Vort3x III | Cybersalon | December 15th, 2021
Vort3x, published on the 15th of each month, aims to pick out significant developments in the intersection of computers, freedom, privacy, and security for friends near and far. The views expressed in these stories do not necessarily reflect those of Cybersalon, either individually or collectively. Prepared by Wendy M. Grossman.
Cybersalon Events
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Our contribution to Algo-rave movement continues in January for Arts Birthday 2022. We will be building on last year fabulous online event with Alex Mclean and artists from Moscow, NY and London. If you want to join and create a short piece for the event, get in touch with [email protected]
NEWS
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Internet or Splinternet – a new initiative by Five Eyes+Friends ‘Alliance’ (the usual suspects) has been formed to push back on China and Russia poor bedside manners. The new idea is introducing the concept of a fully fledged Splinternet, with separation at cybersecurity and tech infrastructure suppliers level. Early days but the writing is on the wall for our original version for global comms platform.
Global misinformation funded by Facebook and Google
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Thousands of clickbait farms operating on a global scale take advantage of design decisions by Facebook and Google that fail to penalise users for posting identical content across many pages, allowing them to cash in on outrageous content, especially in countries where payouts outstrip other types of available work, Karen Hao reports at MIT Technology Review. A study conducted in partnership with the Integrity Institute found thousands of these pages with millions of followers. Among the tools used in the study was CrowdTangle, which Facebook terminated earlier this year.
UK tax authorities include bitcoin exchanges in digital tax levy
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The UK tax authority, HMRC, has said that bitcoin exchanges do not qualify for an exemption from the country’s new 2% levy on online marketplaces, search engines, and social media services because they are not financial instruments and do not qualify as commodities or money, James Titcomb reports at the Telegraph. The levy is expected to be phased out when a replacement measure comes into force in line with the G20 tax deal agreed earlier this year. Coinbase is expected to pass HMRC’s threshold for the digital services levy this year.
Amazon undermines privacy protections in US states
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Internal documents show that Amazon has undermined or killed privacy protections in more than three dozen bills across 25 US states in recent years, Jeffrey Dastin, Chris Kirkham, and Aditya Kalra report at Reuters after reviewing hundreds of internal documents and interviewing more than 70 lobbyists, advocates, policy makers, and staffers involved in the targeted legislation. The company says it has opposed “poorly crafted” bills, and that some documents are early, incomplete drafts. Besides customer data from its retail site, Amazon harvests information from its Alexa speakers and home surveillance Ring devices. At TechCrunch, Devin Coldewey reports that Amazon collects as much as 34% of Marketplace sellers’ revenues, citing a report from he Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
US: Local newspapers file suit against Google and Facebook
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Over the past year more than 200 local newspapers in dozens of US states have sued Google and Facebook alleging that the two company have diverted digital ad revenues that would otherwise have gone to local news, beginning in January 2021 in West Virginia, Sara Fischer and Kristal Dixon report at Axios. The newspapers are represented by a coalition of lawyers including antitrust experts, and are being funded on contingency; the filings began after the House Judiciary Committee published its report on digital competition. The lawsuits have been consolidated in the Southern District of New York.
Scammers profit from fake cryptocurrency giveaways on social media
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Scammers are creating fake videos using footage from public figures associated with cryptocurrencies in order to promote fake giveaways on YouTube and other social media, Sarah Coble reports at Infosecurity Magazine. The most profitable – bitcoin scams – generate an average of $1.6 million in stolen funds.
Keep an eye on updates and videos to follow from: Cybersalon Christmas Lecture
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London, UK
Cybernetics pioneer Raul Espejo, creator of the early 1970s Chilean system Cybersyn and a professor at Lincoln University, presented the annual Cybersalon Christmas lecture, focusing on the question of whether post-pandemic society should optimize – or reboot. The lecture was followed by a discussion among Espejo, Richard Barbrook (University of Westminster), Eva Pascoe (Cybersalon), Edward Saperia (Newspeak House), Paolo Gerbaudo (King’s College, London) – video to follow
FEATURES AND ANALYSIS
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EU’s overbroad proposed artificial intelligence act needs definition
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In this report at Data Innovation, Mikolaj Barczentewicz analyses the definition of “artificial intelligence” adopted in the EU’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act, which will subject a list of “high-risk” sectors to rules that regulate the design, training, and use of AI systems. Barczentewicz argues that the EU needs to narrow its definition, which, as written, includes any software that is “logic or knowledge-based”. In a podcast at Harvard Business Review, annual “State of AI” report authors Nathan Benaich and Ian Hogarth discuss with Azeem Azhar, author of the recent book Exponential, why AI is breaking through in medical biology and defence and how to keep the technology safe.
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The EU and its member states have spent millions of euros over the last ten years on experimental technology including drones and sensor systems, to surveil and repel refugees at its borders, Kaamil Ahmed and Lorenzo Tondo report at the Guardian. In November 2021 Poland approved a £300 million, 18-foot-high wall with thermal cameras and motion sensors; Greece operates airships on its border with Turkey; and long-endurance Israeli Heron drones patrol the Mediterranean. The increased surveillance is thought to be a factor in pushing people to take riskier routes to the border.
The economics of email newsletters
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In this blog posting, Ben Evans examines the economics of email newsletters and the rise of Substack. As in so many previous cases, the big money comes to those who start early enough to be visible. Evans finds that getting readers – “discovery at scale” – is as ever difficult, as are the tradeoffs between ease of use vs owning your own brand and community.
Surveillance is Smart Singapore’s enduring reality
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In this article at Rest of World, Peter Guest discusses the reality of smart cities using Singapore as Exhibit A: the original well-intentioned “Smart Nation” goals of improving efficiency via technology usefully embedded into everyday life have faded, leaving behind pervasive prison-level surveillance that has been sold to the population on the basis of increasing safety. By 2030, Singapore will be filled with 200,000 sensors including facial recognition cameras and crowd analytics systems. The key problem: Singapore commissions technologies to solve the government’s problems, not those of citizens.
The missed opportunity of UK data protection reform proposals
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In this series of blog postings at Medium, Mydex co-founder Alan Mitchell responds to the UK government’s plan to reform data protection as outlined in its consultation paper “Data: A New Direction”. In the first, Mitchell discusses the two key qualities that make data valuable: reliability and surprise. In the second, Mitchell dissects myths around data, innovation, and growth, finding that the government’s basic assumption, that there is a tradeoff between “growth and innovation” and data protection, is wrong and only serves the adtech industry. In fact, Mitchell concludes, everything the government wants could be achieved by retaining citizens’ rights over their data without changing existing legislation if it considered the innovative alternative of personal data store-based logistics.
DIARY
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In light of the coronavirus outbreak, please check links to events listed below for participation restrictions and updates as to whether events will go ahead.
ONE-OFF EVENTS
Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection
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January 26-28, 2022
Brussels, Belgium
CPDP offers the cutting edge in legal, regulatory, academic and technological development in privacy and data protection. Within an atmosphere of independence and mutual respect, CPDP gathers academics, lawyers, practitioners, policy-makers, industry and civil society from all over the world in Brussels, offering them an arena to exchange ideas and discuss the latest emerging issues and trends. This unique multidisciplinary formula has served to make CPDP one of the leading data protection and privacy conferences in Europe and around the world. The theme of the 2022 conference is “data protection and privacy in transitional times”.
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February 1-3, 2022
Santa Clara, CA, USA
Enigma centers on a single track of engaging talks covering a wide range of topics in security and privacy. Our goal is to clearly explain emerging threats and defenses in the growing intersection of society and technology, and to foster an intelligent and informed conversation within the community and the world.
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March 7-10, 2022
Amsterdam, Netherlands, and online
MozFest is a unique hybrid: part art, tech and society convening, part maker festival, and the premiere gathering for activists in diverse global movements fighting for a more humane digital world.
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March 19-20, 2022
Online from Boston, MA, USA
LibrePlanet is the annual conference hosted by the Free Software Foundation. It provides an opportunity for community activists, domain experts, and people seeking their own solutions to come together in order to discuss current issues in technology and ethics. The 2022 theme is “Living Liberation”.
ONGOING
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London’s Ada Lovelace Institute, founded in 2019 to ensure the ethical use of AI, is running a series of events on the issues surrounding the use of technologies in response to the pandemic. Late-2020 events included discussions of regulating for algorithm accountability and “almost-future” AI.
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Recent webinars sponsored by Bace Security include a “fireside” discussion with prominent women in security, security problems in online voting, methods for privacy-protecting digital contact tracing, advanced botnet researcher, and using marketing techniques to improve cybersecurity communication.
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The Benchmark Initiative is running regular events on topics such as the use of location data to end the global sanitation crisis, the safe use of location data in human migration; data, power, and the pandemic; and managing social distancing in public spaces. All events are posted on Vimeo soon after they conclude.
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The Communication and Media Institute (CAMRI) at London’s University of Westminster hosts a series of online events presenting the work of sociologists, historians, economists, and activists studying online developments around the world. Spring 2021 offerings include a reassessment of the 2010 Arab Spring and studies of internal communication connections within the Global South, the changing role of public service media, decolonizing the curriculum, and using Facebook to reduce polarization.
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
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The Carnegie Council runs frequent events on topics such as illiberal threats to democracy, the societal limits of AI ethics, AI and ethics in Africa, and inclusion. The Council posts audio and a transcript after each event.
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Ongoing series of events on topics such as new legislation, using data to combat counterfeit goods, and trends in online advertising.
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Data & Society has moved its weekly Databites and Network Power Hours programs into online interactive formats. Its first event for 2021 examines digital technology and democratic theory.
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The Research Group on Data, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Law & Society is presenting a series of discussions on topics such as robotics (Frank Pasquale, April 1), rights, technology, and society (Anne-Sophie Hulin, May 19), and justifiability and contestability of algorithmic decision systems (Daniel Le Métayer, June 1).
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EFF and its local counterparts in the Electronic Frontier Alliance are running numerous events on subjects such as technology education, open source, voting security, and content moderation.
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Frequent events on topics such as cybersecurity, digital tax, online content moderation, and upcoming EU legislation.
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Future in Review is running a series of online “FiReSide” events. Recent topics include Chinese-US relations after the presidential election, and the future technology struggle.
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The Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), a Swiss initiative run by DiploFoundation is organizing monthly briefings on internet governance, providing updates and news and projections of how they will influence future developments.
Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford
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HAI’s series of events covers AI-related topics such as upcoming regulation, issues with algorithms, health, and AI and society.
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Kate Klonick, an assistant professor at St John’s University School of Law who specializes in online speech and governance, and Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and co-founder and chief editor of Lawfare, hold a nightly discussion of current affairs, law, politics, and digital media with invited guests. Daily at 5pm Eastern Time.
Legal Frontiers in Digital Media 2020
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The Berkeley Center for Law and Technology’s online seminars on emerging legal issues at the intersection of digital media, freedom of speech, and law include AI, privacy law, technology law as a vehicle for anti-racism, and a look ahead to the next telecommunications act.
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The London Futurists group, led by former Psion and Symbian architect David Wood, is presenting near-weekly speaker-led events focusing on potential radical transformations of humanity and society. Upcoming topics include anticipating future pandemics and a discussion of Michael Baxter’s new book, Living in the Age of the Jerk. Event recordings are made available soon after meetings conclude.
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The ODI’s Friday lunchtime (London time) talks have moved online. These one-hour talks cover topics such as data ethics, social equity, trust, and converting weather into music.
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The Open Rights Group and its local offshoots are running frequent online presentations and discussions of digital privacy, democracy, and data exploitation. Recent topics have included the launch of ORG’s data and democracy report, a proposed law to ensure that contact-tracing apps are surrounded with privacy-protecting safeguards, and the effect of the pandemic on democratic institutions.
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Public Knowledge is running public web events on subjects such as algorithmic amplification of hate speech, the survival of local journalism, and how to protect privacy during a pandemic.
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London’s Royal United Services Institute is running frequent online events considering topics relating to international politics, terrorism, financial crime, policing, and warfare, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it will bring.
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Singularity University’s upcoming events include reimagining primary education and a series of executive programs aimed at various countries.
JOBS – CYBERSECURITY/IT
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Sponsored by JobAt.BE
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Seconded National Expert for ENISA
Based: Athens/Heraklion
Cybersecurity Officer – Equans
Based: Brussels
Senior Software Engineer – Dimension
Based: Brussels, partly remote
Project Manager – Nomad Digital
Based: Paris or Brussels, 50% travel/remote
Based: Belgium, option for remote working after training
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Freelance Policy Consultant
Head of Policy and Litigation
Consultant (Events and Network Coordination – Immigration, Data, and Technology
Based: UK (remote working)
Apply by: November 22, 2021
