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The EU opens formal probe into TikTok over protection of children

COMPANIES FOUND TO HAVE FLOUTED THE RULES CAN BE FINED THE EQUIVALENT OF UP TO 6% OF THEIR TURNOVER

London, cnn - February 19, 2024 - The European Union has launched a formal investigation into TikTok to determine whether the company is doing enough to protect minors on its platform as well as examine other suspected violations of the bloc’s landmark Digital Services Act.

“The opening of proceedings means that the (European) Commission will investigate TikTok’s functionalities, systems and policies related to certain suspected infringements. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation,” a spokesperson for the bloc’s executive arm said in a statement Monday.

The commission will assess whether the company, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is complying with requirements for large social media platforms to mitigate the risk of users becoming addicted to their content and to safeguard minors’ privacy and safety.

TikTok’s age verification tools, aimed at preventing children from accessing inappropriate content, “may not be reasonable, proportionate and effective,” the European Commission said in a press release Monday.

The investigation will also look into whether TikTok has been transparent about advertisements on its platform and given researchers sufficient access to its data.

A TikTok spokesperson told CNN that it “has pioneered features and settings to protect teens and keep under-13s off the platform.”

“We’ll continue to work with experts and industry to keep young people on TikTok safe and look forward to now having the opportunity to explain this work in detail to the commission,” the spokesperson added.

Social media companies operating in the EU are bound by obligations set out in the Digital Services Act, enacted in August, which places stricter requirements on large tech companies — defined as those with more than 45 million monthly users in the bloc — and seeks to protect people’s rights online. TikTok has almost 136 million monthly active users in the EU, according to the European Commission.

Companies found to have flouted the rules can be fined the equivalent of up to 6% of their annual global revenue.

It is the second time in as many months that the commission has launched formal proceedings against a large social media company. In December, the body said it was investigating X to determine whether it had failed to meet certain legal obligations to fight the spread of illegal content and disinformation.

The formal probes follow a request sent by the commission to TikTok and X last fall asking for more information on the steps they were taking to comply with the Digital Services Act, to which both companies have responded.

THE STRASBOURG COURT CONDEMNS ITALY FOR THE LANDFILL IN CASERTA

Strasbourg, preview24 - October 19, 2023 - The European Court of Human Rights has condemned the Italian State for how it has managed the landfill in Lo Uttaro, in the municipality of Caserta, since 1994. In the ruling the ECtHR indicates in particular that the pollution caused by the waste has had a negative impact on the personal well-being of the applicants during the crisis created by the malfunctioning of waste collection, treatment and disposal services during the state of emergency in Campania from 1994 to 2009 and that this situation continues as regards the landfill in Lo Uttaro, which to date 'today the Italian authorities have not yet made it safe or cleaned up.

THE REACTIONS

“In relation to the recent sentence, with which the European Court of Human Rights condemned the Italian State for the pollution created by the landfill site of Lo Uttaro, in the Municipality of Caserta, since 1994, it is considered appropriate to clarify the following. This is one of the sites that arose during the years of the unfortunate waste emergency, which lasted from 1994 until 2009. The sentence then highlights the failure to complete the safety measures for the landfill. In this regard, it should be noted that this is a plant already falling within the Sin area (site of national interest) for which the competent Ministry of the Environment has entrusted the functions of implementing body to the public company Sogesid Spa, which has carried out the preparatory analyzes for drafting of the executive reclamation project. Recently, on 9/8/2023, Sogesid spa, having completed the drafting of the project which was revised following the requests formulated in the Services Conference of 26 May 2021 and in the subsequent technical table of 14/12/2022, has requested the regional offices of Caserta to call a Services Conference for the acquisition of all the opinions necessary for the definitive approval of the project. The Conference is scheduled to take place on 22 November 2023", says Fulvio Bonavitacola, vice president of the Campania Region Council and councilor for the Environment. “The recent condemnation of Italy by the European Court of Human Rights for the management of the Lo Uttaro landfill is the tangible symbol of our country's catastrophic failure in managing the waste emergency. For years, the residents of Caserta and San Nicola La Strada have been forced to live in a polluted environment: an environmental and human crime that has left deep scars on our community and landscape." This was stated by the deputy of the Green and Left Alliance, Francesco Emilio Borrelli. “The Lo Uttaro landfill, – he continues – a name that echoes as a painful reminder of our inability to protect the fundamental rights of citizens and the integrity of our territory, was an epicenter of suffering and negligence. From 1994 to 2009, the waste management crisis transformed streets into open-air landfills, exposing residents to unsustainable and dangerous conditions." “Today, while it is necessary to reflect on the ruling of the Strasbourg Court, we must also face the stark and uncomfortable reality of the failure of the various governments that have passed without looking back. They have allowed indifference, corruption and a lack of accountability to compromise the health and safety of fellow citizens and devastate the environment. The ECHR ruling is not just a condemnation, it is an urgent appeal to ensure that human and environmental rights are at the center of our policies and actions", concludes Borrelli.

HISTORY

The story of the Lo Uttaro landfill in Caserta - for which the Italian State was condemned by the ECHR - is intertwined with the history of the waste emergency in Campania, which lasted for fifteen years from 1994 to 2009. The State began to use it since 1994, before then it was private and was called Ecologica Meridionale, therefore it took the name of the area in which it stands. Lo Uttaro is located in the southern area of Caserta on the border with the municipalities of San Nicola la Strada, Maddaloni and San Marco Evangelista and nearby there are residential neighborhoods and production facilities. For years it received wet waste, only to be closed and reopened in the spring of 2007 - with the name Lo Uttaro 2 or Nuova Lo Uttaro - in the darkest period of the waste crisis, when bags of rubbish filled the streets of the municipalities, in particular the provinces of Caserta and Naples, reaching the first floors of the houses. With the Neapolitan landfill of Villaricca running out, Lo Uttaro 2 was opened in a hurry, in a sort of continuity with the reservoir used since '94 - Lo Uttaro 1 - and this happened despite the protests of the citizens of Caserta, given that the reclamation of the first reservoir had not taken place and that in the area there were already two other landfills built in as many tuff quarries, a waste transfer site and next to the "panettone", or a mountain of rubbish coming from the Notte Bianca held in Naples in 2003 (removed only in 2010). Uttaro 2 was opened following a memorandum of understanding signed in November 2006 by the mayor of Caserta Nicodemo Petteruti, the president of the Province of Caserta Sandro De Franciscis and the extraordinary commissioner for the waste emergency in Campania Guido Bertolaso.

Antonio Limatola, general director of the Caserta 3 basin consortium, which managed the Lo Uttaro 2 landfill, remembers being contacted one afternoon, between March and April 2007, by Bertolaso. “He told me to open the landfill, already handed over to us by the police station after the positive test, otherwise he would have the army intervene the next morning. So we opened Lo Uttaro due, even though it was an area already compromised from an environmental point of view." The reservoir, therefore opened in 2007, remained in operation for only a few months between continuous closures and reopenings: first the mayor of Caserta Petteruti closed the reservoir, then reopened it by the Government Commissariat, then the civil judge of Naples closed it, to which the Committees had addressed, and the Commissariat always reopened; finally, in November 2007, the Noe carabinieri intervened to seize him on the orders of the Santa Maria Capua Vetere Public Prosecutor's Office. At the beginning of 2008, Commissioner De Gennaro tried to reopen it, but he failed and so the Ferrandelle landfill was opened in Santa Maria la Fossa and Lo Uttaro was definitively closed. Meanwhile, the prosecutor's investigations gave rise to a trial on the opening and management of the reservoir which ended without any culprits. “All the analyzes carried out by Arpac and the Chelab laboratory in Treviso – recalls Limatola – gave negative results regarding the pollution of the aquifer but also the toxicity markers. Uttaro 2 was super controlled, and for this reason too I was acquitted by the court, but not the first landfill". For 15 years, therefore, the maxi-landfill formed by Lo Uttaro 1 and 2, although closed, has never been made safe - or in any case only buffer interventions were carried out - and in 2019 the Santa Maria Prosecutor's Office seized the area twelve wells used for agricultural crops and domestic use were contaminated for decades with arsenic used for industrial activity. Only a few days ago the Municipality of Caserta announced the allocation of 6.5 million euros to reclaim part of the Lo Uttaro landfill, but the intervention, which will start in 2024, arrived too late.

MOSSVILLE, FISHERVILLE RESIDENTS STILL SEEKING JUSTICE AFTER ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS

Louisiana, kplctv - October 20, 2023 - Residents of several Southwest Louisiana communities are still seeking justice after different environmental disasters affected them decades ago. Community environmentalist Debra Ramirez said as long as she can remember dating back to the early 50s, at least 14 plants came into her community of Mossville, and as a result, it led to a chemical spill of ethylene dichloride. Many were forced to evacuate, leaving the predominantly Black community. “But it also went west to our communities, and they kept a big secret with that. They didn’t bring in clean water, they didn’t evacuate, they didn’t use hazmat, they didn’t use any of those things they were trained to do when they have such a horrific spill,” Ramirez said.

A similar situation over in Calcasieu Parish in the Fishersville community. Residents there said a spill from a railroad car caused health issues such as cancer of all kinds, brain tumors and respiratory problems. And now they are continuing to fight for justice to keep what was always meant to be alive.

“We fighting for justice for our health, we are fighting for justice to have our community built back, free healthcare, and by all means we want Black businesses in that community to make sure that the community continues to strive and be what it should have been from the get-go,” Ramirez said.

Back in the community of Mossville, Sasol has taken over much of the area and has been there since 2001. They were not part of the original chemical spill that caused the evacuation.

The company said they are investing in the community from workforce development to scholarships. Sasol provided the following statement:

“Sasol has proactively invested millions of dollars into our community in initiatives identified by Mossville and Westlake residents for more than two decades. We value the partnerships we have created and look forward to further collaboration as we continue to give back to the community where we operate.”

They are currently seeking lawyers to help with the claims and ask anyone who can assist to reach out.

BUS ON FIRE,
PARIS SUSPENDS ELECTRIC FLEET

This is the second electric bus to catch fire in just under a month

GERMANY SUSPENDS USE OF ELECTRIC BUSES FOLLOWING FIRE CASES

The fire may have started while the bus was being charged in the depot.

FIRE ON A BATTERY ELECTRIC BUS IN SAN JOSE - CALIFORNIA

The burning bus was one of a fleet of ten battery-operated

LONDON:
AN ELECTRIFIED BUS EXPLODES, THE ENTIRE FLEET SUSPENDED

ELECTRICAL FAILURE DURING CHARGING CAUSES THERMAL RUNAWAY IN AN ELECTRIC BUS

IN ITALY THE BUS BATTERIES CAUGHT FIRE

1 electrified bus catches fire in a London depot, involving 6 others and raising doubts about the transformation of the fleet, which has accelerated in recent months. At the moment the entire fleet of electric buses is suspended

21 dead (among them two children and a teenager), 15 injured and 4 missing.

Electric buses are gaining popularity in cities, for better air quality in places where children live. Like all types of vehicle fuel, they catch fire: at least 18 verifiable fires of high-voltage electric bus batteries detected since 2010

ELECTRIC BUS FLASHES "BATTERY PROBLEMS" ON THE ROAD IN CHINA

Caught fire on the road when its battery overheated and started to burn

FEARS OF A "THERMAL RUNAWAY" UNDER APARTMENTS HAVE PROMPTED CALLS TO ABANDON A £1.7 BILLION DEVELOPMENT IN EDGWARE.

An electric bus station fire could cause high-rise residences to erupt like volcanoes, residents fear

London, fia – October 11, 2023 - The construction of an electric bus garage underneath the building of thousands of new apartments is being opposed by locals who are concerned that battery fires could create a "volcano" and destroy the neighbourhood. In order to build 25 tower blocks on top of a proposed underground electric bus depot in Edgware town centre, the Labour-controlled Barnet Council is in discussions with Transport for London (TfL) and developer Ballymore about the project, which is estimated to cost £1.7 billion. The community group Save Our Edgware has cautioned that residents would be at "severe risk" in the event that the batteries in electric vehicles caught fire, resulting in explosive combustion and multi-vehicle fires. An entire fleet of electric buses was obliterated in a bus garage in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, in May of last year after one of them caught fire. In the same month, a transportation business in Paris took 149 Bluebus electric buses out of service after two of them caught fire on separate occasions. The risk of "thermal runaway" in damaged EV batteries arises from the rapid release of energy stored therein, which can result in temperatures of up to 400 °C.Despite being statistically less common than fires in petrol or diesel vehicles, electric vehicle fires are much more difficult to put out. Firefighters are still experimenting with the best ways to put out fires involving the lithium-ion batteries found in many battery-powered vehicles, such as submerging the vehicles in water, covering them with foam, or covering them with a sizable fire blanket.

Other electric vehicles nearby put the fire at risk of spreading. According to government regulations, electric cars with faulty batteries should be "quarantined" from other automobiles to prevent battery fires.

On the six-hectare site where the Edgware shopping centre currently stands, housing for about 7,000 people and a rebuilt shopping centre are planned. In collaboration with TfL, the plan also entails removing an above-ground bus garage and building a brand-new depot for at least 190 electric buses beneath the 3,828 high-rise residences. The buses would be connected to the same electrical outlet that powers the buildings above, and they would recharge overnight. The London Fire Brigade was asked for information under the Freedom of Information Act, and it was discovered that there is no specific fire safety advice for underground garages used to recharge electric buses. Anuta Zack, spokesman for Save our Edgware, warned that a battery fire in the bus garage could result in “Grenfell on steroids” and that residents were at “severe risk”. The proposed site is adjacent to Premier House, a 13-storey block of flats still covered with the same cladding that precipitated the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, killing 72 residents. Ms Zack described the proposed garage as a “volcano” sitting underneath thousands of residents. “I am scared,” she added. “The fire safety protocols haven’t been developed sufficiently, and people’s lives are being put at risk. Nobody is giving us any information or clarity.” A petition with over 5,500 signatures opposing the Ballymore development will be put to Barnet Council at the next meeting on October 17, after initially being rejected. Ballymore has been working with TTL Properties, the real estate division of Transport for London, since March to consult with neighbourhood groups about the project. In the upcoming weeks, the developer is anticipated to submit a formal application for the project. A spokesman for the joint venture said: “The safety of our residents and all users of our developments are of paramount importance to us, and we are working closely with relevant authorities to ensure the proposal is designed and built to the highest fire safety standards. “The garage would only be occupied by electric buses following approvals from all relevant bodies, including the London Fire Brigade, Barnet Council, the Health and Safety Executive and Building Control.” Barnet Council was approached for comment.

IN 2019, MORE THAN 5,800 CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS DIED FROM CAUSES RELATED TO AIR POLLUTION IN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA, ALMOST 16 PER DAY.

In Europe and Asia, pollution kills
16 children a day

ROME, ansa - September 06, 2023 - Among them, 4,917 were less than 1 year old. These are the data that emerge from an analysis published by Unicef.

"When it comes to air pollution, the smallest lungs pay the highest price, and this causes damage to the health and development of children, sometimes costing them their lives," Regina de Dominicis, director, said in a statement. UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia.

Children, explains Unicef, are more vulnerable to pollution: they breathe twice as fast as adults and often with their mouths, absorbing more pollutants; their height places them closer to the ground, where pollutants accumulate; their organs are exposed to inflammation and damage during a period of rapid development. This can translate into a greater risk of contracting acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia and developing respiratory problems such as asthma and, later in life, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and neurological disorders.

This is why Unicef urges governments to accelerate the transition to clean energy and transport. It also calls for establishing and maintaining air quality monitoring systems in the vicinity of kindergartens and schools, detecting air pollution levels that are dangerous for children and pregnant women.

"Reducing air pollutants and children's exposure to toxic air is critical to protecting their health and their societies, resulting in reduced healthcare costs, improved learning, increased productivity and a safer, cleaner environment for children. everyone", concludes de Dominicis.

France's Total behind 'greatest environmental scandal'
in Yemeni history: Report

Total Energies is also facing a lawsuit for complicity in human rights abuses carried out by UAE forces in Yemen

Yemen, thecradle - May 08, 2023 - A recent report published in the French weekly magazine L'Obs has revealed the extent of environmental and human damage caused by French oil giant TotalEnergies in war-torn Yemen.

The French energy giant is one of the largest investment companies in Yemen's fuel sector and has complete control over the gas sector, with seven transcontinental companies under its management in the country.

The April report was based on an investigation by French writer Quentin Muller for the NGO Greenpeace.

Titled “Total's black waters, revelations on major pollution in Yemen,” Mueller documents widespread pollution caused by TotalEnergies in Shabwa, Hadhramaut, and Marib provinces, with the collaboration of the government of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The French investigation revealed TotalEnergies' burial of millions of liters of toxic water, oil spills, use of non-standard operating techniques, contamination of the country's largest groundwater, and the firm’s failure to recycle toxic waste.

The report also described the harm caused to land, animals, and people due to the leakage of chemicals, air pollution, and the impact of the French multinational's operations in surrounding areas.

Mueller said that these actions led to a significant rise in cancer rates in the region, the disappearance of bees, birds, and the pollution of agricultural land, which farmers were forced to abandon.

Mueller considered TotalEnergies' activities the "greatest environmental scandal" in the history of Yemen, saying that the facilities built by the company do not comply with international standards.

The French oil giant's actions in Yemen came under additional scrutiny in February when the Geneva-based legal advocacy NGO MENA Rights filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of human rights abuses committed inside a gas plant operated by one of its subsidiaries.

MENA Rights alleges the Balhaf gas liquefaction plant in the southern province of Shabwah had been converted into a prison run by UAE forces. The group is seeking compensation for two men allegedly imprisoned and tortured at the plant.

The French firm is the largest shareholder of Yemen LNG, the company operating the Balhaf gas plant, where both men were allegedly taken in 2018 and 2019.

“Total must take responsibility for the violations committed by UAE forces in Balhaf,” said Alexis Thiry, legal advisor for MENA Rights.

MENA Rights also demands that TotalEnergies prevent the recurrence of such violations and comply with French law, which requires large companies to exercise due diligence to identify risks and prevent human rights violations while providing for civil liability and a compensation mechanism.

The company responded to the allegation stating that it "does not have a controlling interest in Yemen LNG," adding that the decision by UAE forces to requisition that part of the Balhaf plant for use as a prison was "unrelated" to the firm's activities.

300 million jobs could be affected by latest wave of AI,
says Goldman Sachs

Hong Kong, cnn - March 29, 2023 - As many as 300 million full-time jobs around the world could be automated in some way by the newest wave of artificial intelligence that has spawned platforms like ChatGPT, according to Goldman Sachs economists.

They predicted in a report Sunday that 18% of work globally could be computerized, with the effects felt more deeply in advanced economies than emerging markets.

That’s partly because white-collar workers are seen to be more at risk than manual laborers. Administrative workers and lawyers are expected to be most affected, the economists said, compared to the “little effect” seen on physically demanding or outdoor occupations, such as construction and repair work.

In the United States and Europe, approximately two-thirds of current jobs “are exposed to some degree of AI automation,” and up to a quarter of all work could be done by AI completely, the bank estimates.

If generative artificial intelligence “delivers on its promised capabilities, the labor market could face significant disruption,” the economists wrote. The term refers to the technology behind ChatGPT, the chatbot sensation that has taken the world by storm.

ChatGPT, which can answer prompts and write essays, has already prompted many businesses to rethink how people should work every day.

This month, its developer unveiled the latest version of the software behind the bot, GPT-4. The platform has quickly impressed early users with its ability to simplify coding, rapidly create a website from a simple sketch and pass exams with high marks.

Further use of such AI will likely lead to job losses, the Goldman Sachs economists wrote. But they noted that technological innovation that initially displaces workers has historically also created employment growth over the long haul.

While workplaces may shift, widespread adoption of AI could ultimately increase labor productivity — and boost global GDP by 7% annually over a 10-year period, according to Goldman Sachs.

“Although the impact of AI on the labor market is likely to be significant, most jobs and industries are only partially exposed to automation and are thus more likely to be complemented rather than substituted by AI,” the economists added.

“Most workers are employed in occupations that are partially exposed to AI automation and, following AI adoption, will likely apply at least some of their freed-up capacity toward productive activities that increase output.”

Of US workers expected to be affected, for instance, 25% to 50% of their workload “can be replaced,” the researchers added.

“The combination of significant labor cost savings, new job creation, and a productivity boost for non-displaced workers raises the possibility of a labor productivity boom like those that followed the emergence of earlier general-purpose technologies like the electric motor and personal computer.”

Environmental pollution
in the marine protected area

Requested the trial of the administrator of the thermoelectric power plant

Trapani, ilfattoquotidiano – December 05, 2019 - A crack in the reservoir of the power plant on the small Sicilian island has caused an environmental disaster "of very large dimensions". At least according to the Trapani prosecutor's office who requested the indictment of Filippo Giuseppe Accardi, number one of Sea, the company that manages the plant.

“A pollution of very large dimensions” in the face of “palliative remediation measures“. This is what happened in Favignana, a Sicilian island in the province of Trapani, where a crack in a diesel tank of the thermoelectric power plant was neglected for almost 40 years. The fault in the reservoir dates back to 1980: today it has caused an environmental disaster "of very large dimensions". So much so that if at the time the damaged area extended for 1400 square metres, while in 2016 it grew to 94 thousand. The episode had become one of the mysteries of the island, a destination for VIPs for years, when a woman said that "for 15 years diesel fuel was coming out of the house taps instead of water". Now the deputy prosecutor of Trapani Maurizio Agnello and the deputy Tarondo have requested indictment for Filippo Giuseppe Accardi, director of Sea, the company that manages the plant.

In addition to various administrative crimes, the man is accused of "environmental pollution", aggravated by the fact that it was committed in an ecosystem included in the Egadi Marine Protected Area. Accardi's fate is entrusted to the preliminary hearing judge Caterina Brignone, who on February 26 will evaluate whether to accept or reject the prosecutors' request. It all dates back to "an accidental leak of diesel from an underground storage tank, which occurred in 1980 inside the power plant" located in the Madonna district, near the island's cemetery. The matter was reported by a series of complaints presented by an opposition municipal councilor, Michele Rallo, now recognized as a civil party together with the municipality and the regional Agency for the protection of the Environment of Trapani. Sea itself recognized the disaster in 2014 in a dossier presented to the Sicilian Region, in which it requested authorization to build a new power plant.

The procedure was rejected and even the current governor Nello Musumeci (at the time regional councilor, who in Sicily is defined as a deputy), presented an inspection act in which he hypothesized "as an alternative solution, the connection of the island with the transmission grid ( Rtn) via a cable duct”. However, the power plant that supplies electricity to 3,500 users is still powered by diesel oil transferred to the island on board tankers, as is the transport of water which in recent months has ended up at the center of another investigation by the prosecutor's office in which also involves administrators and public officials. According to investigations by the judicial police section of the forestry corps, Sea did not implement "the reclamation project approved with resolution no. 128/2000 of 09/27/2005 of the municipality of Favignana and thus maintaining active a very large, persistent and progressively rapidly expanding source of pollution". For this reason "deliberately, starting from March 2008, up until today, to carry out serious and concrete reclamation operations", limiting ourselves to adopting "effectively only palliative reclamation measures".

The pollution has "progressively damaged the environmental matrices made up of groundwater and soil without interruption - we read in the request for trial - causing a significant and measurable deterioration of vast portions of territory and groundwater as well as the balance of an ecosystem included in the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of the Egadi Islands, of significant importance due to the presence of protected flora and avifauna, whose reclamation can only be achieved with exceptional measures". The Prosecutor's Office had requested the seizure of the company (aimed at carrying out the reclamation) but the provision was canceled due to a formal flaw. The latest report - drawn up by two consultants - dates back to last April and only in July did the company carry out "operational safety interventions on the aquifer of the power plant" entrusting the operation to a Taranto company for a total of 313 thousand euros . Waiting for the next check.

Digital Life The dangers of Artificial Intelligence:
6 delicate issues

LIMITATION OF PERSONAL FREEDOMS, DISCRIMINATION, MANIPULATION OF PUBLIC OPINION: THESE ARE THE RISKS THAT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BRINGS WITH IT.

Pechino, focus - March 12, 2019 - Artificial Intelligence has already demonstrated all its potential in the most diverse fields of science and technology: from data analysis to the fight against terrorism, from medical research to space missions; big data and supercomputers promise to revolutionize our lives.

However, there is a "small" problem... The power of AI systems, if poorly directed, could become very dangerous. And we are not talking about the risk of killer robots wandering around our cities shooting at anyone, but of more subtle and equally dangerous "bad uses" of applications that already exist today.

ACCIDENTS WITHOUT DRIVER. The cyclist hit and killed last March in the United States by one of Uber's driverless cars has reopened the debate on the actual maturity of this technology. The car's driving system was in fact unable to correctly identify and classify the victim as a "person on a bicycle": it could have mistaken her for a fluttering plastic bag and therefore knowingly run over her.

A programming error therefore, which could have been avoided with relative ease. But who verifies the actual safety of autonomous driving systems? Who should take responsibility for licensing robots? From a regulatory point of view, there is still a lot of confusion.

And the intention of the Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the stars and stripes equivalent of our Ministry of Transport of any Nation, to soften the existing rules on the matter, raises more than a few doubts.

AI FOR PEACE. Another case is the one involving some researchers and Google employees last year. They had become aware of the fact that the big G would make, with Project Maven (this is the code name of the project), its technologies available to the Pentagon to classify and recognize images captured by drones. In particular, the fear was that Google's Artificial Intelligence systems could be used to provide indications to killer drones or to identify targets to be assigned to autonomous weapons.

Google has accepted the conscientious objection of its employees and has drawn up and shared a code of ethics for Artificial Intelligence, in which it undertakes not to create systems or software that use AI to cause harm to humans. In short, a modern rereading of Asimov's three laws of robotics.

But the Pentagon seems to be influenced by this about-face and, interested as it is in achieving its objectives, will also invest huge sums in 2019 for the development of weapons based on Artificial Intelligence.

The word now passes to the United Nations, which over the next few months has several meetings on the topic on the agenda, with the final objective of a definitive and early ban on these weapon systems.

BIG BROTHER IS AMONG US. What about what is happening in China? The Asian country admitted, during 2018, to having created the largest and most widespread surveillance system in the world. Hundreds of thousands of cameras scattered throughout the country and a very powerful facial recognition software capable of identifying practically anyone: criminals, wanted people, but also ordinary citizens, political dissidents or opponents of the established power.

Associations for the protection of human rights warn against this technology, which already today allows us to recognize the faces of all of us on social networks, to follow our movements, to control our interactions. According to MIT experts, over the next few months facial recognition will go even further and we will see the appearance of systems capable of identifying our emotions in front of the screen, in front of a shop window or a supermarket shelf.

But one can hope that we will also see the first legal regulations on the use of these invasive systems.

BEYOND FAKE NEWS. If 2018 was the year of fake news, 2019 could be the year of fake videos. Increasingly advanced artificial intelligence systems such as Generative Adversarial Networks allow the creation, in a fairly simple way, of videos that are completely fake, but practically indistinguishable from real ones.

Nvidia, a leading company in computer graphics and video games, presented last December a software prototype that uses artificial intelligence to create images of completely invented people of all races, ages and genders.

The risk, from a political point of view, is particularly felt, to the point that DARPA itself, the American government agency that deals with military technologies, is working on AI systems capable of recognizing fake videos. Will AI be able to protect us from the problems caused by AI?

DIGITAL PRECONCEPTS. Finally there is the issue of "prejudice", which we hear more and more often about in relation to artificial intelligence systems: it has in fact been demonstrated that if they are not correctly programmed these systems can become racist and misogynistic, because they reflect innate beliefs , and often unaware, of who created them.

Some image detection systems in autonomous vehicles may have more difficulty identifying dark-skinned bystanders than light-skinned passers-by, according to a study by the Georgia Institute of Technology. On average, the eight systems tested (none of which were currently in use) were 5% less accurate in detecting black pedestrians, even when taking into account details such as the different time of day or the presence of barriers that could obscure a person's face. Perhaps these algorithms were not trained with a sufficient number of images of people with dark skin, or not enough weight was given to the sample of subjects with this characteristic.

Or, this is the other risk, they could inherit errors from past behavior and continue to practice them in the future. An example? A visual recognition system trained on “unbalanced” data may have trouble correctly identifying women or people of color. Or it could happen that an AI system, used to select personnel for a company and which is based on past data, may continue to reflect, in its choices, certain discriminations that it has inherited from the past.

These are difficult situations to change because even today, in companies that deal with AI, 70% of managerial roles are occupied by men. And this also happens in universities. Furthermore, blacks and South Americans constitute a much smaller percentage than whites.

However, 2019 could be the turning point year: sector experts are in fact preparing for the first major conference on this type of issue to be held in Ethiopia in 2020. Why this country? Because local AI scientists often have problems obtaining the visas needed to travel abroad.

leaks from the tank of the Sogin nuclear plant: "No alarm"

Radioactive liquid leaks from the storage area where two cracks have opened. L'Arpa: "Circumscribed contamination". Meanwhile, a city councilor and the mayor of a nearby town have presented complaints to the prosecutor's offices of Vercelli and Turin

Saluggia, ilfattoquotidiano – April 11, 2013 - Another tile hits Sogin, the state company in charge of the environmental remediation of Italian nuclear sites and the management and safety of radioactive waste, for the management of the Eurex nuclear plant in Saluggia, Vercelli. In the WP719 storage tank (waste ponds), which we have already talked about onfattoquotidiano.it, at least two cracks were found from which radioactive liquid leaks. From Arpa - the regional agency for environmental protection - they assure that at the moment there is no environmental alarm, even if Sogin has reported the issue to the prefecture of Vercelli and the liquids contained in the tank in question have not been discharged for at least two years in nearby Dora Baltea, precisely because they were too contaminated. “We took soil samples in the surrounding area – explains Laura Porzio, nuclear sites manager for Arpa Piemonte – and from the first analyzes it seems that the contamination is limited. We are awaiting the outcome of more specific tests to understand how extensive the contamination is and whether there has been pollution of the aquifer."

Despite the reassurances and precautions of the case, the situation does not seem to be the most comforting. The anomalous radioactivity of the liquids in the tank, now practically full, has not allowed it to be emptied for a long time; this situation was also confirmed by the Ministry of Economic Development, general direction for nuclear energy. Sogin discovered the two cracks during the work undertaken to cover the tank and prevent it from filling further with rain water, in order to avoid any overflows dangerous for the environment. From Sogin specifies that they have informed the local authorities, the ARPA, the prefecture, the ASL and the Ispra (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) more for a question linked to information transparency than to the real environmental emergency. “During excavation work – explains Davide Galli, responsible for decommissioning plants and power plants in northern Italy for Sogin – these two cracks opened up, and we saw oozing that wet the surrounding ground. There are weak signs of contamination and the phenomenon is limited. Now we need to empty the tub and then clean the bottom. The event that nevertheless occurred is absolutely irrelevant."

While awaiting the results of more specific analyses, the reassurances made in recent months and also repeated following the discovery of the cracks do not seem to reassure the population. Two complaints have already been presented to the prosecutor's offices of Vercelli and Turin, regarding the management of the site, by Paola Olivero, municipal councilor of Saluggia, and by Luigi Borasio, mayor of Verolengo, a neighboring municipality. A problematic management also in light of how the safety work on the tank in question was carried out. With a note dated 17 October 2012, a month after the alarm raised due to the overflowing tank, Sogin indicated the timing of the interventions to be implemented to empty the tank itself. Completion of the operations was scheduled for March 2013, a date largely not respected and, according to a nuclear technician who prefers to remain anonymous, completely unrealistic. “The reclamation operations haven't even started – explains the technician – only the assembly of a tent to protect the pool from the rain has begun. These interventions are not simple, they could take years. Furthermore, after eight months from the first report, despite repeated requests made in all institutional bodies, including Parliament, it is still not known how or when the undue contamination of WP719 was caused, in which Cesium has already been identified and Americium beyond limits. It is not even possible to know what the exact extent of the problem is and which and how many other radioactive materials are present."

“We were worried before – explains Paola Olivero – and we are even more so now that these leaks from which radioactive liquid leaks have been discovered. Among other things, the Ministry of Economic Development has already declared that, due to the high levels of contamination in the tank, including Cesium 137 and Americium 241, it will be necessary to proceed with the recovery of its contents and continue the treatment of liquids and sediments as waste radioactive, with a dedicated system. It is not yet known why the liquid contained in this tank has radioactivity values that are too high to be discharged into the river. The tank, which is over fifty years old, was not designed to perform the storage function, so much so that Ispra, in a note dated January 9th, states that there is an anomaly with respect to the normal operation of the plant . It is also located in an area with heavy construction and transit of heavy vehicles, which cause strong vibrations, as it is near the construction site where a new nuclear depot is being built. The tank is located along the river, near the wells of the Monferrato aqueduct which serves over one hundred municipalities". There is actually "some" element of concern.