Automated Decision making and autonomy- Dutch child benefit scandal

Question 1

automated administrative decision making

Answer 1

= a key element of emerging forms of algorithmic bureaucracy where extensive use of technology heavily influences work practices, bureaucratic procedures, responses of public servants, management practices and organisational structures of public administrative bodies.

Question 2

what can stop automated decision making

Answer 2

art 22 gdpr- you cannot let only automated means decide on important matters
- no absolute ban on automated decision-making
- role of civil servants becomes more important because they have to understand what is going on

Question 3

algorithms and autonomy

Answer 3

• The autonomy of people affected is damaged- hard to explain how these people are wrong
• risk assessment tools give information or advice on which a decision can be based
• harm people’s autonomy as they cannot respond- not considered as part of the universal kingdom of ends- cannot be heard
• cannot calculate the harm, the experience dome by such decisions

Question 4

the ethos of bureaucracy

Answer 4

• bureaucracy is good because it establishes a rank to follow for specific cases
• how strict should we follow the rules?
• eg. fraud- anxiety for fraus- stop trust everyone- consequences on how people relate to the government

Question 5

legibility and metis/practical knowledge

Answer 5

• metis= ability to adapt to a constantly shifting situation and understand implications of decisions
• apply certain schemes to reality- how the state sees it
• legibility metis are discriminated- when you feed it with only exotic names- makes it more susceptible to them
• practical theory wins over theory - have to see how it works in reality

Question 6

automating inequality

Answer 6

• focus of automation are introduced in forms of social institutions
• back to the idea that digitalisation looks for patterns
• digital poorhouse= ppl treated as lazy, underdeserving- harder to contest it because that data says so

Question 7

autonomy and Kant

Answer 7

central to him- people can act only if they are autonomous
ethics principles:
- Universality: act according to what is universally accepted
- Reciprocity: act should be sone as an end, not as a mean
- Autonomy: act as a lawmaking member in the universal kingdom of ends