Rosamunde Van Brakel
@rosamundevb.bsky.social
assistant prof criminology teaching legal, ethical & social issues AI/sociology of law @VUB research: digital & more-than-human criminology, surveillance & AI, youth justice, human rights
https://researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/rosamunde-elise-van-brakel
https://researchportal.vub.be/en/persons/rosamunde-elise-van-brakel
Pinned
Our article on rhizomatic harms of algorithmic policing is now published in print in a great new issue of @theoreticalcrim.bsky.social 😊 #criminology #surveillance #digitalcriminology journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
New blog post discussing our forthcoming International Handbook on #Sensory #Criminology. We're leaving the comments open to encourage discussion and engagement - particularly from students. The first in the series #AcademicSky #CrimSky: sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
International Handbook of Sensory Criminology Series: 1
This short post marks the opening of a series dedicated to discussing each of the organising themes of the Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology, in preparation for its launch. Ea…
sensorycriminology.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:44 AM
New blog post discussing our forthcoming International Handbook on #Sensory #Criminology. We're leaving the comments open to encourage discussion and engagement - particularly from students. The first in the series #AcademicSky #CrimSky: sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
If you are interested in #SensoryCriminology and #Sensory studies in #Criminology, #Victimology, #CriminalJustice, and #Zemiology then see this:
Blog by @kateherrity.bsky.social: Introducing the new Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology
sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
Blog by @kateherrity.bsky.social: Introducing the new Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology
sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
International Handbook of Sensory Criminology Series: 1
This short post marks the opening of a series dedicated to discussing each of the organising themes of the Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology, in preparation for its launch. Ea…
sensorycriminology.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:23 PM
If you are interested in #SensoryCriminology and #Sensory studies in #Criminology, #Victimology, #CriminalJustice, and #Zemiology then see this:
Blog by @kateherrity.bsky.social: Introducing the new Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology
sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
Blog by @kateherrity.bsky.social: Introducing the new Routledge International Handbook of Sensory Criminology
sensorycriminology.com/2025/11/26/i...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
📢✨️ Dream postdoc job alert:
Research Associate – Rehabilitation and Reintegration in Europe (RaRiE).
Full-time, 5 year fixed-term job working with @fergusmcneill.bsky.social at University of Glasgow and researchers in the Netherlands and Norway.
#Criminology #CrimSky
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPP716/r...
Research Associate – Rehabilitation and Reintegration in Europe (RaRiE).
Full-time, 5 year fixed-term job working with @fergusmcneill.bsky.social at University of Glasgow and researchers in the Netherlands and Norway.
#Criminology #CrimSky
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPP716/r...
www.jobs.ac.uk
November 26, 2025 at 4:39 PM
📢✨️ Dream postdoc job alert:
Research Associate – Rehabilitation and Reintegration in Europe (RaRiE).
Full-time, 5 year fixed-term job working with @fergusmcneill.bsky.social at University of Glasgow and researchers in the Netherlands and Norway.
#Criminology #CrimSky
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPP716/r...
Research Associate – Rehabilitation and Reintegration in Europe (RaRiE).
Full-time, 5 year fixed-term job working with @fergusmcneill.bsky.social at University of Glasgow and researchers in the Netherlands and Norway.
#Criminology #CrimSky
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPP716/r...
Council reaches position on law protecting children from online abuse #chatcontrol www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...
Child sexual abuse: Council reaches position on law protecting children from online abuse
The Council agreed its negotiating mandate on a draft law preventing and combating child sexual abuse online.
www.consilium.europa.eu
November 26, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Council reaches position on law protecting children from online abuse #chatcontrol www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
BSC Conference: Coming to Nottingham in 2026... The conference will run from 7 to 10 July 2026 at NTU's City Campus. The theme of the conference is "Building Resilience and Hope into Criminology and Criminal Justice". Visit the website at: shorturl.at/FuI6L
British Society of Criminology Conference 2026
Nottingham Trent University are hosting the British Society of Criminology Conference 2026. The event will run from 7 - 10 July 2026 at NTU's City Campus.
shorturl.at
November 26, 2025 at 8:29 AM
BSC Conference: Coming to Nottingham in 2026... The conference will run from 7 to 10 July 2026 at NTU's City Campus. The theme of the conference is "Building Resilience and Hope into Criminology and Criminal Justice". Visit the website at: shorturl.at/FuI6L
In recent years, this emerging phenomenon appears to have become international in scope and industrial in scale with up to 80% of applicants to some qualitative studies being fraudulent. www.jahonline.org/article/S105...
Adolescents or “Imposters”?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a marked increase in the use of online qualitative
data collection [1]. Using software such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams can make research
more sustainable and...
www.jahonline.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:07 AM
In recent years, this emerging phenomenon appears to have become international in scope and industrial in scale with up to 80% of applicants to some qualitative studies being fraudulent. www.jahonline.org/article/S105...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
"In hun eigen onderzoek met jongeren werd 200 van de 250 aanmeldingen als verdacht beschouwd. Acht op tien. Dan heb je geen steekproefprobleem meer, maar een fundamenteel betrouwbaarheidsprobleem. En het raakt precies de groepen die we net méér wilden bereiken door online te werken."
Wanneer je deelnemers nep zijn: een ongemakkelijke, nieuwe bedreiging voor onderzoek
Online onderzoek met jongeren lijkt ideaal, maar tot 80% van de deelnemers in sommige studies blijkt nep. Wat doet dat met veiligheid én datakwaliteit? wp.me/prJwm-cVv
Online onderzoek met jongeren lijkt ideaal, maar tot 80% van de deelnemers in sommige studies blijkt nep. Wat doet dat met veiligheid én datakwaliteit? wp.me/prJwm-cVv
November 26, 2025 at 6:02 AM
"In hun eigen onderzoek met jongeren werd 200 van de 250 aanmeldingen als verdacht beschouwd. Acht op tien. Dan heb je geen steekproefprobleem meer, maar een fundamenteel betrouwbaarheidsprobleem. En het raakt precies de groepen die we net méér wilden bereiken door online te werken."
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
If 2023 was the year AI slop was embraced by spammers and social media influencers, and 2024 was the year the slop era began in earnest, 2025 was when slop became embedded in our cultural institutions and social spheres.
On the slop layer that we all must navigate now:
On the slop layer that we all must navigate now:
Lost in the slop layer
How AI has encrusted our culture and social sphere in a sedimentary layer of slop.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
November 24, 2025 at 9:48 PM
If 2023 was the year AI slop was embraced by spammers and social media influencers, and 2024 was the year the slop era began in earnest, 2025 was when slop became embedded in our cultural institutions and social spheres.
On the slop layer that we all must navigate now:
On the slop layer that we all must navigate now:
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
“The Kjoller case, though, is one of the first in which prosecutors, whose words carry great sway with judges and juries, have been accused of using A.I. without proper safeguards.”
Prosecutor Used Flawed A.I. to Keep a Man in Jail, His Lawyers Say
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
“The Kjoller case, though, is one of the first in which prosecutors, whose words carry great sway with judges and juries, have been accused of using A.I. without proper safeguards.”
Name a film you've seen 6 times....
At least.
At least.
November 25, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Name a film you've seen 6 times....
At least.
At least.
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
One woman killed by someone close to them every 10 minutes: UN report
One woman killed by someone close to them every 10 minutes: UN report
To mark the International Day for the Elminination of Violence Against Women on Monday, the United Nations released a report that also revealed that 60% of women are killed by close family members.
www.lemonde.fr
November 25, 2025 at 7:00 AM
One woman killed by someone close to them every 10 minutes: UN report
Saxony plans to use drones to film inside moving cars. The aim is to catch people using their cell phones while driving. Police will also use behavioral scanners, Palantir data analysis, live facial recognition, facial search engines, and government-deployed malware.
Sachsen will mit Drohnen in fahrende Autos filmen. So sollen Menschen überführt werden, die beim Fahren ihr Handy bedienen. Die Polizei soll außerdem Verhaltensscanner, Palantir-Datenanalyse, Live-Gesichtserkennung, Gesichter-Suchmaschinen und Staatstrojaner nutzen.
netzpolitik.org/2025/novelle...
netzpolitik.org/2025/novelle...
Novelle des Polizeigesetzes: Sachsen will anlasslos mit Drohnen in fahrende Autos filmen
Die sächsische Polizei soll Menschen, die beim Autofahren ihr Handy bedienen, mit Drohnen jagen. Doch das ist nur ein Hammer im Polizeigesetz-Entwurf: Die Polizei soll in Zukunft auch Verhaltensscanne...
netzpolitik.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Saxony plans to use drones to film inside moving cars. The aim is to catch people using their cell phones while driving. Police will also use behavioral scanners, Palantir data analysis, live facial recognition, facial search engines, and government-deployed malware.
I know the Pet Shop Boys aren’t usually associated with a protest song, but, well, they put this out over a decade ago and it’s unfortunately still relevant.
November 24, 2025 at 1:57 PM
As expected the UK government is expanding its use of #facialrecognition technology from policing to immigration enforcement. www.gov.uk/government/p...
Immigration Enforcement facial recognition policy
This policy outlines Immigration Enforcement’s strategic, operational, and legal framework for the ethical use of live facial recognition technology.
www.gov.uk
November 24, 2025 at 12:40 PM
As expected the UK government is expanding its use of #facialrecognition technology from policing to immigration enforcement. www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
How is this not the top story on every news bulletin?
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
More then 2,000 trafficked children and lone child asylum seekers missing from UK councils’ care
Charities say vulnerable young people are being failed by local authorities, the police and central government
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:43 AM
How is this not the top story on every news bulletin?
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
This has been happening for years and instead of doing anything to protect children successive governments have made the situation worse. This isn't just on councils. It is part of failings on a State level.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
www.politico.com
November 24, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
Shouldn’t we start criminalising such big tech practices as organised crime? Or is this another example that demonstrates that we should shift the focus from crime to harm #digitalcriminology #rhizomaticharm
Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
www.politico.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Shouldn’t we start criminalising such big tech practices as organised crime? Or is this another example that demonstrates that we should shift the focus from crime to harm #digitalcriminology #rhizomaticharm
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
What was ChatGPT? Now nearly three years old, we can look at OpenAI's LLM as a product of its time, optimized ever since to its earliest uses. While this period of deep disorientation and social isolation has been obscured from public memory, it remains embedded within the interface.
What Was ChatGPT?
A Chatbot Optimized for Social Distance
Three years after the launch of ChatGPT, we can finally speak in hindsight about what it was and how it came to be. Its meteoric rise shocked the world, gather...
mail.cyberneticforests.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:37 PM
What was ChatGPT? Now nearly three years old, we can look at OpenAI's LLM as a product of its time, optimized ever since to its earliest uses. While this period of deep disorientation and social isolation has been obscured from public memory, it remains embedded within the interface.
Shouldn’t we start criminalising such big tech practices as organised crime? Or is this another example that demonstrates that we should shift the focus from crime to harm #digitalcriminology #rhizomaticharm
Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
www.politico.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Shouldn’t we start criminalising such big tech practices as organised crime? Or is this another example that demonstrates that we should shift the focus from crime to harm #digitalcriminology #rhizomaticharm
Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
‘We’re basically pushers’: Court filing alleges staff at social media giants compared their platforms to drugs
Meta said the allegations “rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions” to present a misleading narrative.
www.politico.com
November 23, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Top Meta staff allegedly compared Instagram to a drug and worked for years to obscure the social media platform’s potential dangers from parents and children, even as they appeared to acknowledge their technology was harmful. www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
‘It is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth. Even if firms claim to recognise their social and environmental responsibilities, profitability always trumps them when they clash.’
@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Brett Christophers · Assume the worst: Where our waste goes
Just as Big Oil has repeatedly failed to deliver on pledges to begin decarbonising, so too the promises of plastics...
www.lrb.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 4:35 PM
‘It is abundantly clear that corporate social responsibility was and is a myth. Even if firms claim to recognise their social and environmental responsibilities, profitability always trumps them when they clash.’
@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@brettchristophers.bsky.social on where our waste goes.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Le lion Belgique des Pays Bas, Musée Dräi Eechelen #Luxembourg
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Le lion Belgique des Pays Bas, Musée Dräi Eechelen #Luxembourg
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
In a short piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, @abeba.bsky.social and I write #AIHype Is Steering EU Policy Off Course.
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
AI Hype Is Steering EU Policy Off Course | TechPolicy.Press
Kris Shrishak and Abeba Birhane say policymakers should stop peddling in unscientific discourse about "AGI" and "superintelligence."
www.techpolicy.press
November 17, 2025 at 2:09 PM
In a short piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, @abeba.bsky.social and I write #AIHype Is Steering EU Policy Off Course.
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
Stop peddling in unscientific discourse about “AGI” and “superintelligence.” Serve citizens. Don't cater to the whims of tech CEOs.
www.techpolicy.press/ai-hype-is-s...
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
Reposted by Rosamunde Van Brakel
FT investigation:
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
November 21, 2025 at 12:46 PM
FT investigation:
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...
Tuna-fishing has among the worst working conditions of any fishing.
If you buy tuna from a UK supermarket, you may be buying the product of modern slavery. ig.ft.com/supermarket-...