Sign in

Rosamunde Van Brakel

@rosamundevb.bsky.social
4.8K followers 1.4K following 1.8K posts

assistant prof/senior postdoc criminology VUB/substitute lecturer KULeuven - research: digital & green criminology, surveillance, AI, youth justice, human rights researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/ro…

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
There is a lot of doom in the air around the twin existential threats of AI and climate change. Can we use this moment of rapid infrastructure expansion to kickstart our transition to clean energy? My full conversation with climate tech expert Steph Speirs is live on YouTube now!
youtu.be
Can the AI Power Problem Lead to a Cleaner Future? (with Steph Speirs)
YouTube video by Elle Cordova
433265
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Saul Staniforth @saulstaniforth.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
"The last thing I did is the report on Gaza naming what is happening there as genocide. One of the main reactions to that report [was] paying tribute to me for my courage.. why would you need courage to speak the truth?" Navi Pillay upon winning the 2026 Nobel peace prize
71004416
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Tools like Axon Fusus, which is a leader in this type of software, also pull in footage and data from police body cameras, law enforcement dashcams, 911 dispatch, gunshot detectors and surveillance cameras, including sometimes those of private businesses that opt in. www.npr.org/2026/10/08/n...
npr.org
Flock is catching flak. Experts say other police surveillance tools are more worrisome
Real-time crime-center software is a sometimes overlooked but powerful tool allowing police to aggregate immense amounts of data, significantly expanding their surveillance reach.
052
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 09/10/2026
Breaking News: The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Navi Pillay for her efforts to ensure that war crimes and genocide are prosecuted.
nyti.ms
Nobel Peace Prize Live Updates: Navi Pillay, Former U.N. Human Rights Commissioner, Wins
Ms. Pillay, a South African lawyer, led an investigation that determined that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a finding the Israeli government rejected.
48761191
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
In 2007-2009 I lived in London and the Bacon exhibition in Tate Britain was incredible. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tat...
tate.org.uk
Francis Bacon | Tate Britain
Francis Bacon at Tate Britain 11 September 2008 – 4 January 2009 explore the exhibition
110
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
gelukkig zijn niet alle stalkers hiervan op de hoogte …
110
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Tomorrow I will teach my 2nd lecture of the year for my course Legal, Ethical & Social Issues of AI! For the evaluation, apart from the exam, students will need to write a short paper describing an AI imaginary that takes into account the legal, ethical and social issues we discussed in the course.
2154
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Anyone who has done this before I would be very interested in other experiences!
012
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
the one linked 😊
110
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 06/10/2026
“A Denver woman is suing police, Flock Safety and two Colorado towns after a sergeant falsely accused her of stealing a $25 package citing Flock surveillance footage as evidence.”
coloradosun.com
Denver woman sues police, Flock Safety after being falsely accused of stealing package from porch
Chrisanna Elser was accused of stealing a $25 package after a Columbine Valley police sergeant cited Flock surveillance of her car as proof
213544
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
lol
000
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
We are discussing this one tomorrow www.emerald.com/aiie/article... and I already got the students reading about a general critique of AI in education by @olivia.science et al for the first lecture: static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf15...
emerald.com
A guided inquiry approach to students co-designing generative AI course policies
Purpose. As generative AI (GenAI) use among students increases, educators face growing questions about how to support learning while addressing ethical and institutional concerns. This exploratory stu...
2103
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
lol
020
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Anyone who has done this before I would be very interested in other experiences!
012
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
last week we discussed if AI is going to kill us all. And the students were very engaged in this discussion and it made clear how important it is to keep on emphasising the importance of science, politics, economic incentives and ethics in these discussions.
030
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
indeed!
000
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
all infrastructure erodes consent, sometimes it bypasses it completely this is uncomfortable (& often problematic), but it should not be controversial to point out this fact
513540
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I have decided to co-create the gen-AI policy for the assignment together with the students. In prepration for this romorrow we will discuss a US study which did exactly this. It will also be interesting to see if there are cultural differences in attitudes towards genAI.
261
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Tomorrow I will teach my 2nd lecture of the year for my course Legal, Ethical & Social Issues of AI! For the evaluation, apart from the exam, students will need to write a short paper describing an AI imaginary that takes into account the legal, ethical and social issues we discussed in the course.
2154
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
🚨🚨A #climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale. www.politico.eu/article/clim...
politico.eu
A climate nightmare lurks in the Atlantic. Europe is starting to pay attention.
A slowdown of ocean currents that would disrupt life on the continent on an unthinkable scale.
412981
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Adam Christopher @adamchristopher.me · 05/10/2026
Mac users on mac OS 27 - we can get our disk space back and remove Apple AI! Somebody has made a tool: www.macrumors.com/2026/10/05/a...
macrumors.com
Mac Users Reclaim Storage With New Apple Intelligence Removal Tool
A new open-source tool is making waves in the Mac community by helping users reclaim valuable storage space taken up by Apple's AI models. Called "RemoveMacAI," the tool disables Apple Intelligence on...
8607264
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Benefits for who?
321
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A formal complaint says the European Commission is keeping data center energy and water use under wraps, breaching the public’s right to know. www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
politico.eu
EU accused of hiding environmental impact of data centers
A formal complaint says the European Commission is keeping data center energy and water use under wraps, breaching the public’s right to know.
050
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
UN Environment Programme @unep.org · 03/10/2026
Old phones, fridges or laptops don’t just disappear when tossed. The world generates 62 million tonnes of e-waste each year, enough to fill 1.5 million trucks. New regulations, circular design and better recycling can help stop the toxic tide and #BeatWastePollution: ow.ly/tQcK50ZTOgi
02415
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Autumn flowers?
010
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Best time of the year! #autumn. #Leuven
120
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Hongerdood, zeemijnen en fosforbrandwonden: door de oorlog in Oekraïne verloren al minstens 100.000 dolfijnen het leven. www.demorgen.be/oorlog-in-oe...
demorgen.be
Ecocide in Oekraïne: Tommy Wieringa over de hel van pijn voor dolfijnen in de Zwarte Zee
Hongerdood, zeemijnen en fosforbrandwonden: door de oorlog in Oekraïne verloren al minstens 100.000 dolfijnen het leven. Eén man verzamelt de vaak verse kadavers als bewijsmateriaal. Tommy Wieringa br...
044
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
michael veale @michae.lv · 01/10/2026
The proposed social media ban, the EU KIDS Act, is perhaps the most chaotic law I have ever read! New paper: Are EU Kidding Me? Notes from a Poorly Drafted Social Media Ban. files.michae.lv/papers/veale_areEUkiddingme.pdf In the spirit of the proposal I have stayed offline and read no takes.
In September 2026, the European Commission published a proposed EU KIDS Act, responding to the demand for restrictions and further design obligations applying to digital services accessible to children, including social media. This Article argues that regardless of what one believes about the merits of this policy direction, the EU KIDS Act is not the legislative text we need. The scope and drafting are little short of chaotic, full of holes, enormous ambiguities, and unintended consequences. Recitals contradict articles. The use of scope borrowed from other pieces of legislation not designed for this purpose brings services into scope that should not be subject to the relevant provisions, like book-recommendation websites, music services, or exercise trackers. The infrastructural requirement for assurance of age and parental responsibility attestation simply omits enormous issues of complex families and childhoods. Complex design obligations are written in ways that can be plausibly interpreted as implicitly prohibiting entire swathes of products, such as voice assistants. This Article outlines these issues, and many more. The Commission should withdraw this proposal and reissue a workable and realistic text.
38858
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Homicides fall as organised crime grows more profitable – and networked news.un.org/en/story/202...
news.un.org
Homicides fall as organised crime grows more profitable – and networked
Homicide rates are falling across much of the world, but organised crime is on the rise in many regions as criminal networks diversify into trafficking, migrant smuggling, and the exploitation of natu...
031
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🔥🔥🔥
010
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
DAPPER DON DHARSHI @dapperdondharshi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A marine biologist films this octopus changing colors while dreaming and it’s spectacular
18256611226
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 01/10/2026
Google thinks SpaceX’s Starship has to launch 1,600 times before space data centers get off the ground
techcrunch.com
Google thinks SpaceX’s Starship has to launch 1,600 times before space data centers get off the ground
Google launched its first advanced chip into orbit to pave the way for space data centers.
2155
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Alex Hanna @alexhanna.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Indigenous languages are often hidden to LLMs, for good reason. We speak with Keoni Mahelona about his work on Indigenous data sovereignty, and why it’s worth being skeptical when the “AI" industry says it cares about preserving Indigenous languages. (with @emilymbender.bsky.social)
513245
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
If you need to explain to someone why the ‘Rogue AI’ framing is both wrong and harmful, actually blocking our view of what safety and responsibility requires in AI, this will help:
noemamag.com
The AIs Are Not Going Rogue | NOEMA
But they still pose risks.
610043
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Amid a barrage of news stories warning about superintelligent machines rendering humanity extinct, a CNN story describing the opposite scenario – one in which the US military’s reliance on chatbots almost brought the US into war with China – went mostly unnoticed. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Forget ‘superintelligence’: error-prone AI nearly sparked world war three this month | Timnit Gebru and Emily M Bender
The risks of AI aren’t what we think they are, as a recent security incident between China and the United States reveals
074
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
kelly pendergrast @kellypendergrast.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Pretty pumped about our new research project, about people's experiences with once-ubiquitous technologies & what happens when they disappear. First up: the landline. We just expanded the project website big time! Take a look & get in touch if you might want to collaborate: www.everyobject.org
everyobject.org
Every Object an Archive
23410
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alert www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Trial of live facial recognition in London stations leads to a false positive and no arrests
Freedom of information request finds six-month trial cost £320,000, used almost 100 police hours and led to just one – incorrect – alert
043
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Andrew Cutting @andrewcutting.coe.int · 29/09/2026
Interesting: 3 international bodies have lodged a complaint against Belgium at the Council of Europe, claiming that "digital exclusion" (e.g. not being able to do things without a phone) is a violation of people's social rights👇 🔗 www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/2336... via @brusselstimes.com
brusselstimes.com
Complaint filed against the Belgian government over digital exclusion
More than 300 testimonies were gathered from 50 civil society organisations on both sides of the language border, as well as in Brussels.
13314
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Jack Stilgoe @jackstilgoe.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
As the imaginary existential risks of AI are back in, here's a programme I did for the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - Analysis, How real is the existential threat from AI?
AI can't kill us, so why are imaginary threats being taken so seriously?
2118
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Jack Stilgoe @jackstilgoe.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jack Good's (1965) Speculations Concerning the First Ultraintelligent Machine birthed a few stubborn ideas - the technological singularity, AI as "the last invention that man need ever make" and the "intelligence explosion". He was a Bletchley man, Turing colleague and adviser to Kubrick's 2001.
2147
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Jongeren die zich nergens thuisvoelen, verliezen zich in een vloedgolf van geweld. Het is één grote leegte www.demorgen.be/nieuws/nihil...
demorgen.be
Nihilistisch gewelddadig extremisme is in opmars: ‘Dit is geen normaal jongerengedrag’
Bij het begin van het nieuwe schooljaar bracht het OCAD, het overheidsorgaan dat toekijkt op het dreigingsniveau in ons land, een brochure uit over een nieuwe vorm van radicalisering: nihilistisch gew...
020
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Ana @anafernandezi.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Very happy to be invited and to teach students what I've been researching for the past 3 years. I’m also looking forward to take off my researcher hat for a moment and hearing what students think about AI!
021
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🚨🚨Quite a scoop: A #US based data-extraction firm accused of being secretly run from #Russia has worked on #EU-backed projects and sold its services to European #lawenforcement agencies. www.politico.eu/article/russ...
politico.eu
Russian tech surveillance company infiltrated Europe’s law enforcement agencies
The same technology used by Western police was allegedly being developed in Russia and sold to Russian security services.
5139142
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
17093013068
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Mél Hogan / The Data Fix @melhogan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Open call for pitches for vol 3 of Predictions: ruhr-uni-bochum.sciebo.de/s/pDyDideqak...
ruhr-uni-bochum.sciebo.de
Prediction_Volume 3 Open Call for Submissions.pdf
sciebo - Die Campuscloud
22412
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
A new study from a team of researchers at Georgetown University and the University of Washington suggests that when prompted to summarize a video, AI systems that output incorrect information can manipulate people’s memory and the perception of truth. college.georgetown.edu/news-story/n...
college.georgetown.edu
New Research Finds That Misleading AI-Generated Summaries Can Distort Human Memory - College of Arts & Sciences
A new study from a team of researchers at Georgetown University and the University of Washington suggests that when prompted to summarize a video, AI systems that output incorrect information can mani...
141
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Er zijn de honderdduizenden doden en gewonden, maar de oorlog in Oekraïne heeft ook een grote impact op de natuur en de dieren die er leven. Schrijver Tommy Wieringa brengt de ecocide in beeld en geeft een stem aan hen die zelf niet kunnen praten. #morethanhuman www.demorgen.be/oorlog-in-oe...
demorgen.be
Zeepaardjes in zonnebloemolie: hoe de oorlog in Oekraïne ook natuur en dieren vernietigt
Er zijn de honderdduizenden doden en gewonden, maar de oorlog in Oekraïne heeft ook een grote impact op de natuur en de dieren die er leven. Schrijver Tommy Wieringa brengt de ecocide in beeld en geef...
030
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
volgende week gaat het beter gaan!
010
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
US: In the latest sign that artificial intelligence is fueling higher health care costs, a group of insurers released a report Thursday claiming that hospitals’ use of A.I. was responsible for nearly $1 billion in additional expenses over two years. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/b...
nytimes.com
Battle of Hospital A.I. vs. Insurer A.I. Is Pushing Medical Costs Higher
The use of artificial intelligence by hospitals and health insurers is escalating their longstanding feud over paying for medical care.
15429
Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
lol
110