost-cutting measure. Pittsburgh operators were hired as employees with benefits and paid $24 an hour, and Uber had continued to pay them since the Tempe incident. [...]

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