On January 30th 2021, I ended a fantastic 2,5 year adventure working in the European Union institutions. I spent this time at the EU Institute of Security Studies, the EUISS, where I worked on the EU Cyber Direct project, providing research support to the European External Actions Service in its cyberdiplomacy endeavours. I have decided… Read More Cyberdiplomacy at the EU – Personal highlights
By relying solely on traditional media, we might not be able to create group immunity with a COVID-19 vaccine. A wave of conspiracies has washed over the information ecosystem and play into people’s deep seated fears. Science communicators can learn from conspiracy influencers how to reach people, especially on platforms like Instagram that have become… Read More What we can learn from conspiracists on social media
For almost a year now I have been diving in, and have been kicked out of several anti-vaccination Facebook groups. There is an ever growing community of people who refuse to vaccinate against diseases like Measles, Chicken Pox, Tetanus, Polio, HPV,… It’s become so big that the World Health Organization even named vaccine hesitancy one… Read More Anti-vaccination and the Tragedy of the Commons
“Most women who claim they were raped were rapebaiting. If they just let ugly men have sex once in a while, the world would be better for everyone. It’s just sex, they need to get over it” This was a post from the now banned Subreddit /r/Incels. A community of men who claim to be… Read More Banning online communities; is it too late to stop radicalization?
Godspeed you!Black Emperor played one of the most powerful performances a music collective can bring on Saturday 10th of June, and I am very grateful to have been able to witness it. Let me set the scene; it’s the 100 year commemoration of the Battle of Messines, significant for being the heaviest non-nuclear detonation ever recorded… Read More ALL THE FEELS; Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s WWI commemoration set went deep
The Russians tried to hack the American elections. But not in the way that we’re used to. This piece treats some possible consequences for the West of the information war Russia has taken outside of its borders.… Read More How the Russians really hacked the 2016 election
(this article previously appeared on Knack-Datanews) October 21, the world is confronted with an unprecedented DDoS attack, mostly caused by insecured Internet of Things devices. IoT manufacturers were put under scrutiny, and we were all given a sneak peek of the consequences when we don’t include including Security by Design. Where do we go from… Read More The IoT Zombie army is knocking on our door, what are we going to do about this?
(This article previously appeared in Dutch on Knack – Datanews) The tendency to curse smartphones isn’t new. But I am becoming fed up with the articles, cartoons and art that are going for the low hanging fruit of bashing new media technology. From criticizing the display of personal life on social media and fishing for… Read More Is our “Digibesitas” giving us Technophobia?
Ik werd thuis veel over Colombia gewaarschuwd. Uitgenodigd door een vriend die in Bogota woont, en nieuwsgierig naar dit land waar ik zo weinig van weet, reisde ik toch af naar het land van magico realismo. ik genoot intens van de prachtige natuur. Colombia heeft het allemaal, de bergen, de caraibische stranden, de jungle, de… Read More [COLOMBIA] Veiligheid, de grens tussen gevoel en feit.
(This article appeared earlier on Vice: The Motherboard NL) With all this talk about ‘digibesitas’, let’s add one more new-society disease to our vocabulary: Digital amnesia. It’s the act of forgetting certain things when you store them on you digital devices. I started to notice that my memory is failing me lately, and it’s was really beginning… Read More Digital Amnesia
