Kelly Bescherer

Thanks to my colleagues in the DigID project for organizing such an interactive workshop! (digitalidentities.eu) We received feedback on our work "counter-mapping" the transnational field of digital ID, heard many fascinating inputs, and had some very hands-on interactions with biometrics..

Seems like the worst time to start sharing your citizens' biometric data with the US government

Regimes of Proof: On Contested Identities in Border and Migration Control The capacity to establish migrants' legal identities is key to states' attempts to control access to their territories. This paper introduces the concept of regimes of proof to shed light on this oft...

Super excited to share that my first peer-reviewed article is now online! Co-authored with the wonderful Stephan Scheel - we discuss struggles around "proving" identity in the context of deportation, regularisation, and asylum in an increasingly digitized landscape: dx.doi.org/10.1111/imig...

This is terrifying

Screenshot of the Fight Chat Control website (https://fightchatcontrol.eu/) in German showing the Bundestag members. It is now possible to contact Bundestag members directly to express your concerns about Chat Control.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

Denmark has scheduled a vote on Chat Control the 14th of October. Despite not wanting to break end-to-end encryption, 🇩🇪 Germany remains both UNDECIDED and critical to defeating the proposal.

If you are German, contact your Bundestag members today via fightchatcontrol.de !

Anlasslose Massenüberwachung: Messenger Signal wird Deutschland verlassen, wenn Chatkontrolle kommt In den kommenden Tagen wird die Bundesregierung entscheiden, wie sie am 14. Oktober in der EU zur Chatkontrolle abstimmt. Eines ist klar: Kommt die Chatkontrolle, wird es keine verschlüsselte und sich...

In den kommenden Tagen wird die Bundesregierung entscheiden, wie sie am 14. Oktober in der EU zur #Chatkontrolle abstimmt. Eines ist klar: Kommt die Chatkontrolle, wird es keine verschlüsselte und sichere Kommunikation mehr geben.

netzpolitik.org/2025/anlassl...

Chat Control Is Back on the Menu in the EU. It Still Must Be Stopped The European Union Council is once again debating its controversial message scanning proposal, aka “Chat Control,” that would lead to the scanning of private conversations of billions of people. Chat…

Chat Control would make it mandatory for service providers to scan all communications & files. There’s no system that’s only for the “good guys” www.eff.org/deeplinks/20... #chatkontrolle

Nachtrag: auch #Google knickt ein, nimmt #RedDot zugunsten der #ICE-Miliz aus dem Playstore:
www.404media.co/google-calls...

Verwaltungsarbeit findet oft im Hintergrung statt, aber sie ist eine sehr wesentliche Voraussetzung für unsere Beratungs- und Unterstützungsarbeit!

Eine tolle Kollegin in diesem Bereich verlässt uns leider und wir suchen ab März wieder Verstärkung:

kub-berlin.org/de/mitmachen...

‘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

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.

es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/14-mexicanos...

Justice for Ibrahima Barry on Instagram: "18 Monate ohne Aufklärung von Ibrahima Barrys Tod." 108 likes, 0 comments - solikreis_justiceforibrahima on July 5, 2025: "18 Monate ohne Aufklärung von Ibrahima Barrys Tod.".

Ibrahima Barry war lange von #Abschiebung bedroht.

Heute vor 18 Monaten starb er bei einem Polizeieinsatz in #Mülheim an der Ruhr. Er wurde mit dem Taser beschossen. Die Staatsanwaltschaft #Duisburg schweigt. Der Solikreis "Justice für Ibrahima" erinnert.
www.instagram.com/solikreis_ju...

If you are able, we always need support to maintain our legal advice work! Here's also a cute video of my colleagues ...

ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to internal ICE emails viewed by 404 Media. Now ICE is usin...

New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...

Happy to see that people are expressing outrage about Frontex's disturbing children's literature on deportation.. an FOI I made last year about this is mentioned here

I also stumbled across this truly disturbing Frontex publication last year and made an FOI asking for correspondence about its creation: prd.frontex.europa.eu/document/cor... it doesn't reveal much, though, beyond how completely normal and routine the book's creators apparently seem to think it was

The AI Dragnet - Dissent Magazine The U.S. government is activating a suite of algorithmic surveillance tools, developed in concert with major tech companies, to monitor and criminalize immigrants’ speech.

The Trump administration has unleashed a massive domestic surveillance apparatus, thanks to AI systems supplied by major tech firms

I wrote about its origins and impact on the ground for @dissentmag.bsky.social and the @theintercept.com

www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

Liebe alle,

zwischen allem was sonst los ist, machen wir mit unserer Arbeit weiter und besetzen dafür eine Stelle in der Rechtsberatung nach.

25 h/Woche ab 1. Juni, vorerst befristet bis Ende Dez wegen Finanzlage, aber gedacht längerfristig.

Gerne weitersagen!

kub-berlin.org/de/mitmachen...

Come work with me! We are looking for someone to join our legal counseling team.. kub-berlin.org/de/mitmachen...

How Big Tech hides its outsourced African workforce New data reveals the hidden network of African workers powering AI, as they push for transparency from the global companies that employ them indirectly.

“A new dataset, visualized as maps, reveals the extent to which African workers are indirectly employed in the tech sector, doing content moderation, customer service, and data annotation for AI models, among other jobs.”

In further concerning news from Germany.. the only thing these protesters are concretely accused of is calling the police "fascist" in one case..

The ICE arrests are meant to terrorize dissenters and crush the intellectual freedom that’s the whole point of universities—and the tactic is having its intended effect. Thanks to these professors for fighting back. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Thousands protest after Tufts grad student arrested by ICE, transferred out of state Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts PhD student, was transferred to Louisiana despite a court order to keep her in the state.

Everyone who speaks up makes it safer for others to do so. Everyone who stays silent makes it more dangerous for those who do speak up. The time is now folks.

“Thousands protest after Tufts grad student arrested by ICE, transferred out of state”

www.boston.com?post_type=po...

Germany's new conservative government is discussing abolishing access to information laws..

Columbia Student Hunted by ICE Sues to Prevent Deportation Yunseo Chung, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7, participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Immigration agents visited residences looking for her.

"Yunseo Chung, a legal permanent resident who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7, participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Immigration agents visited residences looking for her." www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/n...

He Sued Trump Over Free Speech. Then ICE Demanded He Turn Himself In. Cornell student Momodou Taal’s lawyers said the demand was “retribution” for his lawsuit against the crackdown on pro-Palestine speech.

Speak up for Momodou Taal. Your silence will not protect you.
Academics outside the US esp have a moral duty to publicly come out in support and organise. ICE will disappear Momodou Taal.
Your trips to the US can wait, seriously!

theintercept.com/2025/03/21/t...

Georgetown Postdoc the Latest to Be Detained by ICE as Crackdown on Campus Speech Widens Badar Khan Suri was detained by DHS agents after a public campaign against him and his wife by pro-Israel groups.

FREE HIM!!
"Dr. Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow in peace and conflict studies at Georgetown University was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents on his way home from teaching an evening class on March 17"
www.dropsitenews.com/p/georgetown...

Morgen wollen wir unsere Soli-Kasse für Ratsuchende füllen, ein bisschen tanzen und uns gegenseitig Kraft für die darauffolgende Woche aus der Hölle zusprechen.

Wir sind da, ihr sicher auch und es wird gut werden!

Ganze Einladung hier: stressfaktor.squat.net/node/310743

Bei uns in der KuB wird ab März eine Stelle in der Frauenberatung frei, in der wir schwangere, alleinerziehende und gewaltbetroffene geflüchtete Frauen beraten. Sie ist Teil des Berliner Netzwerks für besonders schutzbedürftige geflüchtete Menschen (BNS).

kub-berlin.org/images/jobs/...

Inaugurating my account here 🦋