Blockchain-based Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance for Fractional Ownership: Design and Implementation of A Decentralized Autonomous Agent System

Fractional ownership makes homeownership more affordable. But there are challenges in a fractional ownership real estate transaction (FORET) regarding governance, risk management and compliance (GRC) processes. Centralized GRC solutions are less effective in managing the tiered structure of communications in a FORET, which can lead to principal-agent problems such as information asymmetry, risk aversion, and moral hazard. In this research we investigate how these principal-agent problems in FORET could be mitigated. Using an agency theory perspective, we adopt a design science multimethodological research approach. We propose conceptual and system artefacts to support the design and implementation of a decentralized autonomous agent system. These artefacts deliver a formal problem representation structure related to centralized GRC in fractional ownership. We illustrate our solution with a system prototype and implementation. We evaluate the research outputs and compare them with existing GRC systems. This paper contributes to the understanding of GRC in supporting fractional ownership decision making

Securing Critical Infrastructures

1noL'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmentopen677. INGEGNERIA INFORMATInoopenCarelli, Albert

Big Brother is Listening to You: Digital Eavesdropping in the Advertising Industry

In the Digital Age, information is more accessible than ever. Unfortunately, that accessibility has come at the expense of privacy. Now, more and more personal information is in the hands of corporations and governments, for uses not known to the average consumer. Although these entities have long been able to keep tabs on individuals, with the advent of virtual assistants and “always-listening” technologies, the ease by which a third party may extract information from a consumer has only increased. The stark reality is that lawmakers have left the American public behind. While other countries have enacted consumer privacy protections, the United States has no satisfactory legal framework in place to curb data collection by greedy businesses or to regulate how those companies may use and protect consumer data. This Article contemplates one use of that data: digital advertising. Inspired by stories of suspiciously well-targeted advertisements appearing on social media websites, this Article additionally questions whether companies have been honest about their collection of audio data. To address the potential harms consumers may suffer as a result of this deficient privacy protection, this Article proposes a framework wherein companies must acquire users\u27 consent and the government must ensure that businesses do not use consumer information for harmful purposes

An Automated Approach to Auditing Disclosure of Third-Party Data Collection in Website Privacy Policies

A dominant regulatory model for web privacy is "notice and choice". In this model, users are notified of data collection and provided with options to control it. To examine the efficacy of this approach, this study presents the first large-scale audit of disclosure of third-party data collection in website privacy policies. Data flows on one million websites are analyzed and over 200,000 websites' privacy policies are audited to determine if users are notified of the names of the companies which collect their data. Policies from 25 prominent third-party data collectors are also examined to provide deeper insights into the totality of the policy environment. Policies are additionally audited to determine if the choice expressed by the "Do Not Track" browser setting is respected. Third-party data collection is wide-spread, but fewer than 15% of attributed data flows are disclosed. The third-parties most likely to be disclosed are those with consumer services users may be aware of, those without consumer services are less likely to be mentioned. Policies are difficult to understand and the average time requirement to read both a given site{\guillemotright}s policy and the associated third-party policies exceeds 84 minutes. Only 7% of first-party site policies mention the Do Not Track signal, and the majority of such mentions are to specify that the signal is ignored. Among third-party policies examined, none offer unqualified support for the Do Not Track signal. Findings indicate that current implementations of "notice and choice" fail to provide notice or respect choice

Inside wars : local dynamics of conflicts in Syria and Libya

هذا الكتاب الاليكتروني حروب الدّاخل: المحفّزات المحلّيّة للنّزاعات في سوريا وليبيا يهدف إلى الإسهام في فهم بعض من الديناميات المحلية للصراعات السورية والليبية، التي لم يجري البحث الكافي بشأنها. والهدف هو خلق سرد جديد من هذه الصراعات الذي يُسلّط الضوء على أبعادها المحليّة، من خلال النظر عن كثب في التحوّلات الاجتماعية والسياسية والاقتصادية والدينية التي تنتجها الانتفاضات والصراعات المسلّحة التي أعقبت ذلك. فقط مع فهمٍ جيّد لهذه الديناميات سيكون من الممكن البدء في عمليّة شاملة وهادفة لحلّ النزاعات و الانتقال إلى ما بعد انتهاء الصراع.Arabic translation of 'Inside wars : local dynamics of conflicts in Syria and Libya' (2016