Universiteit van Amsterdam

Dear friends, colleagues, and comrades,

Welcome to the first issue of the critical infrastructure lab newsletter, which you receive just after the lab’s two year anniversary. You are receiving this first edition because you have been involved in critical infrastructure lab activities - and we would like to remain connected and continue our collaborations.

The critical infrastructure lab researches power and contestation in communication infrastructures. We aim to co-develop alternative infrastructural futures that center people and planet over capital and control. We develop research insights, policy recommendations, and build community around three overlapping areas: geopolitics, standards, environment.

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Publications

We are very proud to present three reports published in the critical infrastructure lab document series:

‘Putting money where your mouth is? Insights into EU R&I funding’ by Zuzanna Warso & Meret Baumgartner
‘Clouds Over the Netherlands: Preserving Public Interest Internet Governance in the Era of Hyperscaler Clouds’ by Corinne Cath
‘Critical Internet Governance: from positions to a field’ by critical infrastructure lab and REDE

And the following publication by our postdoc:

‘Wartime transformation of Novaya Gazeta’ by Dmitry Kuznetsov

Upcoming events

We would to meet you at one of these events:

The bi-weekly online infrastructure reading group will be starting to read and discuss two new books, namely: ‘The Dawn of Everything’ by Graeber and Wengrow, and ‘The Invisible Weapon’ by Headrick. We meet every two weeks and will read one chapter from both books per session. Please join us!
Green Screen online brown bag session on environment and tech with a presentation from Paz Peña
Call for Papers for Workshop on The Politics of AI: Governance, Resistance, Alternatives at Goldsmith University in London

Open call for fellows

Become an infralab fellow for the 2025-2026 academic year! For fellows, we offer: an affiliation with the lab; participation in the (intellectual life of the) lab, the possibility to join us on lab research days; and have a space and platform to co-organize activities. We request that you join our reading groups, organize an activity, and (co-)author a paper with us. Submit a short statement of interest (max. three paragraphs) detailing your plan and motivation and a resume to submission@criticalinfralab.net before August 15th!

Visit our website to check out all our publications, upcoming activities, and media appearances.

Highlights from our allies

SHARE Foundation - Revealing NoviSpy: Technical Analysis of a Serbian Android Spyware
SMEX - Starlink in Lebanon: Who Does it Really Serve?
‘Participation des acteurs d’un territoire local à la gouvernance d’un espace internet global’ by Thomas Leclerc and Valère Ndior
Green Web Foundation together with 20 collaborators prepared a response to the EU questionnaire coordinated response to the EU public consultation on their forthcoming EU Cloud and AI Development Act. We invite you to use the templated responses and supplemental letter and send your own submission via the EU portal by July 3.

What is inspiring us

Please feel free to send your feedback or suggestions by replying to this email.

In solidarity,
critical infrastructure lab

Niels ten Oever - Fieke Jansen - Maxigas - Dmitry Kuznetsov - Eric Zhang - Gargi Sharma

The critical infrastructure lab is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Internet Society Foundation, the Open Technology Fund, and the University of Amsterdam.