Adam Harvey. La Contra de La Vanguardia

https://www.lavanguardia.com/lacontra/20191101/471308711594/sus-selfies-de-hoy-son-el-control-policial-de-manana.html

Adam Harvey.

LA CONTRA (Lluís Amiguet) 01/11/2019
La Vanguardia

(...)

Podría identificarme, en cualquier caso, quien no quiero cuando no quiero.

Existe la posibilidad, además, de que tomen la foto de usted y la amplíen hasta poder identificarle por el iris, que es más fiable incluso que el reconocimiento facial.

No nos asuste más todavía.

Pues esa es la tendencia biométrica: lo que llamamos biométrica multimodelo.

¿Cómo funciona?

Para reforzar la fiabilidad de la identificación por inteligencia artificial, el reconocimiento facial se puede completar a distancia con otras medidas biométricas e incluso con sensores que midan frecuencia cardíaca y respiratoria.

Tampoco suena tranquilizador.

Google ha estado ofreciendo tarjetas de regalo de 5 dólares a quien se dejara tomar medidas biométricas en calle.

¿Y la gente accede?

Demuestra lo desesperados que están por intentar apropiarse de miles de imágenes para hacer más efectivo su reconocimiento facial computerizado y su inteligencia artificial, que les daría un poder enorme. Pero su pregunta es muy europea.

¿Por qué?

Porque los americanos confían más en las empresas, incluidas las grandes corporaciones, que en el Estado y, en cambio, los europeos confían más en sus estados que en las empresas privadas. Por eso no hay una reacción pública masiva aún contra la recolección masiva de nuestros rostros.

¿Cómo logran incrementar sus bancos de datos con millones de caras?

¿Se ha preguntado por qué la selfie es una tendencia cultural? ¿Por qué Instagram, Facebook y otras plataformas con fotos son tan populares? ¿Por qué nos regalan la experiencia de ser fotografiado y almacenar las fotos?

¿...?

Las grandes plataformas consiguen millones de caras gamificando (convirtiendo en un juego divertido) las fotos que colgamos en ese tipo de aplicaciones. Lo investigo e intento denunciarlo ante la opinión pública en la prensa y también con obras de arte que nos hagan reflexionar.

¿Qué me recomienda para evitarlo?

Sus divertidas selfies de hoy son las que nutrirán de datos la inteligencia artificial del control policial del mañana. O de otro país. Por eso me contactó una agencia norteamericana de tres letras.

(...)

Sumisión de Michel Houellebecq

Sumisión de Michel Houellebecq

Título original: Soumission

Año: 2015

Traducción de Joan Riambau

Anagrama. Colección compactos nº 731

Segunda edición marzo 2019

281 páginas.

Para leer en un par de tardes y eso que se pone un poquito plasta con el tal Huysmans.

Sugerencia de puntuación: La Delouze, atacó en el momento (página 32)

Momentos destacables:

La miré estupefacto: era la primera vez en diez años que me cruzaba con ella y me daba cuenta de que había sido una mujer, e incluso en cierto sentido que aún lo era, y que un hombre, un día, pudo sentir deseo hacia esa criatura encogida y rechoncha, casi batracia. (76)

Vestidas de día con impenetrables burkas negros, las ricas saudíes se transformaban de noche en aves del paraíso, se emperifollaban con corpiños, sujetadores calados y tangas engalanados con puntillas multicolores y pedrería; exactamente a la inversa que las occidentales, elegantes y sensuales durante el día porque estaba en juego su estatus social y que se marchitaban de noche al volver a sus casas, abdicando agotadas de cualquier perspectiva de seducción, vistiéndose con ropa informal y holgada. (88) 

Mi cuerpo era la sede de diversas afecciones dolorosas —migrañas, enfermedades de la piel, dolor de muelas, hemorroides— que se sucedían sin interrupción, sin dejarme prácticamente nunca en paz, ¡y solo tenía cuarenta y cuatro años! ¿Cómo sería cuando tuviera cincuenta, sesenta o más…? Entonces no sería más que una yuxtaposición de órganos en lenta descomposición, y mi vida se convertiría en una incesante tortura, monótona y sin alegría, mezquina. (95)

Reflexionando acerca de ello me di cuenta de que no sabía nada acerca de la cuestión, y en el momento en que acabó la rueda de prensa comprendí que había llegado allí adonde el candidato musulmán quería llevarme: una especie de duda generalizada, la sensación de que allí no había nada de que alarmarse, ni nada verdaderamente nuevo (105)

Dejando atras la referencia banal a Jules Ferry, se remontó hasta Condorcet, de quien citó el memorable discurso de 1792 ante la Asamblea legislativa, donde evoca a los egipcios y los indios «entre los que tanto progresó la mente humana y que cayeron de nuevo en el embrutecimiento de la más vergonzosa ignorancia cuando el poder religioso se apoderó del derecho a instruir a los hombres». (106)

Concluyó su discurso citando un artículo de la Declaración de los Derechos del Hombre y del Ciudadano, la de 1793: «Cuando el gobierno viola los derechos del pueblo, la insurrección es, para el pueblo y para cada porción del pueblo, el derecho más sagrado y el deber más indispensable.» (110-111)

Continuaba desconcertándome, y repugnándome un poco, que la historia política pudiera desempeñar un papel en mi propia vida. (111-112)

La región estaba habitada desde los tiempos remotos de la prehistoria, averigüé en un panel de información pedagógica; el hombre de Cromañón expulsó progresivamente al hombre de Neandertal, que se replegó hacia España y luego desapareció.(127)

«Una inmensa aversión hacia el viaje y una imperiosa necesidad de permanecer tranquilo se imponían...» (131)

Contrariamente a su antiguo rival Tarik ramadán, lastrado por sus simpatías trotskistas, Ben Abbes siempre había evitado comprometerse con la izquierda anticapitalista; había comprendido perfectamente que la derecha liberal había ganado la «batalla de las ideas», los jóvenes se habían vuelto emprendedores y el carácter insoslayable de la economía de mercado estaba ya unánimemente aceptado. (144)

Recordaba una discusión que mantuve, años atrás, con un profesor de historia de la Sorbona. Al principio de la Edad Media, me explicó, la cuestión del juicio individual casi no se planteaba; fue mucho más tarde, con El Bosco, por ejemplo, cuando aparecieron esas terroríficas representaciones en las que Cristo separa a la cohorte de los elegidos de la legión de los condenados; en las que unos diablos arrastran a los pecadores que no se han arrepentido hacia los suplicios del infierno. La visión románica era diferente, mucho más unanimista: a su muerte el creyente entraba en un estado de sueño profundo, y se mezclaba con la tierra. Una vez cumplidas todas las profecías, en la hora del segundo advenimiento de Cristo, era el pueblo cristiano entero, unido y solidario, el que se alzaba de la tumba, resucitado en su cuerpo glorioso, para encaminarse al paraíso. El juicio moral, el juicio individual, la individualidad en sí misma no eran nociones comprendidas claramente por los hombres del románico, (...) (156)

Todas esas reformas tenían como objetivo «devolver su justo lugar y toda su dignidad a la familia, célula de base de nuestra sociedad», declararon el nuevo presidente de la república y su primer ministro en una extraña alocución común en la que Ben Abbes adoptó unos acentos casi místicos mientras François Bayrou, con el rostro aureolado con una amplia sonrisa beatífica, desempeñaba el papel de «Juan Salchicha», el Hanswurst de las antiguas pantomimas alemanas, que repite de forma exagerada –y un poco grotesca– lo que acaba de decir el personaje principal. (188-189)

Mi cuerpo, que ya no podía ser fuente de placer, seguía siendo una fuente plausible de sufrimientos (...) (194)

Me di cuenta en el momento en que lo decía que no sólo lo pensaba sino que lo deseaba, que formaba parte de esa gente tan poco numerosa que se alegran a priori de la felicidad de sus semejantes, en resumidas cuentas era lo que se llama un buen hombre. (200)

Guénon era ante todo una mente científica, y eligió el islam como científico, por economía de conceptos; y para evitar, también, ciertas creencias irracionales marginales, como la presencia real en la Eucaristía), era el islam, pues, el que hoy había tomado el relevo. (259)

(...) no sólo el sexo nunca tuvo para Huysmans la importancia que le atribuía, sino que tampoco la tuvo la muerte, las angustias existenciales no eran lo suyo, lo que tanto le impresionó en la célebre crucifixión de Grünewald no era la representación de la agonía de Cristo sino puramente su sufrimiento físico, y en eso Huysmans también era exactamente como los demás hombres, su propia muerte suele serles bastante indiferente, su única preocupación real, su verdadero quebradero de cabeza, es evitar en la medida de lo posible el sufrimiento físico. (264)

West Papua witnesses recount horror of police shootings by Kate Lamb

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/28/i-feel-like-im-dying-west-papua-witnesses-unrest-indonesia-police

Kate Lamb in Jakarta, Marni Cordell and Ben Doherty Sat 28 Sep 2019 01.22 BST

'I feel like I'm dying': West Papua witnesses recount horror of police shootings

Number of dead may be higher than official death toll and unrest in Wamena may have claimed as many as 41 lives

Witnesses to Monday’s deadly riots in West Papua claim Indonesian police gunned down Papuan students in the street during the unrest, and say Wamena has since become a militarised ghost town.

(…)

With internet services blocked and phone lines initially down and subsequently disrupted, it has been difficult to obtain a full picture of the horror that unfolded in Wamena on Monday, which Amnesty International has described as “one of the bloodiest days in Papua in 20 years”.

Sources on the ground say police and military are guarding the Wamena hospital, effectively blocking access to anyone who tries to independently verify the number of fatalities. Some Papuans have also retrieved victims and bodies directly from the street. Because of this, the real death toll is unknown, but could be as high as 41.

The Guardian has been provided with a list of 65 names of Papuans said to be at Wamena hospital suffering gunshot wounds and “injuries from sharp weapons”.

(…)

In the days since the deadly violence, there has been a strong army presence on the streets of Wamena, and shops, schools and gas stations have been closed. Meanwhile, thousands of migrants have fled, some boarding military flights to Jayapura, while indigenous Papuans have returned to villages on the outskirts of town.

After the riot, thousands sought refuge in churches and in police and military buildings, as parts of the town were torched and covered in towering plumes of smoke. The regent’s office was burned to the ground. Houses, shops, cars and the market were also set on fire.

At least four sources told the Guardian that “migrants” (non-indigenous Papuans), who dominate economic life in Wamena, are now walking the streets carrying machetes and iron sticks.

One source told the Guardian that “people in Wamena are afraid to go out”. The source said the shutdown of the internet and other modes of communication had exacerbated people’s fears of further violence and fuelled “ugly rumours” circulating the city.

“The settlers [migrants] are guarding their houses with machetes in their hands, and the Papuans are traumatised, and they don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“Thousands of migrants are fleeing the city, they want to be evacuated and they are being facilitated by the government, but Papuans are also terrified. They are thinking, ‘if the government is so quick to help settlers leave, what is being planned after that?’ There is currently that uncertainty.”

A leaked police memo, sent from the Papua police chief to his deputy and other officials, urges police and military to prepare weapons and ammunition “where they can be easily accessed” and warns non-Papuans to be vigilant and “stay temporarily in a safe place”.

(…)

Monday’s riot has for the second time painfully revealed how inflammable structural racism has become in West Papua, fuelling not just protests but a movement for independence from Indonesia.

“Papuan students are tired of racism and want to stand up for themselves,” Linus Hiluka, a former political prisoner who lives in Wamena, told the Guardian.

“They want their own story.”

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”

Tot esperant que surtin imatges de Papua i diguin que són de l'Eixample.

https://www.ccma.cat/324/lorena-roldan-diu-que-a-barcelona-hi-ha-persones-amb-catanes-a-plena-llum-del-dia/noticia/2947717/

Lorena Roldán diu que a Barcelona "hi ha persones amb catanes" a plena llum del dia

"Estem veient com els ciutadans de Barcelona tenen por de sortir al carrer. Estem veient fins i tot imatges a plena llum del dia de persones que van amb catanes i comenten il·legalitats."

Problema de la pujada i baixada de brillantor en Windows 10 Home amb HP

Problema de la pujada i baixada de brillantor en Windows 10 Home amb HP

Icona de Windows (part inferior esquerra de la pantalla)
Icona de Configuració (roda dentada)
Sistema
Inicio/apagado y suspensión
A la dreta de la pantalla pulseu Configuración adicional de energía
Apareix la finestra Opciones de energía
Pulseu sobre Cambiar la configuración del plan que tingueu activat
Igualeu els dos valors de "Ajustar brillo de la pantalla" de bateria i corrent alterna


El problema es que l'ordinador canvia automàticament, cada pocs segons, del mode bateria al de corrent alterna. Si el valor en els dos casos és el mateix no notareu el canvi.

Una altra opció és treballar amb corrent sense la bateria o amb bateria sense la corrent.

Problema de la subida y bajada del brillo en Windows 10 Home con HP.
Brightness problem in Windows 10 Home over HP.

Papua protests: capital Jayapura burns during night of violence

Unrest: Disturbis / Disturbios

Racial slurs: Insults racials / Insultos raciales

Have set buildings ablaze: Han calat foc a edificis / Han incendiado edificios

Have been rack: Ha estat sacsejada / Ha sido sacudida

The unity of the Republic of Indonesia is final: La unitat de la República d’Indonèsia és definitive. La unidad de la República de Indonesia es definitiva

Papua protests: capital Jayapura burns during night of violence

Indonesian president calls for calm after more than 1,000 protesters take to streets amid unrest over racial slurs and calls for independence

Reuters Fri 30 Aug 2019 03.27 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/30/papua-protests-capital-jayapura-burns-during-night-of-violence

Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd

Protesters in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua have set buildings ablaze in the provincial capital Jayapura, forcing the state power firm to cut off electricity in some districts, state media and an executive of the utility said.

Police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who also set fire to cars and threw stones at shops and offices on Thursday, state news agency Antara said. Protesters also torched a local parliament office. “Several public facilities and properties were damaged by rioters,” national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said.

In the wake of Thursday’s unrest, Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda called for UN to act on the crisis, the result of related protests about racism, discrimination and calls for independence. “Indonesian security services may turn it into a bloodbath,” Wenda said, referring to the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre in which hundreds of mourners at a funeral were shot by Indonesian forces.

The region has been racked by civil unrest for two weeks over reports of racial and ethnic discrimination. Some protesters are also demanding an independence vote – a move ruled out by the security minister on Thursday.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo called for calm on Thursday evening, telling reporters he had ordered “firm action against anarchist and racist actions”. He promised to further develop Papua.

During the riot in Jayapura, the protesters torched a building housing the offices of state-controlled telecoms firm Telekomunikasi Indonesia. The company said in a statement it could not assess the full damage yet.

The utility company PLN has turned off power in areas around the torched building, said regional director Ahmad Rofik, and state energy firm Pertamina said it had shut several petrol stations in Jayapura because of the protest.

National military spokesman Major General Sisriadi said more than 1,000 people had taken part in the protest.

Police spokesman Prasetyo told broadcaster Kompas TV: “The condition is gradually recovering.” News website Kompas.com said demonstrators had begun to disperse.

Gunfire broke out a day earlier between protesters and police in the town of Deiyai, about 500km (310 miles) from Jayapura.

Police said one soldier and two civilians were killed in the incident, while a separatist group said six had been shot dead. The military dismissed that as a hoax.

Police have deployed 300 mobile brigade personnel to the towns of Deiyai, Paniai and Jayapura after Wednesday’s incident, media quoted police chief Tito Karnavian as saying.

A separatist movement has simmered for decades in Papua, while there have also been frequent complaints of rights abuses by Indonesian security forces.

The spark for the latest unrest was a racist slur against Papuan students, who were hit by tear gas in their dormitory and detained in the city of Surabaya on the main island of Java on 17 August, Indonesia’s Independence Day, for allegedly desecrating a national flag. They were later released without charge.

Papua and West Papua provinces, the resource-rich western part of the island of New Guinea, formed a Dutch colony that was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticised UN-backed referendum in 1969.

On Thursday, chief security minister Wiranto said the government would not entertain any demand for an independence vote, according to Kompas.com. “Demands for a referendum, I think, is out of place. Demands for referendum I think must not be mentioned. Why? Because the unity of the Republic of Indonesia is final,” Wiranto was quoted as saying.

The government has cut internet access in the region since last week to stop people sharing “provocative” messages that could trigger more violence.

Yondr

Cada dia ho flipo més!

Teenage hangups: the drastic plans to keep high schoolers off their phones

Soon more than 1,000 schools nationwide will be using Yondr, a pouch that students lock their phones in during class

Vivian Ho in San Francisco Wed 28 Aug 2019 06.00 BST

Pouch: bossa / bolsa

Put your cellphone away. Stop texting. Stop using the camera as a mirror. Stop looking at Instagram. They’re the familiar commands of teachers and educators in the age of the smartphone.

Most teenagers today have grown up never knowing a world without smartphones, with the Pew Research Center reporting that 95% of all teens currently have access to or own a smartphone, and 45% are online almost constantly. That leaves educators the daunting challenge of teaching those whose attentions are – at least partially – attached to the devices in their pockets.

Daunting: discouraging

Most schools have put in place policies banning or regulating phone usage during school hours, and teachers now routinely find themselves confiscating devices or writing up students for being on their phones.

Writing up: possant notes / poniendo avisos

Educators are now exploring more drastic measures. This school year, more than 1,000 schools nationwide will be using Yondr, a pouch system that allows students to lock away their phones while they’re in class.

Each morning when students arrive at school, they magnetically lock their devices into their own personal green and gray pouches. They maintain possession of their pouches and devices, but they cannot unlock it until the end of the day, when they tap it on an unlocking magnet station located throughout the school.

The concept is not new. Musicians and performers have been using Yondr to prevent people from filming their gigs since the San Francisco-based company launched in 2014. But in recent years, more and more schools have begun using the pouches to keep kids off their phones during school hours, with dozens in the Bay Area alone. “Demand has tripled this year,” the Yondr spokeswoman Kelly Taylor said.

Allison Silvestri, the former principal of San Lorenzo high school east of San Francisco, implemented the tool three years ago. The results “were tremendous”, she said. The students were paying attention more in class.

The school saw a decrease in referrals for defiance and disrespect. “It was just so powerful to hear students interacting with each other and interacting with adults on campus,” she said.

Edward Huang, 16, was part of a pilot program that tested Yondr at San Mateo high school before launching it this school year. He has mixed feelings about Yondr. He’s noticed a difference in his peers. “People aren’t distracted,” he said. “Even people who were on their phones in minor ways, like checking the time and checking notifications, those minor ways add up and have an effect on how engaged you are. Socially, it has improved us. Even if it’s all of us talking about how much we hate it, having something to hate is a conversation topic.”

But he’s already heard about issues some kids have had because they couldn’t check their phones. Employers have tried to get in touch with students during the day, and couldn’t.

(...)

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/aug/27/highschoolers-phones-yondr-distraction 

Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd

Papua merdeka, itu yang monyet inginkan. West Papua protest by Kate Lamb & Ben Doherty

A hores d’ara, sense cap referència ni a La Vanguardia, ni a El País, ni al Ara, ni al ABC…

West Papua protests: Indonesia deploys 1,000 soldiers to quell unrest, cuts internet

Jakarta cuts online access to Papua ‘and surrounding areas’ until the atmosphere ‘returns to being conducive and normal’

Kate Lamb in Jakarta, and Ben Doherty      Thu 22 Aug 2019 06.57 BST

Deploy: Desplegar

To quell: Calmar

Unrest: Aldarulls / Disturbios

Return to be conducive: Tornin a la normalitat / Vuelvan a la normalidad

Indonesia has deployed more than 1,000 security personnel to West Papua and cut internet access, amid days of violent demonstrations in what activists say are the largest protests to occur in the region in years.

On Wednesday, violent unrest occurred in Fakfak, where a market was set ablaze and street battles erupted between police and protesters.

Ablaze: Cremar / Arder

Waving the banned Morning Star flag, a symbol of West Papuan independence, protesters chanted “we are not red and white”, in reference to the colours of the Indonesian flag.

Police fired tear gas after the crowds set fire to a market and destroyed ATMs and shops, local media reported. The crowd dispersed when riot police fired warning shots. Indonesian media reported police arrested 45 people, including some they accused of masterminding the protests and damaging buildings.

Mastermind: Dirigir, ésser el cervell d’una accció / Dirigir, ser el cerebro de una acción

It followed days of large and violent protests across multiple cities in the region, which is divided into the provinces of Papua and West Papua.

The groundswell of anger that has fuelled the demonstrators was sparked by an incident in the Javanese city of Surabaya on the weekend, where nationalist groups goaded Papuan students with racist taunts, calling them “monkeys”, “pigs” and “dogs”.

Groundswell: Mar de fons / Mar de fondo

Goad: Provocar amb insults / Provocar con insultos

The exiled West Papuan leader, Benny Wenda, said the subsequent arrests of the Papuan students in Surabaya had “lit the bonfire of nearly 60 years of racism, discrimination and torture of the people of West Papua by Indonesia”.

Angered by the racist slurs, Papuans began taking to the streets on Monday, first in Jayapura, from where violent protests have since spread to Manokwari, Fakfak, Timika and, on Thursday morning, Nabire, where demonstrators held signs with messages such as: “Papua merdeka, itu yang monyet inginkan,” or “Free Papua, this is what the monkeys want.”

Slur: Insult / Insulto

(Per fer-nos una idea de les dimensions, la distància entre Jakarta i Jayapura és la mateixa que hi ha entre Badajoz i Moscou.)

As an additional 1,000 military and police troops were sent in, Indonesia’s communications ministry announced on Wednesday that internet access would be temporarily blocked in Papua and its “surrounding areas” to “accelerate the process of restoring security”.

It followed days of an internet slowdown, and will last “until the atmosphere of Papua returns to being conducive and normal”, the ministry said.

Also on Wednesday, 5,000 people rallied in and around the city of Timika, the closest town to the massive Freeport gold and copper mine, where demonstrators reportedly threw rocks at the local parliament building and tried to tear down its fence.

Hundreds also marched through the streets of Sorong city, where protesters destroyed parts of an airport and about 250 inmates escaped in a prison break on Monday, according to West Papua’s police chief, Herry Rudolf Nahak.

Indonesia’s chief security minister, Wiranto, who goes by one name, headed to Papua late on Wednesday in a bid to quell tensions, while President Joko Widodo was scheduled to visit next week.

Activists criticised the internet blackout, saying it would make it difficult to verify facts and ensure people’s safety, in an area where access by foreign journalists is already restricted. For days, photos and videos posted on social media have provided a rare glimpse at the extent of the unrest. (…)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/22/west-papua-protests-indonesia-deploys-1000-soldiers-to-quell-unrest

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.

Linchamientos en México. Mexican town that lynched alleged kidnappers by Tom Phillips

En la película Vice se nos muestra como Dick Cheney, después de que dos aviones se estrellasen contra la torres gemelas, ve una oportunidad en lo que otros ven como un problema. A partir de ahí, la trama se desarrolla para mostrar como Cheney aprovecha esa oportunidad. Pero la otra cara de la moneda, el problema, también se desarrolla.

Hoy publica The Guardian que, en México, patrullas ciudadanas, hartas de secuestros, han linchado a un grupo de delincuentes. Mientras, Bolsonaro declara que ‘criminals should die in the streets like cockroaches’. El problema de la delincuencia organizada, especialmente al sur de Estados Unidos ha sido la cara B de una oportunidad para muchos gobernantes. Cierto que también es la cara B de la inoperancia de otros con mejores intenciones. Pero sea como sea ese problema ha crecido hasta situaciones insostenibles y, nuevamente, personajes como Bolsonaro o Duterte (la frontera sur de Estados Unidos es muy larga) lo recogen como una oportunidad. En medio, la respuesta visceral y coyuntural de la población que puede ser comprensible –lo comprensible no tiene que ser compartible- pero no deja de ser una evolución de pogromos, quema de brujas, gusto por las ejecuciones y otros divertimentos populares.

'People have had enough': Mexican town that lynched alleged kidnappers

Shocking act in Tepexco is just one example of wider malady blighting countries from Bolivia to Brazil

Tom Phillips in Tepexco

Wed 21 Aug 2019 05.00 BST Last modified on Wed 21 Aug 2019 05.01 BST

Socorro Muñoz fled indoors as the laurel-lined square outside her shop became a public execution ground one sunny afternoon in early August.

Fled indoors: huyó al interior

Laured-lined square: marco adornado con laurel

“I didn’t want to see,” the 62-year-old storekeeper explained as she relived the moment a tide of Latin American lynchings swept into Tepexco’s picturesque Plaza de la Constitución, leaving seven alleged kidnappers dead.

Witnesses say many in this farming community felt differently and had packed the square to watch a massacre they call simply “los hechos” or “the events”.

The dead included three suspected gang members – one a teenager – who were dragged from a local police station, interrogated and strung up from a rusty yellow basketball hoop as the crowd bayed for justice, and for blood.

Strung up: colgado

Rusty: oxidado

Bay: clamar

“My goodness, the 16-year-old kid, they hanged him and then brought him down – but he was still breathing. He was still alive,” Muñoz recounted in horror. “And when the people saw, they started shouting: ‘Put him up again! Put him up again!’ And so they put him up again. It was terrible. We’ve never seen anything like this.”

The lynchings, which took place in the Mexican state of Puebla on 7 August, were the latest expression of a regional malady blighting countries from Bolivia to Brazil, whose far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, recently declared criminals should “die in the streets like cockroaches”.

Malady blighting: plaga que azota

Most weeks Latin American newspapers feature chilling tales of mob justice, often committed by otherwise law-abiding citizens and increasingly coordinated on social media and filmed on smartphones. In one recent case in the Brazilian Amazon, vigilantes smashed their way into a police station with sledgehammers in search of a suspected killer, before hacking him to death with machetes and scythes.

Chilling tales: relatos espeluznantes

Mob justice: justicia vengativa

Law-abiding citizens: ciudadanos de orden respetuosos de la ley.

Smashed their way: se abrieron paso

Sledghammer & scythes: mazos y guadañas

But Mexico, which last year registered a record 35,964 murders and where only a tiny fraction of crimes are solved, has been particularly affected.

The number of lynchings almost tripled here last year, jumping from 60 incidents in 2017 to 174 – 58 of which resulted in deaths. In the first half of this year that trend has continued with security expert Eduardo Guerrero counting at least 42 killings.

“It is truly alarming,” said Elisa Godínez Pérez, a Mexican anthropologist who studies lynchings. “There are regions like Puebla where the situation is practically out of control.” (…)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/21/they-hanged-him-the-mexican-town-tepexco-that-lynched-alleged-kidnappers

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.

The plastic backlash by Stephen Buranyi

The plastic backlash by Stephen Buranyi

Tue 13 Nov 2018 06.00 GMT Last modified on Mon 26 Nov 2018 12.00 GMT

Microbeads were only the beginning. The public would soon learn that synthetic fabrics such as nylon and polyester shed thousands of microscopic fibres with each wash cycle. After scientists started showing how these fibres ended up lodged in the guts of fish, newspapers ran articles with headlines such as “Yoga pants are destroying the Earth”, while eco-conscious brands such as Patagonia scrambled for solutions. (…) Then tyres, which are about 60% plastic, were revealed to shed plastic fibres while in motion, potentially more than microbeads and clothing combined. (…)

Les mini perles de plàstic (emprades en cosmètica principalment) foren sols el començament. La gent va comprendre ràpidament que les fibres sintètiques com ara el niló o el polièster deixaven anar milers de fibres microscòpiques a cada bugada. Després els científics varen mostrar com aquestes fibres acabaven dins els budells dels peixos i els diaris van començar a deixar anar titulars com ara “Els pantalons de ioga estan destruint el planeta” mentre eco-companyies com Patagonia cercaven solucions (com ara rentadores que evitaven en un 60% el problema de les microfibres). Més tard es va demostrar que els pneumàtics, que estan fets amb un 60% de plàstic, també deixaven anar microfibres en el seu moviment, potencialment més que les mini perles i la roba juntes.

Plastic meant profit. As one researcher from the Midwest Research Institute, an engineering research firm, wrote in 1969, “the powerful motive force behind the development of the throw-away container market is the fact that each returnable bottle displaced from the market means the sale of 20 non-returns”. In 1965, the Society for the Plastics Industry trade body reported that plastics had entered their 13th straight year of record growth.

Plàstic vol dir profit. Com un investigador del MRI, una companyia de recerca, va escriure el 1969, “la principal causa que va portar al desenvolupament del mercat dels estris d’un sol us fou que cada ampolla retornable retirada del mercat era equiparable al cost de 20 sense retorn.” El 1965, la Societat per la Indústria del Plàstic, un organisme comercial, va reportar que els plàstics havien aconseguit el seu 13è any consecutiu de creixement rècord.

But it also meant rubbish. In the US, prior to 1950, reusable packaging such as glass bottles had a nearly 96% return rate. By the 70s, the rate for all container returns had dropped below 5%. (…)

Però també vol dir brossa. Als Estats Units, abans del 1950, els envasos retornables com ara ampolles de vidre arribava ben bé al 96% de retorn. Cap als anys 70, la taxa de tots els contenidors de retornables va davallar fins a un 5%.

From the start, the industry fought hard against all the proposed legislation. The New York City plastic bottle tax was struck down by the state supreme court the same year it was levied, following a lawsuit by the Society for the Plastics Industry alleging unfair treatment;(…) the congressional ban never got off the ground after lobbyists claimed it would hurt manufacturing jobs.

Des del començament, la indústria va lluitar amb força contra tota legislació. La taxa de la ciutat de Nova York sobre les ampolles de plàstic fou derogada per la cort suprema el mateix any que havia estat implantada d’acord amb una al·legació de la SPI queixant-se de tractament injust; (el mateix va passar amb una legislació ambiental a Hawaii). Les esmenes al congrés no varen continuar tan bon punt els lobbistes varen queixar-se que es podrien perdre llocs de treball.

Having seen off these legislative threats, a loose alliance of oil and chemical companies, along with drinks and packaging manufacturers, pursued a two-part strategy that would successfully defuse anti-plastic sentiment for a generation. The first part of the strategy was to shift responsibility for litter and waste from companies to consumers. Rather than blaming the companies that had promoted disposable packaging and made millions along the way, these same companies argued that irresponsible individuals were the real problem. This argument was epitomised by a 1965 editorial in a US packaging trade journal headlined “Guns Don’t Kill People”, which blamed “the litterbugs who abuse our countryside” rather than the manufacturers themselves.

Veient aquestes amenaces legislatives, una poderosa aliança d’empreses químiques i del petroli juntament amb les d’envasaments van crear una doble estratègia per aconseguir que tota una generació deixés de tenir un sentiment de rebuig cap als plàstics. La primera part de l’estratègia fou fer anar la responsabilitat i la despesa dels residus de les companyies als consumidors. En lloc de culpar a les companyies que creaven els envasaments i guanyaven milions, les mateixes companyies argumentaven que les irresponsabilitats individuals eren el veritable problema. Aquest argument fou santificat el 1965 en un diari de les empreses d’emmagatzematge en un titular ‘Les pistoles no maten a la gent’ (sí, el mateix que ha fet servir Trump després de l’enèsima matança en l’estiu de 2019), que culpava als porcs que abusen del nostre país molt més que als mateixos productors.

To help push this message, companies involved in plastics and other disposable packaging funded non-profit groups that highlighted the consumer’s responsibility for rubbish. One of these groups, Keep America Beautiful (KAB), founded in 1953 and funded by companies including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dow Chemical and Mobil, ran hundreds of adverts along these lines. “People start pollution. People can stop it”, stated their 1971 Earth Day campaign. KAB also engaged local civic and community groups to organise cleanups and address what it called the “national disgrace” of litter.

Per ajudar a promoure aquest missatge, les companyies vinculades a la producció de plàstics i altres embolcalls d’un sol us varen crear grups sense ànim de lucre que remarcaven la responsabilitat dels consumidors per la brossa. Un d’aquests grups, Manté Amèrica Bonica (KAB) fundat el 1953 per companyies com ara Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dow Chemical (20,000 morts i 600.000 afectats a Bhopal 1964) i Mobil, varen posar milers d’anuncis amb l’eslògan “La gent va començar la pol·lució. La gent la pot aturar” i van instaurar, el 1971, la seva campanya del Dia de la Terra. KAB també engegà grups civils locals i comunitaris per organitzar neteges i resoldre el que anomenaven la ‘desgràcia nacional’ de la brossa.

Framing litter as a personal failing was remarkably successful. In 1988, the year global plastic production pulled even with steel, Margaret Thatcher, picking up litter in St James’s Park for a photo op, captured the tone perfectly. “This is not the fault of the government,” she told reporters. “It is the fault of the people who knowingly and thoughtlessly throw it down.” 

Considerar la brossa com una responsabilitat personal tingué un notable èxit. El 1988, l’any que la producció de plàstic va agafar la del acer, Margaret Thatcher, recollint escombraries a St James Park per una foto publicitària, ho va resumir perfectament: ‘Això no és culpa dels governs’, va dir als periodistes. ‘Es de la gent que, tot i ser conscients, ho llencen.’ (la foto en aquest post és de The Telegraph) 

The second part of the industry’s strategy to allay public concern over pollution involved throwing its weight behind a relatively new idea: household recycling. 

La segona part de l’estratègia de la indústria per calmar la preocupació de la gent per la pol·lució implicava posar el pes sobre una idea nova: el reciclatge domèstic.

I no continuo per no sobrepassar els límits de la llicència d’ús de The Guardian. Podeu llegir l’article sencer a:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/the-plastic-backlash-whats-behind-our-sudden-rage-and-will-it-make-a-difference

I escoltar-ho a:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2018/dec/28/discover-the-familiar-the-plastic-backlash-podcast

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.

Buenos Aires judge bans delivery apps after road accidents spike by Amy Booth

Buenos Aires judge bans delivery apps after road accidents spike

Ruling also raises concerns over workers’ rights, and orders credit card companies to block transactions made via apps

Amy Booth           Fri 16 Aug 2019 06.00 BST

When a courier delivering a takeaway in Buenos Aires was hit by a car, the company’s response was not to check how he was, but to ask: “How is the order?”

Courier Ernesto Floridia, 63, was run over on 27 July while delivering pizza ordered through Glovo, an on-demand courier service. When he texted the company about the accident, the co-ordinator replied: “How is the order. It is in good or bad condition to be delivered?” When he said he couldn’t move, the coordinator messaged: “Ernesto can you send me a picture of the products please?” Journalist Yanina Otero tweeted a photo of the exchange in which Floridia’s phone appears to be smeared with blood.

The tweet went viral, andwas retweeted more than 60,000 times, with social media users outraged at Glovo’s response. A judge has now taken it to a provocative conclusion: he has ordered the suspension of delivery apps after finding that major players Rappi, Glovo, and PedidosYa, failed to comply with the law – which the companies deny.

(…)

On 2 August, Judge Roberto Gallardo ordered the suspension of the apps in the city over concerns that the companies don’t satisfy transport and labour laws. They are banned until they start following the law. His ruling applies to all companies that fail to comply with the law, but specifically mentions major delivery apps Rappi, Glovo, and PedidosYa.

Gallardo, who interrupted the mid-year judicial recess in order to handle the case, later said: “The situation described entails a foreseeable and immediate risk to frustrate the rights to life, physical integrity and work.”

He has ordered credit card companies to block transactions made via the apps. Delivery companies will also be fined ARS10,000 (£149.35) each time police checkpoints catch a courier breaching health and safety requirements.

(…)

Juan Manuel Ottaviano (no relation), a labour lawyer and assessor at the Association of Platform Workers, drew parallels with Uber. The ride hailing app is fighting a legal battle with the City of Buenos Aires about whether the law should treat it as a technology company or a taxi service. Drivers are left in a legal grey area, but keep working because they need the income.

“Instead of discussing working conditions, it’s about the legality or illegality of the workers,” Juan Manuel said. “It generates underground work, means more precarious working conditions.” He said app work is not characteristic of self-employment because it’s most couriers’ sole source of income, they receive direct orders, and can be disciplined.

While many people in the city rely on this work to make a living, the drawbacks of these apps are becoming increasingly apparent. “If the most important thing is how quickly the pizza gets there, more guys are going to die,” said Gonzalo.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/aug/16/buenos-aires-judge-bans-delivery-apps-after-road-accidents-spike

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.

In the same Yanina's twitter we can read: 

The fashion line designed to trick surveillance cameras by Alex Hern

The fashion line designed to trick surveillance cameras by Alex Hern

Adversarial Fashion garments are covered in license plates, aimed at bamboozling a device’s databases

Alex Hern in Las Vegas      @alexhern            Wed 14 Aug 2019 06.00 BST

Garment: Ropa, vestido

Aim: Destinada

Bamboozling: Engañar.

Automatic license plate readers, which use networked surveillance cameras and simple image recognition to track the movements of cars around a city, may have met their match, in the form of a T-shirt. Or a dress. Or a hoodie.

Hoodie: Capucha / Robin Hood /

The anti-surveillance garments were revealed at the DefCon cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas on Saturday by the hacker and fashion designer Kate Rose, who presented the inaugural collection of her Adversarial Fashion line.

Rose credits a conversation with a friend, the Electronic Frontier Foundation researcher Dave Maass, for inspiring the project: “He mentioned that the readers themselves are not very good,” she said. “They already read in things like picket fences and other junk. I thought that if they’re fooled by a fence, then maybe I could take a crack at it.”

Picket fenced: Valla, cerca

They already read →adverbio antes del verbo

Crack at it →Preposición at

To human eyes, Rose’s fourth amendment T-shirt contains the words of the fourth amendment to the US constitution in bold yellow letters. The amendment, which protects Americans from “unreasonable searches and seizures”, has been an important defense against many forms of government surveillance: in 2012, for instance, the US supreme court ruled that it prevented police departments from hiding GPS trackers on cars without a warrant.

                        On cars → El GPS se instala oculto dentro del coche

But to an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) system, the shirt is a collection of license plates, and they will get added to the license plate reader’s database just like any others it sees. The intention is to make deploying that sort of surveillance less effective, more expensive, and harder to use without human oversight, in order to slow down the transition to what Rose calls “visual personally identifying data collection”.

To make deploying that sort of surveillance: Hacer que el desarrollo de este tipo de vigilancia.

                        To slow down → Ralentizar

“It’s a highly invasive mass surveillance system that invades every part of our lives, collecting thousands of plates a minute. But if it’s able to be fooled by fabric, then maybe we shouldn’t have a system that hangs things of great importance on it,” she said.

Rose likens her work to that of other security researchers at DefCon. “If a phone is discovered to have a vulnerability, we don’t throw our phones away. This is like that, disclosing a vulnerability. I was shocked it was so easy, and I would call on people who think these systems are critical to find better ways to do that verification.”

Liken: Conecta

(…)

The anti-ALPR fabric is just the latest example of “adversarial fashion”, albeit the first to be targeted against car trackers. In 2016, the Berlin-based artist and technologist Adam Harvey worked with international interaction studio Hyphen-Labs to produce the Hyperface textile, fabric printed with a seemingly abstract pattern designed to trigger facial recognition systems.

Albeit: Aunque

On Monday, the owners of the King’s Cross development in central London were revealed to be applying facial recognition without consent on any visitor to the 67-acre estate. The UK’s Information Commissioner warned the landowners that such use may not be legal under existing law.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/13/the-fashion-line-designed-to-trick-surveillance-cameras

“Courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd”.