Surveillance Tech in Latin America: Made Abroad, Deployed at Home

Tools to identify, single out, and track us everywhere we go are inherently incompatible with our human rights and civil liberties. Unfortunately, many Latin American governments are eagerly purchasing this technology and ramping up the implementation of mass biometric surveillance — even as the movement to ban technology for biometric surveillance gains traction worldwide. Meanwhile, the companies supplying the tech are flying under the radar, selling surveillance technology that is deployed across Latin America without sufficient transparency or public scrutiny. Our latest report, Surveillance Tech In Latin America: Made Abroad, Deployed At Home, exposes the companies behind these dangerous products and the government policies and practices that are undermining people's rights.As we highlight in the report, most of the biometric surveillance tech deployed in Latin America is acquired directly or indirectly from companies in Asia (Israel, China, and Japan), Europe (U.K. and France), and the U.S. They include AnyVision, Hikvision, Dahua, Cellebrite, Huawei, ZTE, NEC, IDEMIA, and VERINT, among others. These companies have a duty to respect human rights, yet their tools are often implicated in human rights violations perpetrated against civil society globally — journalists, activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and members of targeted and oppressed groups. Latin America has a long history of persecuting dissidents and people in marginalized communities, and authorities continue to abuse public power. The COVID-19 pandemic has now given governments a new excuse to deploy dangerous surveillance tools in the name of public safety, even as they fail to protect human rights. The bottom line: the backroom deals pursued in countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador are exposing the public to unacceptable risk. Our report, a research collaboration with our partners at Asociación por los Derechos Civiles (ADC), the Laboratório de Políticas Públicas e Internet (LAPIN), and LaLibre.net (Tecnologías Comunitarias), not only documents the agreements to procure dangerous technology, it also presents case studies to show how the technology is deployed. Finally, we offer recommendations for government, companies, and other stakeholders to increase transparency and prevent rights violations.

Tutela Ética e Jurídica dos Danos e da Responsabilidade da Inteligência Artificial

The research problem of this article is the following: what should be the ethical and legal protection of damage caused by an artificially intelligent entity? The aim is to verify the sufficiency of the ethical guidelines and the Brazilian legal system of civil liability regarding the acts caused under analysis. The liability regimes are contrasted: subjective; objective; trans-subjective; and preventive. The ontology of artificial intelligence is identified and its ownership of the duty to indemnify is ruled out. Furthermore, etymological, statistical, and legal reflections on the concept of risk are presented, verifying that this legal conception is restricted to the capacity to cause damage. Thus, it is analyzed whether activities involving the programming of artificially intelligent entities are considered risky. The conclusion is that, given the uncertainty and randomness inherent in the programming, execution, and development of artificially intelligent entities, the most appropriate legal protection is subjective due to the potential for damage. Furthermore, it is concluded that ethical protection can be seen as an exclusion of liability as a mechanism for breaking the causal link since it is exercised when the autonomous system is developed by programming abstentions from potentially damaging actions. The integrated research method is used, as well as case study techniques and bibliographical researchEste artigo tem como problema de pesquisa o seguinte questionamento: como deve ser a tutela ética e jurídica dos danos causados por um ente artificialmente inteligente? Objetiva-se verificar a suficiência das diretrizes éticas e do sistema jurídico de responsabilidade civil brasileiro frente aos atos causados em análise. Contrapõe-se os regimes de responsabilização: subjetivo; objetivo; transubjetivo; e preventivo. Identifica-se a ontologia da inteligência artificial e afasta-se sua titularidade do dever de indenizar. No mais, apresentam-se reflexões etimológicas, estatísticas e jurídicas sobre o conceito de risco, verificando-se que essa a concepção jurídica se restringe à capacidade de causar dano. Assim, analisa-se se as atividades envolvendo programação de entes inteligentes artificialmente são consideradas de risco. Conclui-se que, diante da incerteza e da aleatoriedade inerente à programação, execução e desenvolvimento dos entes artificialmente inteligentes, a tutela jurídica mais adequada é a subjetiva em razão do potencial dano. No mais, conclui-se que a tutela ética pode ser visualizada como excludente de responsabilização enquanto mecanismo de rompimento do nexo causal, vez que exercida quando da elaboração do sistema autônomo mediante programação de abstenções de ações potencialmente causadora de danos. Utiliza-se o método de pesquisa integrada, bem como a técnicas de estudo de caso e pesquisa bibliográfica.Este artigo tem como problema de pesquisa o seguinte questionamento: como deve ser a tutela ética e jurídica dos danos causados por um ente artificialmente inteligente? Objetiva-se verificar a suficiência das diretrizes éticas e do sistema jurídico de responsabilidade civil brasileiro frente aos atos causados em análise. Contrapõe-se os regimes de responsabilização: subjetivo; objetivo; transubjetivo; e preventivo. Identifica-se a ontologia da inteligência artificial e afasta-se sua titularidade do dever de indenizar. No mais, apresentam-se reflexões etimológicas, estatísticas e jurídicas sobre o conceito de risco, verificando-se que essa a concepção jurídica se restringe à capacidade de causar dano. Assim, analisa-se se as atividades envolvendo programação de entes inteligentes artificialmente são consideradas de risco. Conclui-se que, diante da incerteza e da aleatoriedade inerente à programação, execução e desenvolvimento dos entes artificialmente inteligentes, a tutela jurídica mais adequada é a subjetiva em razão do potencial dano. No mais, conclui-se que a tutela ética pode ser visualizada como excludente de responsabilização enquanto mecanismo de rompimento do nexo causal, vez que exercida quando da elaboração do sistema autônomo mediante programação de abstenções de ações potencialmente causadora de danos. Utiliza-se o método de pesquisa integrada, bem como a técnicas de estudo de caso e pesquisa bibliográfic

Desafios e benefícios da inteligência artificial para o Direito do Consumidor

O presente artigo tem como problema de pesquisa o seguinte questionamento: quais os benefícios e desafios trazidos ao Direito do Consumidor pela implementação e utilização da Inteligência Artificial (IA) nas relações negociais? A primeira seção apresenta a relação de como a IA está redefinindo a indústria de bens de consumo. Partindo-se dessa constatação, questiona-se quais são os ganhos e riscos para o consumidor na utilização da IA nesse cenário. Ao final, a segunda seção destina-se à abordagem das possíveis influências e interferências da utilização de IA no processo decisório do consumidor durante a aquisição de produtos ou de serviços. Conclui-se que o caráter principiológico utilizado como fundamento do CDC é capaz de regular a utilização da IA no mercado de consumo. Contudo, deve-se aumentar a margem interpretativa e hermenêutica para que tal conduta seja realizada, sob pena de não observância e violação dos direitos desse microssistema. Para subsidiar a presente argumentação utiliza-se o método de pesquisa integrada e o método dedutiv

Opportunities and barriers for innovation and entrepreneurship in orphan drug development

Orphan diseases pose both a challenge to the global medical community and an opportunity for it to focus on global peace engineering and innovation. Where, any single orphan disease is rare, when taken as a whole they affect more than 250 million people throughout the world. This number by comparison is larger than the global number of cancer and AIDS patients. We add to the literature by mapping the available knowledge in the orphan drug development field and exploring the tensions at play for innovation and entrepreneurship in this field. We further add to the literature by providing a framework to review this field based on social systems theory. Our review highlights the gaps in research and proposes a path forward in understanding of and learning from the orphan drug development field

Mentoring impact on the transversal competence’s development. An experience of educational accompaniment in the integral formation of the university student.

Introduction: The adaptation of universities to the new guidelines set by the European Higher Education Area implies relevant changes. Among them, a teaching model more focused on the student and his or her learning than on the teacher and the subject, new active teaching-learning methodologies and the development of competences through the acquisition of learning outcomes; all with the aim of contributing to the integral formation of the university student. The integral formation, enabling each student to discover and realize their own life project, is nourished by educational accompaniment and the development of competences. A concrete form of educational accompaniment is mentoring. The objective of this study is to evaluate the formative effectiveness of an innovative mentoring program in the development of transversal competences as a means to achieve the ultimate mission of the university: to provide a comprehensive education to students. Methods: The design of this research is quasi-experimental (pretest-posttest). The sample consists of more than 300 first-year students of the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria who participated in the mentoring program. A questionnaire on transversal competences and group interviews were used as measurement instruments. Results: The results showed significant differences in the level of acquisition of intrapersonal competences between the pre-treatment and post-treatment periods, in favor of the latter. This fact suggests that students improved their level of intrapersonal competences thanks to the mentoring program. These results are subsequently supported by the analysis of the group interviews. Discussion: Therefore, it can be concluded that this type of mentoring program is a valid example for the development of intrapersonal competences, which in turn contributes to the integral formation of the student.post-print912 K

SMART CONTRACTS: SECURITY ISSUES AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT IN BRAZIL

This study aims to describe how smart contracts are made and the legal certainty of using them on business contracts. For this, the study concepted the smart contract, as well its characteristics and the difference between smart contract and e-contract. It described the legal certainty of smart contract and how they can be used on business transactions. Besides, the research explained the importance of blockchain, ethereum and cryptocurrency at the smart contract. At last, it was described how smart contracts are applied in the legal universe and demonstrated their advantages as self-execution and clauses’ immutability. For this work, the bibliographic research and deductive method were used. The study concluded that the inexistence of law causes legal insecurity which represents an obstacle to spread the use of smart contracts

SentNA @ ATE_ABSITA: Sentiment Analysis of Customer Reviews Using Boosted Trees with Lexical and Lexicon-based Features

This paper describes our submission to the tasks on Sentiment Analysis of ATE_ABSITA (Aspect Term Extraction and Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis). In particular, we focused on Task 3 using an approach based on combining frequency of words with lexicon-based polarities and uses Boosted Trees to predict the sentiment score. This approach achieved a competitive error and, thanks to the interpretability of the building blocks, allows us to show the what elements are considered when making the prediction. We also joined Task 1 proposing a hybrid model that joins rule-based and machine learning methodologies in order to combine the advantages of both. The model proposed for Task 1 is only preliminary.Questo articolo descrive la nostra sottomissione ai tasks sulla Sentiment Analysis ATE_ABSITA (Aspect Term Extraction and Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis). I nostri sforzi si sono concentrati sul Task 3 per il quale abbiamo adottato gli alberi di predizione (Boosted Trees) utilizzando come features di ingresso una combinazione basata sulla frequenza delle parole con la polarità derivate da un lessico. L’approccio raggiunge un errore competitivo e, grazie all’interpretabilità dei moduli intermedi, ci consente di analizzare in dettaglio gli elementi che caratterizzano maggiormente la fase di predizione. Una proposta è stata realizzata anche per il Task 1, dove abbiamo sviluppato un modello ibrido che combina un approcio basato su regole con tecniche Machine Learning. Il modello sviluppato per il Task 1 è solo in fase preliminare

Enhancing the wellbeing and prospects of children and their families through training: from practice (doing) to theory (thinking) and back again. The development of a professional qualifications department in a service delivery organisation

I was a confused and anxious child. My behaviour was labelled irritating and overbearing and I was left with the belief that I was mostly ‘horrid’ and just too much for some adults. I had to work hard to make sense of my world and evolved lots of strategies, successful and unsuccessful, to do that. It is logical that I have found my place and mission in a children’s mental health charity. The creation of the Public Works presented here has been my most successful strategy so far. I have discovered what I am good at and how to participate most fruitfully in society. I have learnt that being only ‘very, very good’ is exhausting and impossible. I can be both good and horrid and still ok. I have been able to use my history as an enlivening rather than oppressing force to ‘enhance the well-being and prospects of children’ (Mission Statement, Place2Be). I know from my own experience that confused and anxious children can elicit negative and unhelpful responses from adults around them and this can erode confidence and limit prospects. Children need a place to be heard and held. Place2Be1 is the UK’s leading provider of emotional support services to children and young people in schools. Since 2007 I have been the Leader of Professional Qualifications there. I have articulated the practice and approach of Place2Be and developed a thriving professional qualifications department. I have designed a complete professional pathway from taster days and basic counselling skills to the Place2Be MA in Counselling Children in Schools. It is these courses and related public facing documents that I am presenting as my Public Works. I am tutor on all of the professional qualification courses and supervise and manage all of the other trainers in the team. I work closely with the Place2Be Training and Operations teams to ensure that our courses are offering students what they need in the field (see Organisational Charts Fig. 1, pg 10). I am fully responsible and accountable for the governance of the programmes, the quality assurance and all accreditation processes. I am also responsible for the research and development of materials. This large remit includes ensuring the curricula are up to date with regard to recent research developments in the field and writing and editing all programmes accordingly. I also write up and report back on findings from all our evaluation processes and act as conduit between senior management and training delivery teams

Gamifying sustainability : raising carbon footprint awareness through gamification : the carbon footprint movement

Extreme human-induced environmental pressures are being felt across the globe. Scientific evidence increasingly alerts for the urgent need to induce societal engagement in climate change mitigation to achieve carbon-reduction targets. This thesis’ overreaching purpose aimed at appraising the extent to which a gamification-based system may increase carbon literacy and empower individuals to adopt lower-carbon lifestyles. Simultaneously, this study explores the hotspots where policy action should be taken to reduce the contextual barriers to more pro-environmental lifestyles. Given the multitude of factors influencing behaviors, the research herein described disaggregated national data to local levels. To attain the set objectives, a gamified-survey tool was developed, as the primary learning and data collection instrument: The Carbon Footprint Movement. Results showed carbon footprint was not a primary deliberation preceding everyday behavior and that respondents’ misconceptions regarding the environmental effects of their actions prevailed. Additional findings also reinforced contextual factors further detached intentions from behaviors, intensifying the so-called value-action gap. Notwithstanding, participants reported carbon literacy increases (23%) and pledged imminent behavioral changes, over the course of the intervention. This dissertation reinforces high-magnitude carbon emissions to be locked-in at the household level, and the potentiality of gamified interventions to unlock substantial reductions. However, it simultaneously unveils large potential savings to remain unfulfilled, suggesting active civic engagement also calls for wider structural adjustments The methodology devised might be used to guide the development of future gamified interventions.Pressões ambientais extremas estão a ser sentidas em todo o mundo. Evidências científicas alertam para a necessidade urgente do envolvimento da sociedade na mitigação das alterações climáticas. Esta dissertação visa avaliar em que medida um sistema baseado na gamificação pode aumentar a literacia de carbono e capacitar os indivíduos para adotarem comportamentos mais sustentáveis. Paralelamente, este estudo explora os pontos críticos em que devem ser tomadas medidas para a redução de obstáculos a estilos de vida mais pró-ambientais. Para atingir os objetivos estabelecidos, foi desenvolvido um instrumento de aprendizagem e de recolha de dados: The Carbon Footprint Movement. Os resultados indicam que a tomada diária de decisões raramente é precedida de uma deliberação sobre a respetiva pegada de carbono, que as pessoas mantêm ideias erradas sobre a eficácia ambiental das suas ações, e que os fatores contextuais desassociam ainda mais as intenções dos comportamentos. Não obstante, os participantes reportaram aumentos em literacia de carbono (23%) e afirmaram mudanças comportamentais ao longo da intervenção. Esta dissertação destaca a potencialidade de intervenções gamificadas na redução substancial de emissões de carbono, bloqueadas ao nível doméstico. No entanto, este estudo revela que um envolvimento cívico mais ativo no combate às alterações climáticas exige, simultaneamente, ajustes estruturais fundamentais. A metodologia descrita poderá ser utilizada para orientar o desenvolvimento de futuras intervenções gamificadas

Social engineering: psychology applied to Information Security

Psychology and computer science are two scientific disciplines that focus on identifying the particular characteristics of information processing. The first in the human being and the second in the construction of a technical tool that seeks to emulate the brain: the computer. That is why psychology is strongly tied to the moment for people to choose their passwords. Deceptive advertising often compensates (through money, products and free services or other self-esteem tests) to influence a product or service to appear on your social network. In order to increase its consumption among its followers and also to take personal information without your consent. Due to the increase of the use of social networks, our social engineering strategy can efficiently and effectively show that security is subjective and that a significant percentage of users are vulnerable to deceptive advertisement through the internet. This project is based on the need to prevent attacks of information subtraction by obtaining/decrypting the keys of access or in the worst case obtain directly their passwords to the different web services, bank accounts, credit cards of individuals, based on the information that people exposed or share on their social networks. This paper also examines how attackers could obtain/decipher their passwords based on personal information obtained from deceptive advertisements implemented through a social network. The advantage of this approach also shows the user password composition providing a better vision of how hackers use the psychology applied to information security.Maestrí