Category: Public Policy and National Security

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The EU and the rhetoric of fundamental rights

Twitter’s decision to close former US President Trump’s accounts has sparked heated controversy that have confirmed the absence of a vision on the role of fundamental rights in the European political agenda. The analysis of Andrea Monti Originally published in Italian by Formiche.net

In a somewhat reductive way, the closure of the Twitter account of the (soon to be) former US President Donald Trump and, in cascade, the blocking of other network services that hosted platforms related to the American right, have raised alarms about the excessive power assumed by Big Tech. These companies have shown that they can intervene autonomously and according to their agenda in exercising political rights in a sovereign state. Continue reading “The EU and the rhetoric of fundamental rights”

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Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify

Peter Doshi’s (denied) request for access to the raw data of the vaccine trial published in the British Medical Journal is a starting point to analyse on the delicate relationship between science and the media by Andrea Monti  – Originally published in Italian by Scienza in rete

Those who practise the scientific method have the stubborn habit (incomprehensible to most) of drawing conclusions from the analysis of data according to the criteria of a research hypothesis and applying a method that allows the inter-subjective verifiability of the results.

This mental attitude is diametrically opposed to those who base their opinions and – worse – decisions on ‘trust’ (often turned into ‘faith’) and therefore on the authority of various eminences. I do not criticise this attitude in the religious sphere, but in the secular one, that of science, yes. If a dogma exists in the practice of science, it is that of the methodical doubt, together with that of the absence of certainty. An experimentally verified theory is valid as long as it is valid. It happened to give an example of which expertise overflows outside the laboratories, with Newton’s gravitation and quantum mechanics. Continue reading “Peter Doshi and vaccines data: “trust but verify”

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Where is the beef in the T&T (Twitter&Trump) outrage?

Some newspapers are outraged about the closure of the former US president’s account. Instead, they should re-think their role and contents they deliver by Andrea Monti – Originally published in Italian by Infosec.News

Frankly, it is hard to understand the outrage about Twitter & Trump and, in general, about the “power” of social networks to silence anyone.

Unlike newspapers, Twitter, Facebook and Google are private companies. They provide services against the acceptance of a contract. The contract gives them the power to accept as a customer whomever they want, to do what they want with the published content and to close accounts at will. Not unlike proprietary software producers who reserve the right to withdraw – at their discretion – the licence they have paid for, which is often very expensive.

Twitter & C. do nothing different from newspapers and ‘traditional’ media. Indeed, one could even say that the latter do worse, in the name of adherence to the ‘editorial line’. We witness political factionalism, superficial and coarse information, or ‘free inspirations’ from foreign newspapers passed off as original articles every day. Just as, daily, we witness the ‘usual celebrities’ talking about everything and anything on any television programme, even beyond their sectoral expertise. Continue reading “Where is the beef in the T&T (Twitter&Trump) outrage?”

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The responsibility of media and intellectuals for the power of big-tech and the safety of Institutions

Media and intellectuals no longer anticipate reality, but merely follow it. The building of a civil conscience pays the price by Andrea Monti

After Twitter decided to close former US president Trump’s accounts, Italian media and intellectuals  “discovered” the power of technological platforms and launched a “democracy alarm”.

They come good last and more than twenty years late (better late than never) on such an issue desperately signalled at international level by civil rights associations such as the American EFF, in Europe by EDRI) and, in Italy, since 1994, by ALCEI. Continue reading “The responsibility of media and intellectuals for the power of big-tech and the safety of Institutions”