In 2019, representatives from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s member states decided to develop a global framework to guide the ethical development and application of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Why is ethics crucial in the development of Artificial Intelligence? As Dafna Feinholz, Chief of the Bioethics and Ethics of Science Section of UNESCO notes in a 90 second video:

“Imagine a self-driving car with broken brakes going at full speed toward a grand-mother and a child.
If it deviates a little bit, one of them can be saved. Who would you choose, the grandmother or the child?

Do you think there is only one right answer? This is an example of a typical ethical dilemma,
to show how important ethics is when we develop technologies.”

A draft recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence has been developed and member states at UNESCO’s General Conference in November 2021 will vote to adopt or ratify the Recommendation.

The objectives of this Draft Recommendation are:

“(a) to provide a universal framework of values, principles and actions to guide States in the formulation of their legislation, policies or other instruments regarding AI, consistent with international law;

(b) to guide the actions of individuals, groups, communities, institutions and private sector companies to ensure the embedding of ethics in all stages of the AI system life cycle;

(c) to protect, promote and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, human dignity and equality, including gender equality; to safeguard the interests of present and future generations; to preserve the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems; and to respect cultural diversity in all stages of the AI system life cycle;

(d) to foster multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary and pluralistic dialogue and consensus building about ethical issues relating to AI systems; and

(e) to promote equitable access to developments and knowledge in the field of AI and the sharing of benefits, with particular attention to the needs and contributions of LMICs [low- and middle-income countries], including LDCs [Least Developed Countries], LLDCs [Landlocked Developing Countries] and SIDS [Small Island Developing States].“

The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) has been asked to give feedback to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) on whether GoRTT should vote to adopt the UNESCO draft text of the recommendation on the ethics of Artificial Intelligence.

The draft text of the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence can be found at
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000377897 .

You can also read more about AI and Ethics at UNESCO’s Information Hub on Artificial Intelligence

What are your thoughts? If you are interested in this issue, please contact TTCS at info@ttcs.tt

Also, if these related policy issues which impacts ordinary users are of interest to you, please join the TTCS list at https://ttcs.tt/jointtcs

With the reopening of Trinidad and Tobago’s borders in mid July 2021, the Ministry of National Security of Trinidad and Tobago has launched “TTravel Pass” at https://ttravelpass.gov.tt/ (Note the spelling!).

Persons wanting to travel to Trinidad and Tobago can file an application (and upload various documents) to get a TTravel Pass to travel to Trinidad and Tobago. See https://ttravelpass.gov.tt/travel-requirement on the full details of the application process and the required documents.

Some observations :

• Given the unusual spelling (TTravel Pass) as opposed to “TT Travel Pass”, perhaps the domain tttravelpass.gov.tt should be created to redirect to ttravelpass.gov.tt (Update July 15 2021 : this was implemented!)
  
• However, why not use a simpler domain like https://travelpass.gov.tt ?
  It would be easier to remember and say. The name TTravel Pass could still be used
  throughout the site. (Update July 15 2021 : https://travelpass.gov.tt redirects to https://ttravelpass.gov.tt )
  
• What’s the data retention policy for travelers’ documents uploaded to TTravel Pass ?
  
• The footer on the TTravel Pass website says “Developed and Licensed by: Amber Innovations (An Amber Group Company)“. The Amber Group company was also the developer of the Jamaican Government’s JamCOVID site . Earlier this year, Techcrunch reported that the JamCOVID site exposed immigration records and COVID-19 test results of travelers to Jamaica. After the initial lapse was fixed, two more security lapses of the JamCOVID website were also reported by Techcrunch.

The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society will be having a online call on Thursday June 17 2021 at 8:30 pm to discuss next steps of our Computer Refurbishment Project .

Anyone interested in the topic (and able to help) is welcome to join the call.

Zoom Meeting URL :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87576670040?pwd=Tk8wRkRWWjhZMkJLWW4wQXVQL2lodz09
Meeting ID: 875 7667 0040

RSVP at info@ttcs.tt for the meeting passcode

The Trinidad and Tobago Cyber Security Incident Response Team (TT-CSIRT) has full access to query Trinidad and Tobago Government domains at Have I Been Pwned (HIBP ; https://haveibeenpwned.com/), a useful monitoring service to check whether your email address have been involved in any data breach (where data has been unintentionally exposed to the public). HIBP is run by Troy Hunt and as he notes on his blog post, Trinidad and Tobago is the first Caribbean government to be added to HIBP.

This means that TT-CSIRT can monitor HIBP and be alerted whenever any user with email addresses under .gov.tt have been impacted by data breaches.

HIBP is a great service that you can use. Just go to https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and enter your email address.

HIBP will then search its database of data breaches and shows whether your email address was found on them along with what other data was compromised. The compromised data often included personal information you shared with the service (such as date of birth, username, phone number and physical address) and your password.

You can take steps to re-secure your account at the service by changing your password to a secure, unique password that is NOT used on other services you share data with. If you have been using the same password on other services (a big NO-NO), you should change the password on those services ASAP as any attacker can use your email address and reused password to gain access to your other services.

The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) will be involved with Restore a Sense of I Can’s (RSC) Caribbean Girls in ICT 2021 event on Thursday April 22 2021.

In RSC’s Caribbean Girls in ICT (GICT) event, students from 15 Caribbean countries (including Trinidad and Tobago) will be participating in a variety of online sessions on various ICT topics such as coding, robotics, artificial intelligence, digital media and more! To register for RSC’s GICT 2021 event, go to https://cutt.ly/uMHKEW4P

Last year GICT event, the TTCS had a session on Free and Open Source Software.

For GICT 2021, the TTCS will be doing four sessions :

• Overview of Free and Open Source Software
• Coding with a Raspberry Pi 
• A Practical Approach to Upgrading and Refurbishing Computers
• Cybersecurity – The Anatomy of a Hack

The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) will be having an online call on Tuesday March 16 2021 from 8pm.

Come join us as we talk about :

• Security lapses of the JamCOVID website and app
• Tens of thousands of MS Exchange servers compromised
• Possible changes to the Trinidad and Tobago’s Computer Misuse Act
• Data protection legislation
• Updates on the Computer Refurbishment Project and OSSWIN project
• future of TTCS

We will be using Zoom for this call.

Zoom Meeting URL :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89079587746?pwd=K1lDb3kvUEdUaG1rOFhkVTRLL2RyZz09

Meeting ID: 890 7958 7746

Please RSVP for the passcode at info@ttcs.tt ! Attendance is free

Be sure to update to the latest Zoom desktop client at https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting and/or if connecting from mobile, have the Zoom mobile app for iOS or the Zoom mobile app for Android devices. See you on the call!

According to a 22 February 2021 Tweet from Spotify, the streaming music and podcast service, Spotify will be launching in 80+ markets in the new few days which includes Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbados, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Belize, Grenada, Bahamas, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, Dominica, Curaçao and Suriname.

We launch in 80+ new markets over the next few days. See you soon Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria 👀 #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/Wqv3IFdicz

— Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2021

TTCS OSSWIN v3.20, a collection of Free and Open Source Software for Windows is available for download or viewing online at https://ttcsosswin.ttcs.tt/ . With over 90 programs organised in various categories from educational software, Desktop Applications, Graphics and more,
Apart from many software updates, one new program was added : Lively, which allows you to add animated desktop wallpapers to your Windows desktop.

Browse TTCS OSSWIN online

Browse TTCS OSSWIN online at
https://ttcsosswin.ttcs.tt/

You can browse TTCS OSSWIN online at https://ttcsosswin.ttcs.tt/ which features the web interface to learn about Free and Open Source programs in various categories, including screenshots or videos of the programs and a link to the program’s website where you can download the program. The web based UI is responsive, meaning it should be usable on non-Windows small screen mobile phones and tablets.

Download TTCS OSSWIN

You can download the entire collection of TTCS OSSWIN as a 7GB file for extracting to your harddrive or USB storage device (or burn on a DVD). The TTCS OSSWIN collection provides a link to install the software directly and in the case of a program providing 32 bit and 64 bit versions installers, TTCS OSSWIN attempts to autodetect whether you are running 64 bit Windows and presents that installer first. The web interface and all screenshots and videos are included in the collection so that you can browse and install software on a Windows computer without internet access.

• Date created : February 15 2021
• File name : ttcs_osswin_v320.iso
• File size : 7.49 GB (8,050,923,520 bytes)
• SHA-256 : 1FD6CD9B8C75EFF57240FFCF942C28DDADDE405F5CA8190D88A0F04D6780B1D8

If you’re want to give comments and feedback or want to assist with this project, then send a email to osswin@ttcs.tt

The fifth annual Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum (TTIGF) will be held from 9am to 1pm on Thursday January 28 2021 and Friday January 2021.

TTIGF2021 will be held online using Zoom. There will also be a livestream on YouTube. Attendance to TTIGF 2021 is FREE! But you must register to attend to get the Zoom link or livestream link

The TTIGF is hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Multistakeholder Advisory Group (TTMAG), of which the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society is a member and serving on the TTMAG Board.

The theme of TTIGF2021 is “Digitalization : The ‘New Norm’”, TTIGF 2021 features 4 panel sessions with selected experts and respected professionals :

• DIGITALIZATION – The Multistakeholder Approach
• Cybersecurity in the New Norm
• TECH & EDUCATION – Revolutionising Education for a Digital World
• DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

TTIGF 2021 will also have an open forum session where participants can share comments, questions, solutions and best practices on internet governance locally, regionally and globally.

Register now!