Alexander Laufer
@criticalethics.bsky.social
Tech + discrimination researcher @AmnestyNL.
Likes/shares not endorsements; views my own
Likes/shares not endorsements; views my own
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Presentation of latest @amnestynl.bsky.social report "Profiled without protection: students in the Netherlands hit by discriminatory fraud detection system" to Minister Eppo Bruins of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. 1/
@proton.me is protonmail/calendar planning to develop some feature like those of hey mail, next to security developments?
November 2, 2025 at 9:26 AM
@proton.me is protonmail/calendar planning to develop some feature like those of hey mail, next to security developments?
De obsessie met efficiency lijkt bij de overheid geen grenzen te kennen.
De vraag is niet óf, maar wanneer het volgende schandaal zich voordoet
Amnesty roept de overheid op om over te gaan tot aselecte controles tenzij het kan garanderen dat mensen bij risicoprofilering niet worden gediscrimineerd
De vraag is niet óf, maar wanneer het volgende schandaal zich voordoet
Amnesty roept de overheid op om over te gaan tot aselecte controles tenzij het kan garanderen dat mensen bij risicoprofilering niet worden gediscrimineerd
Iedereen die met de Belastingdienst te maken krijgt, wordt beoordeeld door hun algoritmes. Meer dan 100 systemen speuren naar ‘risico’s’, maar de helft blijkt discriminerend volgens de toezichthouder. Wie eruit wordt gepikt, weet dat niet eens en kan er niks aan doen. www.ftm.nl/artikelen/me...
Meer dan 50 algoritmes van de Belastingdienst zijn illegaal, zegt de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
Veel controles die de Belastingdienst uitvoert, zijn onrechtmatig. Meer dan 50 algoritmes om onder meer aangiftes te selecteren voor controle, zijn discriminerend en dus in strijd met de wet, blijkt u...
www.ftm.nl
October 11, 2025 at 7:38 AM
De obsessie met efficiency lijkt bij de overheid geen grenzen te kennen.
De vraag is niet óf, maar wanneer het volgende schandaal zich voordoet
Amnesty roept de overheid op om over te gaan tot aselecte controles tenzij het kan garanderen dat mensen bij risicoprofilering niet worden gediscrimineerd
De vraag is niet óf, maar wanneer het volgende schandaal zich voordoet
Amnesty roept de overheid op om over te gaan tot aselecte controles tenzij het kan garanderen dat mensen bij risicoprofilering niet worden gediscrimineerd
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
signal.org
October 6, 2025 at 6:46 AM
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
signal.org
October 3, 2025 at 4:14 PM
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
what are the most widely read digital newspapers by web traffic across the US and EU? do you know of any current repositories?
September 16, 2025 at 4:38 PM
what are the most widely read digital newspapers by web traffic across the US and EU? do you know of any current repositories?
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
I collected some materials on critical AI from my perspective; hope it's useful: olivia.science/ai
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
September 15, 2025 at 8:29 AM
I collected some materials on critical AI from my perspective; hope it's useful: olivia.science/ai
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
"CAIL is as an umbrella for all the prerequisite knowledge required to have an expert-level critical perspective, such as to tell apart nonsense hype from true theoretical computer scientific claims"
I couldn’t agree more with @abeba.bsky.social: “most AI4SG efforts… amount to “technosolutionism”: complex political, historical, and social issues are reduced to technical problems, implying that they can be solved through “innovation.””
www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ai-...
www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ai-...
The False Promise of “AI for Social Good”
Abeba Birhane refutes industry claims about the technology's potential to solve complex social problems.
www.project-syndicate.org
September 16, 2025 at 9:16 PM
I couldn’t agree more with @abeba.bsky.social: “most AI4SG efforts… amount to “technosolutionism”: complex political, historical, and social issues are reduced to technical problems, implying that they can be solved through “innovation.””
www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ai-...
www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/ai-...
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
it's so funny that all these economic pieces are like 'could it be that silicon valley has made a bad bet?' and then the bet is that a text prediction software will achieve consciousness
September 8, 2025 at 4:59 AM
it's so funny that all these economic pieces are like 'could it be that silicon valley has made a bad bet?' and then the bet is that a text prediction software will achieve consciousness
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
We also go through many arguments that can be used as counters to typical false frames forced upon us, such as:
1. the powerful nonsense that we as experts know nothing
(Section 3.1 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
3/n
1. the powerful nonsense that we as experts know nothing
(Section 3.1 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
3/n
![3.1 Rejection of expertise, ironically including our own
Being in a colonizing discipline first demands and then encourages an attitude that might
be called intellectual hubris. Furthermore, since you cannot master all the disciplines that
you have designs on, you need confidence that your knowledge makes the ‘traditional
wisdom’ of these fields unworthy of serious consideration. Here too, the AI scientist
feels that seeing things through a computational prism so fundamentally changes the
rules of the game in the social and behavioural sciences that everything that came before
is relegated to a period of intellectual immaturity.
Sherry Turkle (1984, p. 230)
Every field that comes into contact with AI discourse becomes infected even within AI as a field of
study (recall Table 1). Our colleagues have embraced these systems, uncritically incorporating them
into their workflows and their classrooms, without input from experts on automation, cognitive science, computer science, gender and diversity studies, human-computer interaction, pedagogy, psychology, and law to name but a few fields with direct relevant expertise (Sloane et al. 2024). Meanwhile, technology companies have rushed to invest in ‘AI ethics’ or ‘AI safety’ to ethics wash their
claims, thereby “laundering accountability” (as Abeba Birhane explains in Arseni 2025) and “distracti[ng] from real AI ethics” (Crane 2021), while censoring academics and thus, violating academic
freedom (Gebru and Torres 2024; Gerdes 2022; Goudarzi 2025; Munn 2023; Ochigame 2019; Suarez
et al. 2025; Tafani 2023).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsyj5jtayxcq5dw5mtja4xtb/bafkreihavj4y4hvuqmervolkakodhui7qozn2jmnsrav5lilv37cecg6bq@jpeg)
September 6, 2025 at 8:19 AM
We also go through many arguments that can be used as counters to typical false frames forced upon us, such as:
1. the powerful nonsense that we as experts know nothing
(Section 3.1 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
3/n
1. the powerful nonsense that we as experts know nothing
(Section 3.1 here doi.org/10.5281/zeno...)
3/n
@ftm.nl Banken die vragen naar je mening over Hamas. Moslims die keer op keer op het matje worden geroepen, niet vanwege verdachte transacties, maar om hun naam, geloof of activisme. Wat is bedoeld als wapen tegen terrorisme, verandert in een systeem dat hele groepen wantrouwt
September 6, 2025 at 9:24 AM
@ftm.nl Banken die vragen naar je mening over Hamas. Moslims die keer op keer op het matje worden geroepen, niet vanwege verdachte transacties, maar om hun naam, geloof of activisme. Wat is bedoeld als wapen tegen terrorisme, verandert in een systeem dat hele groepen wantrouwt
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.
I Am An AI Hater
I am an AI hater. This is considered rude, but I do not care, because I am a hater.
anthonymoser.github.io
August 27, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I considered writing a long carefully constructed argument laying out the harms and limitations of AI, but instead I wrote about being a hater. Only humans can be haters.
@ftm.nl: de Politie verzamelt enorme hoeveelheden data van onschuldige mensen, en hier wordt Palantir software op toegepast.
@amnestynl.bsky.social roept op tot onafhankelijk onderzoek en om gebruik van deze software onmiddellijk stop te zetten als de mensenrechten niet gewaarborgd zijn.
@amnestynl.bsky.social roept op tot onafhankelijk onderzoek en om gebruik van deze software onmiddellijk stop te zetten als de mensenrechten niet gewaarborgd zijn.
September 2, 2025 at 6:05 PM
@ftm.nl: de Politie verzamelt enorme hoeveelheden data van onschuldige mensen, en hier wordt Palantir software op toegepast.
@amnestynl.bsky.social roept op tot onafhankelijk onderzoek en om gebruik van deze software onmiddellijk stop te zetten als de mensenrechten niet gewaarborgd zijn.
@amnestynl.bsky.social roept op tot onafhankelijk onderzoek en om gebruik van deze software onmiddellijk stop te zetten als de mensenrechten niet gewaarborgd zijn.
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
🚨 Today we have launched the ‘Breaking up with Big Tech’ briefing which calls on governments to rein in the power of big technology companies in order to protect human rights.
amn.st/63326f4SHp
amn.st/63326f4SHp
Amnesty launches ‘Breaking up with Big Tech’ briefing
Amnesty International has launched a new briefing calling on governments to rein in the power of Big Tech companies in order to safeguard human rights.
amn.st
August 28, 2025 at 11:01 AM
🚨 Today we have launched the ‘Breaking up with Big Tech’ briefing which calls on governments to rein in the power of big technology companies in order to protect human rights.
amn.st/63326f4SHp
amn.st/63326f4SHp
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: “The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state.” [presswatchers.org]
We have become an authoritarian state, and our top newsrooms are in denial | Press Watch
The frog in the proverbial pot is dead.
presswatchers.org
August 26, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: “The top story of the moment is the one story that our most influential newsrooms won’t touch: That the United State has become an authoritarian state.” [presswatchers.org]
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
"Age verification" laws are actually "upload your ID or get your face scanned to access every website, ending anonymity and associating your identity with everything you do online" laws and if more people understood that they would not be down for this authoritarian nonsense
April 2, 2025 at 12:57 PM
"Age verification" laws are actually "upload your ID or get your face scanned to access every website, ending anonymity and associating your identity with everything you do online" laws and if more people understood that they would not be down for this authoritarian nonsense
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
RT if you also wish ill upon JK Rowling.
Outcry grows after multiple trans users were targeted for mild criticisms of the anti-trans billionaire.
Bluesky silenced trans voices over J.K. Rowling, here’s why
Outcry grows after multiple trans users were targeted for mild criticisms of the anti-trans billionaire.
bit.ly
August 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
RT if you also wish ill upon JK Rowling.
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
Lab evaluations of facial recognition claiming a high level of accuracy have been used to justify the technology's vast deployment, but they often ignore how the software could perform in diverse, messy and unpredictable real-world environments, Teo Canmetin, Juliette Zaccour and Luc Rocher write.
Why We Shouldn’t Trust Facial Recognition’s Glowing Test Scores | TechPolicy.Press
While lab evaluations of facial recognition may appear objective, they often ignore real-world performance, write Teo Canmentin, Juliette Zaccour & Luc Rocher.
www.techpolicy.press
August 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Lab evaluations of facial recognition claiming a high level of accuracy have been used to justify the technology's vast deployment, but they often ignore how the software could perform in diverse, messy and unpredictable real-world environments, Teo Canmetin, Juliette Zaccour and Luc Rocher write.
💥 Important interim judgement by a Dutch national court concerning the right to an effective remedy and the right to non-discrimination when using a profiling algorithm for the allocation of short stay visa (Ministry of FA)
🧵1/
🧵1/
August 18, 2025 at 8:49 AM
💥 Important interim judgement by a Dutch national court concerning the right to an effective remedy and the right to non-discrimination when using a profiling algorithm for the allocation of short stay visa (Ministry of FA)
🧵1/
🧵1/
💥In een tussenuitspraak over het discriminerend visumalgoritme van Ministerie van BuZa, refereert de rechtbank DH naar de analyse van Amnesty waarin we stellen dat er sprake is van etnisch profileren. BuZa onderwerpt namelijk mensen uit bepaalde landen aan een intensiever beoordelingsproces.
Rechtspraak.nl - Zoeken in uitspraken
Zoeken in uitspraken
uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
August 18, 2025 at 8:47 AM
💥In een tussenuitspraak over het discriminerend visumalgoritme van Ministerie van BuZa, refereert de rechtbank DH naar de analyse van Amnesty waarin we stellen dat er sprake is van etnisch profileren. BuZa onderwerpt namelijk mensen uit bepaalde landen aan een intensiever beoordelingsproces.
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
Because I am angry I will share this again. One of the reasons that Israel is able to target individuals so precisely is that it collects every phone call in Gaza and stores the recordings in Microsoft Azure, then uses AI to analyze and pick targets.
‘A million calls an hour’: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians
Revealed: The Israeli military undertook an ambitious project to store a giant trove of Palestinians’ phone calls on Microsoft’s servers in Europe
www.theguardian.com
August 10, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Because I am angry I will share this again. One of the reasons that Israel is able to target individuals so precisely is that it collects every phone call in Gaza and stores the recordings in Microsoft Azure, then uses AI to analyze and pick targets.
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
This is not even polemic it's a real invitation:
Compare your AI generated answer on topic x
To the Wikipedia page on topic x
Do this 3 times and then ask yourself: which approach consistently gave you a better overview?
Compare your AI generated answer on topic x
To the Wikipedia page on topic x
Do this 3 times and then ask yourself: which approach consistently gave you a better overview?
August 11, 2025 at 5:42 PM
This is not even polemic it's a real invitation:
Compare your AI generated answer on topic x
To the Wikipedia page on topic x
Do this 3 times and then ask yourself: which approach consistently gave you a better overview?
Compare your AI generated answer on topic x
To the Wikipedia page on topic x
Do this 3 times and then ask yourself: which approach consistently gave you a better overview?
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
Reposted by Alexander Laufer
yes, the quality, size, & representatives of your training data does to some extent impact the performance of your system. but that's far from the whole story. automation by its very nature forces quantification and most social, cultural, political phenomena resist quantification
2/
2/
November 24, 2024 at 4:29 PM
yes, the quality, size, & representatives of your training data does to some extent impact the performance of your system. but that's far from the whole story. automation by its very nature forces quantification and most social, cultural, political phenomena resist quantification
2/
2/