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"L’algoritmo della precarietà, il caso Foodora"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 17, 2016

Oct. 17, 2016

*L’algoritmo della precarietà, il caso Foodora** * /Lo sciopero dei fattorini di Foodora ricorda quanto avvenuto questa estate a Londra, dove a scioperare sono stati i lavoratori di Deliveroo e UberEats. La gig economy, tra riproposizione del “vecchio” e elementi di novità// /// Arianna Tassinari, Vincenzo Maccarrone 17 ottobre 2016 | Sezione: Italie, Lavoro, Società Sabato 8 ottobre una cinquantina di lavoratori di Foodora, impresa attiva nel settore della consegna cibo tramite fattorini in bicicletta, sono scesi in piazza a Torino per protestare contro le condizioni di lavoro imposte dall’azienda. La vicenda ha avuto molto risalto mediatico e diversi quotidiani hanno parlato dell’azione dei lavoratori di Foodora come del primo sciopero in Italia della cosiddetta sharing economy. Questa terminologia è però scorretta. Si parla solitamente di sharing economy in riferimento all’attività di aziende come Blablacar o Aibnb, che operano tramite piattaforme online che hanno essenzialmente la funzione di mettere in rete compratori di servizi e venditori che ‘condividono’ un loro bene, come la propria auto o la casa. Diverso è invece il caso di imprese come Foodora o Deliveroo: queste compagnie offrono un servizio di consegna cibo dai ristoranti agli utenti, utilizzando lavoratori che danno la propria disponibilità in precise fasce orarie tramite una applicazione per smartphone. L’unico elemento in comune tra i due tipi di attivitá é il fatto che basano le proprie operazioni su piattaforme digitali, ma la somiglianza finisce qui. L’uso di una app per intermediare la domanda e l’offerta di servizi e consumi e per gestire l’allocazione delle prestazioni lavorative accomuna dunque Foodora e Deliveroo ad altre piattaforme digitali di ‘micro-lavoro’, come Uber, MechanicalTurk o Task Rabbit, che ben poco hanno a che fare con l’idea di ‘condivisione’. In questo caso si tende perciò a parlare di gig economy, o “economia dei lavoretti” (gig). […] Continua qui: http://sbilanciamoci.info/lalgoritmo-della-precarieta-caso-foodora/

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UK’s Investigatory Powers Bill
by Antonio Casilli Oct. 17, 2016

Oct. 17, 2016

Un altro mese, un'altra legge liberticida... The UK’s Investigatory Powers Bill is about to become law – here's why that should terrify us Julian Huppert 14 October 2016 The evidence that these powers are all needed is thin indeed. And the cost to all of our privacy is huge. https://www.opendemocracy.net/digitaliberties/julian-huppert/uk-investigato… -- Antonio A. Casilli Associate Professor, Telecom ParisTech Research Fellow, Edgar-Morin Center (EHESS) Member, Interdisciplinary Institute for Innovation (i3 UMR 9217 CNRS)

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PI: "USA, tecnocontrollo poliziesco"
by J.C. DE MARTIN Oct. 16, 2016

Oct. 16, 2016

*USA, tecnocontrollo poliziesco** * /Le forze dell'ordine statunitensi hanno sfruttato il sistema di monitoraggio della startup Geofeedia per reperire dati su manifestanti, seguirne gli spostamenti ed entrare prontamente in azione. È ora che Facebook, Twitter, Instagram vietino queste intrusioni. Il monito è dell'ACLU// / Mirko Zago 13 ottobre 2016 Roma - L'ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) del Nord Carolina ha reso noto di aver ottenuto dei documenti che testimoniano come Twitter, Facebook e Instagram abbiano fornito accesso ai dati degli utenti a una società di social media monitoring. Si tratta di Geofeedia, proprietaria di una piattaforma che sarebbe stata impiegata in accordo con le autorità per identificare e seguire gli spostamenti di chi ha partecipato a manifestazioni di protesta in molto luoghi del Paese. […] Continua qui: http://punto-informatico.it/4347380/PI/News/usa-tecnocontrollo-poliziesco.a…

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Spid: il Tar del Lazio annulla il regolamento dell’Agid
by Guido Noto La Diega Oct. 15, 2016

Oct. 15, 2016

Assoprovider accoglie con soddisfazione l’ennesima sentenza del TAR del Lazio, dopo le due precedenti del 2015 e 2016 che annullavano di fatto i requisiti relativi al capitale sociale necessario per svolgere l’attività di Identity Provider <https://www.key4biz.it/spid-bortolotto-assoprovider-una-trappola-per-utenti…> (5 milioni di euro ndr). https://www.key4biz.it/spid-il-tar-del-lazio-annulla-il-regolamento-dellagi… -- Guido Dr. Guido Noto La Diega <https://uk.linkedin.com/in/guido-noto-la-diega-ph-d-6696146> Northumbria University School of Law City Campus East, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST noto.la.diega(a)gmail.com +44 (0) 191 227 5562 @guidonld You can access my papers on Academia.edu <https://northumbria.academia.edu/GuidoNotoLaDiega> and on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) <http://ssrn.com/author=1794950> This e-mail and any attachment hereto are strictly confidential and are exclusively intended for the person above identified. Without intended recipient’s entitlement, use, copy and dissemination of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received it in error, please advice us immediately by telephone and return the documents received to the above address, deleting the files. Thank you. Unless necessary, please do not print this e-mail.

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Mercedes' Self-Driving Cars Will Kill Pedestrians Over Drivers
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 15, 2016

Oct. 15, 2016

<https://www.inverse.com/article/22204-mercedes-benz-self-driving-cars-ai-et…> When Mercedes-Benz starts selling self-driving cars, it will choose to prioritize driver safety over pedestrians, a company manager has confirmed. The ethical conundrum of how A.I.-powered machines should act in life-or-death situations has received more scrutiny as driverless cars become a reality, but the car manufacturer believes that it’s safer to save the life you have greater control over. “You could sacrifice the car. You could, but then the people you’ve saved initially, you don’t know what happens to them after that in situations that are often very complex, so you save the ones you know you can save,” Christoph von Hugo, Mercedes’ manager of driver assistance systems, told /Car and Driver/ <http://blog.caranddriver.com/self-driving-mercedes-will-prioritize-occupant…> in an interview published last week. “If you know you can save at least one person, at least save that one. Save the one in the car.” [] Ciao, Alberto

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Pentagon Video Warns of “Unavoidable” Dystopian Future for World’s Biggest Cities
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 14, 2016

Oct. 14, 2016

Agghiacciante visione distopica di un inevitabile futuro di guerra urbana. Pentagon Video Warns of “Unavoidable” Dystopian Future for World’s Biggest Cities <https://theintercept.com/2016/10/13/pentagon-video-warns-of-unavoidable-dys…> The year is 2030. Forget about the flying cars, robot maids, and moving sidewalks we were promised. They’re not happening. But that doesn’t mean the future is a total unknown. According to a startling Pentagon video obtained by The Intercept, the future of global cities will be an amalgam of the settings of “Escape from New York” and “Robocop” — with dashes of the “Warriors” and “Divergent” thrown in. It will be a world of Robert Kaplan-esque urban hellscapes — brutal and anarchic supercities filled with gangs of youth-gone-wild, a restive underclass, criminal syndicates, and bands of malicious hackers. At least that’s the scenario outlined in “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” a five-minute video that has been used at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations University. All that stands between the coming chaos and the good people of Lagos and Dhaka (or maybe even New York City) is the U.S. Army, according to the video, which The Intercept obtained via the Freedom of Information Act. “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” a video created by the Army and used at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations University. The video is nothing if not an instant dystopian classic: melancholy music, an ominous voiceover, and cascading images of sprawling slums and urban conflict. “Megacities are complex systems where people and structures are compressed together in ways that defy both our understanding of city planning and military doctrine,” says a disembodied voice. “These are the future breeding grounds, incubators, and launching pads for adversaries and hybrid threats.” The video was used as part of an “Advanced Special Operations Combating Terrorism” course offered at JSOU earlier this year, for a lesson on “The Emerging Terrorism Threat.” JSOU is operated by U.S. Special Operations Command, the umbrella organization for America’s most elite troops. JSOU describes itself as geared toward preparing special operations forces “to shape the future strategic environment by providing specialized joint professional military education, developing SOF specific undergraduate and graduate level academic programs and by fostering special operations research.” Megacities are, by definition, urban areas with a population of 10 million or more, and they have been a recent source of worry and research for the U.S. military. A 2014 Army report, titled “Megacities and the United States Army,” warned that “the Army is currently unprepared. Although the Army has a long history of urban fighting, it has never dealt with an environment so complex and beyond the scope of its resources.” A separate Army study published this year bemoans the fact that the “U.S. Army is incapable of operating within the megacity.”

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Facebook-backed school software shows promise — and raises privacy concerns
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 14, 2016

Oct. 14, 2016

<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/facebook-backed-school-softw…> Caroline Pollock Bilicki felt uneasy about the new education program introduced this year at her children’s Chicago school. Summit Basecamp, built with the help of Facebook engineers, was billed as a powerful tool that could reshape how students learn. Dozens of schools nationwide have signed up to use the program, which tailors lessons to individual students using software that tracks their progress. But it also captures a stream of data, and Bilicki had to sign a consent form <https://plp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/206157927/Parental_Con…> for her children to participate, allowing their personal data to be shared with companies such as Facebook and Google. That data, the form said, could include names, email addresses, schoolwork, grades and Internet activity. Summit Basecamp promised to limit its use of the information — barring it from being used, for example, to deliver targeted ads — but Bilicki agonized over whether to sign the form. “I’m not comfortable with having my kids’ personally identifiable information going to I don’t even know where, to be used for I’m not sure what,” she said. A joint project of Facebook and the high-performing charter-school network Summit Public Schools, Basecamp is an example of an increasingly popular education trend — data-driven “personalized learning.” Its most fervent backers have framed it as the next big thing in education, re-imagining how classrooms work and allowing teachers to reach students across a wide spectrum. But as the Summit program and others like it have expanded, concerns such as Bilicki’s have emerged, highlighting the tension between the promise and the potential perils of new classroom technologies. Some parents, researchers and privacy advocates worry about what information is being collected and how it is being used. Education experts warn that while using computers to personalize teaching might prove transformative, its effectiveness remains largely unproven. []

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There is a blind spot in AI research
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 14, 2016

Oct. 14, 2016

There is a blind spot in AI research -- Kate Crawford & Ryan Calo Fears about the future impacts of artificial intelligence are distracting researchers from the real risks of deployed systems <http://www.nature.com/news/there-is-a-blind-spot-in-ai-research-1.20805> [] Autonomous systems are already deployed in our most crucial social institutions, from hospitals to courtrooms. Yet there are no agreed methods to assess the sustained effects of such applications on human populations. Recent years have brought extraordinary advances in the technical domains of AI <http://www.nature.com/news/computer-science-the-learning-machines-1.14481>. Alongside such efforts, designers and researchers from a range of disciplines need to conduct what we call social-systems analyses of AI. They need to assess the impact of technologies on their social, cultural and political settings. A social-systems approach could investigate, for instance, how the app AiCure — which tracks patients’ adherence to taking prescribed medication and transmits records to physicians — is changing the doctor–patient relationship. Such an approach could also explore whether the use of historical data to predict where crimes will happen is driving overpolicing of marginalized communities. Or it could investigate why high-rolling investors are given the right to understand the financial decisions made on their behalf by humans and algorithms, whereas low-income loan seekers are often left to wonder why their requests have been rejected. [] Alberto

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Invito a partecipare all'Internet Governance Forum Italia 2016 di Venezia
by Stefano Trumpy Oct. 13, 2016

Oct. 13, 2016

Vi trasmetto a nome del Comitato di programma l’invito a partecipare a IGF Italia 2016, spero di vedervi numerosi, cordiali saluti Stefano Trumpy. ================================================================================ Invito a partecipare all'Internet Governance Forum Italia 2016 di Venezia Abbiamo il piacere di invitarvi a partecipare all'Internet Governance Forum Italia 2016 <http://2016.igfitalia.it/> che si terrà a Venezia, il 14 e 15 novembre, organizzato dall’Università Ca’ Foscari con il patrocinio di VENIS ed in collaborazione con Internet SOCiety Italia. I risultati dei lavori saranno presentati al prossimo IGF globale delle Nazioni Unite di Guadalajara, nel Dicembre 2016, ospitato dal governo messicano. L'IGF è dal 2006 un Forum multistakeholder aperto a tutti, che facilita il dialogo sulle questioni di politica pubblica relative allo sviluppo dell’ecosistema Internet. Il 2016 segna il primo IGF a seguito del rinnovo del mandato da parte dell’Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite per i prossimi 10 anni. Le due giornate di incontro a Venezia saranno caratterizzate dal dialogo interattivo e affronteranno una vasta gamma di temi e questioni, tra cui, ma non solo: Net neutrality, Cybersecurity, Industry 4.0, Internet of things, Digital divide, Diritti in rete e Governance di Internet. Le precedenti edizioni di IGF Italia hanno dimostrato il valore dell'approccio multistakeholder e l'importanza di mettere a confronto i diversi attori sociali - governo, istituzioni e pubbliche amministrazioni, settore privato, ricerca e società civile - che portano punti di vista, necessità ed esperienze altrettanto differenti tra loro. L’IGF 2016 di Venezia intende rinnovare e proseguire l'esperienza positiva degli anni precedenti nel dare vita ad un'importante momento di incontro e approfondimento sul futuro di Internet e sulle opportunità offerte dalla rete. Stefano Rodotà, Presidente del Comitato dei promotori di IGF Italia Michele Bugliesi, Rettore Università Ca’ Foscari Luca Battistella, Consigliere Delegato all’Innovazione del Comune di Venezia Alessandra Poggiani, Direttore Generale VENIS Venezia Informatica e Sistemi S.p.A. Stefano Trumpy, Presidente Internet Society Italia =============================================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------ Ing. Stefano Trumpy Presidente Internet Society Italy Via del Poggio 25, Livorno, Italia phone: + 39 0587579212 mobile: +39 3488218618 e-mail: stefano(a)trumpy.eu <mailto:stefano@trumpy.eu> skype: stetru

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Obama in Conversation With MIT’s Joi Ito
by Alberto Cammozzo Oct. 13, 2016

Oct. 13, 2016

<https://www.wired.com/2016/10/president-obama-mit-joi-ito-interview> [] Joi Ito: This may upset some of my students at MIT, but one of my concerns is that it’s been a predominately male gang of kids, mostly white, who are building the core computer science around AI, and they’re more comfortable talking to computers than to human beings. A lot of them feel that if they could just make that science-fiction, generalized AI, we wouldn’t have to worry about all the messy stuff like politics and society. They think machines will just figure it all out for us.[] Alberto

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