GAIA X

GAIA X

Jun 6, 2021 | ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, INTERNET, ITALY, WORLD

Gaia derives from Greek mythology and represents the mother goddess of all gods, personification of the earth, but in this case she becomes the engine of digital innovation in Europe.

In September 2020, 22 companies and organizations (11 from Germany and 11 from France) have taken an important milestone and finally transferred the joint project into solid structures: The 22 founding members signed the notarial founding documents in order to establish an international non-profit association (French: association internationale sans but lucratif, in short: AISBL) under Belgian law, the GAIA-X,  European Association for Data and Cloud, AISBL.

From reading these words the first thing that emerges, for me, is the absence …

But in November our Ministry also attended the summit and on May 28 Confindustria kicked off the Italian hub by defining it as the moment of starting a shared path, aimed at aggregating and coordinating all the subjects interested in the development of projects that aim to enhance data, and an opportunity to get to know the European project and the methods of implementation in Italy.

What exactly are we talking about?
Gaia X is a federated data infrastructure for Europe.

Talking about:

Energy
Health
Smart living
Industry 4.0
Portability
Interoperability
Interconnectivity
Identity & Trust
Federated catalogue
Sovereing data exchange
Compliance

The main objectives are to develop ecosystems, to bundle national initiatives, and to provide a central point of contact to interested parties on their respective countries.

In fact, it is evident that the amount of data on a digital level is increasing day by day, and it is no coincidence that a whole series of new figures are emerging, among which the demiurge of big data particularly fascinates me.

Not to mention the parallel growth of IoT: Internet of things which involves a further exponential increase in connected devices.

But how important can a European Data Cloud be? How is the data handled now?

It is clear that this is an ongoing situation, and as it happens in a fiscal way for the giants of the web, armed with fragmentary, incomplete, if not non-existent regulations, the companies that manage the server farms act in an almost undisturbed pseudo-monopoly regime.

The need that is underlined is to achieve an autonomy that allows one to no longer have to make use of American or Chinese structures.

For example, I found huge data centers that China has built in a semi-desert area of Mongolia, previously dedicated to the breeding of the famous horses: The Mongolian National Data Center, established by a government resolution issued on June 24, 2009.

Or the Data Foundry in Texas founded in 1994 as one of the top 50 ISPs in the United States.

The aspect that in my opinion is not sufficiently taken into account is that “not everything that glitters is green” …

Servers need to be cooled, and this operation, although it is presented as a continuous search for innovation, consumes large amounts of energy.

Google presents its renewable energy project with a photo gallery, while admitting the following:

the 100% renewable energy milestone means we buy enough renewable energy over the course of a year to cover our entire annual electricity consumption, however it doesn’t mean that all of our facilities are powered by clean energy every hour of every day. To compensate for times and places where the wind does not blow or the sun does not shine, we buy a surplus of renewable energy at other times and in other places. Our ultimate goal is to achieve CO2-neutral energy supply for our operations in all locations, at all times. We are actively exploring strategies to achieve 24/7 CO2-neutral power supply to all of our data centers, closely monitoring our progress towards achieving this goal.

I conclude with the thing that scares me the most: the more we move forward, the more the main operations we carry out, from bank transactions to public certificates, from tax returns, to the signing of contracts, depend on applications and on telematic accesses, without which we would be practically paralyzed.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not calm. Am I wrong?

GOOGLE NEWS SHOWCASE

GOOGLE NEWS SHOWCASE

Jan 29, 2021 | ECONOMY, INTERNET, MEDIA

Googler: googling in French begins to have a different meaning if you enter the field of IPG certified editorial news.

Our cousins from beyond the Alps scored a further small victory against the giants of the web. 

In fact, an agreement has been signed between the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale: APIG and Google France which provides for a remuneration for the license agreements of the publishers of newspapers within a new program: News Showcase. 

The remuneration provided for in the license agreements between each newspaper publisher and Google is based on criteria such as, for example, the contribution to political and general information, the daily volume of publications or the monthly Internet audience.

This is also a very important step in the controversial issue of Copyright Law in Europe and sees France as the first country to adopt legal legislation.

The concept on the basis of which Google has always maintained that news does not bring advantages to the search engine, but only an indexing for the newspapers, is overturned.

It is the conclusion of a battle carried out by the French press which turned to the Competition and Market Authority and subsequently to the Paris Court of Appeal and opens the way to the other member states as well.

The Alliance de la Presse tweet speaks of the effective recognition of #droitvoisin or neighborhood law which, as the Irpa explains allows publishers to obtain fair compensation from search engines and online platforms, established through an agreement, resulting from the use of news extracts. These also include previews (snippets) widely exploited by the search engine.

Where do you follow the news?

FROM THE VERB GOOGLING

FROM THE VERB GOOGLING

Oct 23, 2020 | ECONOMY, INTERNET, WORLD

It is now part of the common language: as the Accademia della Crusca indicates to us, Googling means doing an online search using the Google search engine.

How often do you use Google? For you is it just a tool like any other or do you find it indispensable?

According to Attorney General William Barr “Today, millions of Americans rely on the Internet and online platforms for their daily lives. Competition in this industry is vitally important, which is why today’s challenge against Google — the gatekeeper of the Internet — for violating antitrust laws is a monumental case both for the Department of Justice and for the American people.”

For this reason Justice Department Sues Monopolist Google For Violating Antitrust Laws. 

In particular, the subject of the dispute are the various exclusive or long-term agreements as in the case of Apple, which prohibit the pre-installation of any competing search service and at the same time impose applications in prime locations on mobile devices, making them also undeletable.

These anticompetitive practices are equated with the conditions under which the Department filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in the 1990s.

In March 1998, Bill Gates testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capital Hill, then in May the Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that the company had violated Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The court ruled in April 2000 that Microsoft was split into two separate companies: one for the operating system, ie Windows, and one for the other software programs.

Just on the same day, that is, Tuesday, October 20, faced with antitrust charges, and in response to the Department Files Complaint Against Google to Restore Competition in Search and Search Advertising Markets, Google released the following statement: 

Google Search has put the world’s information at the fingertips of over a billion people. Our engineers work to offer the best search engine possible, constantly improving and fine-tuning it. We think that’s why a wide cross-section of Americans value and often love our free products.
Today’s lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because they choose to, not because they’re forced to, or because they can’t find alternatives.
This lawsuit would do nothing to help consumers. To the contrary, it would artificially prop up lower-quality search alternatives, raise phone prices, and make it harder for people to get the search services they want to use.

What do you think about it? Do you feel compelled to use Google?

I have already expressed my opinion on the websoft giants, and in this case I personally cannot understand one thing: why should they possibly raise the phone prices?

RADIO FREE EUROPE

RADIO FREE EUROPE

Jun 20, 2020 | INTERNET, ITALY, MEDIA, MUSIC, ROCK, WORLD

If I say Radio Free Europe what do you think about?

Personally I immediately “hear” Michael Stipe’s voice on the notes of the song taken from what is their turning point with Murmur, recently worth sixth place in the ranking of the 100 biggest debut singles of all time, despite the fans’ diatribe to determine whether the original version is better in respect of the one remixed two years later will probably never end, but that’s another story.

This is the third time I quote R.E.M. after What time is the end of the world?  and Shiny happy people,  apart from fact that I’m keen on them, why?

Because Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) established at the beginning of the Cold War to transmit uncensored news and information to audiences behind the Iron Curtain, played a significant role in the collapse of communism and the rise of democracies in post-communist Europe.
Today, RFE/RL is one of the most comprehensive media organizations in the world, producing radio, Internet and television programs in countries where a free press is either banned by the government or nut fully established.
It was founded in 1950 with the aim of offering at least an alternative, a possibility to evaluate a different vision.
Yet 70 years later we seem to have forgotten the importance of plurality of expression since episodes of censorship are increasingly occurring.

The latest has been against a radio: or rather the Radio Radio YouTube channel, which was closed with a decidedly strange dynamic, as explained in detail by the author Fabio Duranti.

Why do we consider people unable to face alternative thoughts? Why the censorship instead of arguing and possibly refuting with well-founded explanations?

The famous phrase I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it wrongly attributed to Voltaire and actually written by Evelyn Beatrice Hall, remains essential in its concept in my opinion.

RICH OR POOR?

RICH OR POOR?

Jun 13, 2020 | ECONOMY, INTERNET, ITALY, WORLD

By now they are commonly called “the websoft giants”, more precisely: Software & Web Companies operating in internet retailing, software development and internet services (social, search engine, web portal, payment system).
As you can see in the Area ratio of Mediobanca they move absolutely significant figures, especially in the context of the general economic crisis in which we are currently.
Big companies therefore.
The adjective big, however, has several meanings: indicates higher than normal in terms of size and quantity, gives a superlative value, but also expresses admiration and is responsible for the name of one who excels in intelligence, capacity and moral qualities.
Here, compared to these moral qualities, these societies become poor, given that moral ethics is completely irrelevant in economics.
Earnings are the only commandment.
So any opportunity is worth for them, including that of not paying taxes even in the face of huge profits.
Corporate holding companies are valid instruments capable of offering advantages linked to both the management of financial flows and tax savings. One of these tools is cash pooling i.e. the centralization, virtual or effective, of all the financial resources (incoming and outgoing flows) of a group within a single company. The goal is to achieve better management of the company’s treasury, but this also leads to better financial solidity when interfacing with the banking system. All this, transferred to the Dutch territory, where the tax regime is facilitated, thanks also to the tax ruling: a practice that clarifies the tax treatment in advance, allowing multinationals to choose the most advantageous destination of the taxable amount, and where there is a real system of companies without employees, used only to pass on cash flows.
It is clear how much the loss for the state coffers is huge, some estimates have been made and, in particular, it is possible to get an idea from this study: The Missing Profits.
In this regard, I would quote a statement by Giulio Tremonti: “I find Prodi’s phrase romantic that speaks of Holland as a country that exports tulips. Holland is a country that imports holding companies. This is a non-marginal fact in terms of influence and power. “

The CGIA of Mestre has raised an alarm.
Waiting for the WEB TAX, we keep our fingers crossed so that at least the artists’ appeal is heard and that the copyright directive is implemented,
Then it would not be bad if they also implement that paying taxes is in fact a form of social sharing towards people, since it is thanks to these people if they can achieve such considerable profits.

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