Liable, but Not in Control? Ensuring Meaningful Human Agency in Automated Decision-Making Systems

Automated decision making is becoming the norm across large parts of society, which raises interesting liability challenges when human control over technical systems becomes increasingly limited. This article defines "quasi-automation" as inclusion of humans as a basic rubber-stamping mechanism in an otherwise completely automated decision-making system. Three cases of quasi- automation are examined, where human agency in decision making is currently debatable: self- driving cars, border searches based on passenger name records, and content moderation on social media. While there are specific regulatory mechanisms for purely automated decision making, these regulatory mechanisms do not apply if human beings are (rubber-stamping) automated decisions. More broadly, most regulatory mechanisms follow a pattern of binary liability in attempting to regulate human or machine agency, rather than looking to regulate both. This results in regulatory gray areas where the regulatory mechanisms do not apply, harming human rights by preventing meaningful liability for socio-technical decision making. The article concludes by proposing criteria to ensure meaningful agency when humans are included in automated decision-making systems, and relates this to the ongoing debate on enabling human rights in Internet infrastructure

Data Mining and Predictive Policing

This paper focuses on the operation and utilization of predictive policing software that generates spatial and temporal hotspots. There is a literature review that evaluates previous work surrounding the topics branched from predictive policing. It dissects two different crime datasets for San Francisco, California and Chicago, Illinois. Provided, is an in depth comparison between the datasets using both statistical analysis and graphing tools. Then, it shows the application of the Apriori algorithm to re-enforce the formation of possible hotspots pointed out in a actual predictive policing software. To further the analysis, targeted demographics of the study were evaluated to create a snapshot of the factors that have attributed to the safety of the neighborhoods. The results of this study can be used to create solutions for long term crime reduction by adding green spaces and community planning in areas with high crime rates and heavy environmental neglect

Data criticality

The data moment, we argue, is not a single event, but a multiplicity of encounters that reveal what we call ‘data criticality’. Data criticality draws our attention to those moments of deciding whether and how data will exist, thus rendering data critically relevant to a societal context and imbuing data with ‘liveliness’ and agency. These encounters, we argue, also require our critical engagement. First, we develop and theorize our argument about data criticality. Second, by using predictive policing as an example, we present six moments of data criticality. A description of how data is imagined, generated, stored, selected, processed, and reused invites our reflections about data criticality within a broader range of data practices

What is wrong about Robocops as consultants? A technology-centric critique of predictive policing

© 2017, Springer-Verlag London. Fighting crime has historically been a field that drives technological innovation, and it can serve as an example of different governance styles in societies. Predictive policing is one of the recent innovations that covers technical trends such as machine learning, preventive crime fighting strategies, and actual policing in cities. However, it seems that a combination of exaggerated hopes produced by technology evangelists, media hype, and ignorance of the actual problems of the technology may have (over-)boosted sales of software that supports policing by predicting offenders and crime areas. In this paper we analyse currently used predictive policing software packages with respect to common problems of data mining, and describe challenges that arise in the context of their socio-technical application.status: publishe

Разрешавање идентитета и груписање дигиталних доказа о осумњиченима применом технологија препознавања лица и система софтверских интелигентих агената заснованог на неаксиоматском резоновању : докторска дисертација

The work of criminal police in modern society is characterized by the proliferation of data and information to be processed, greater demands for restrictions on personal data, increased public monitoring, and higher expectations in the efficiency of detecting perpetrators, but still lack resources, both human and material. One of the more complex tasks is to resolve the identity, the change of which seeks to cover up criminal activities, i.e., the perpetrator himself, who is on the run. In order to resolve the identity, it is necessary to group and present all available evidence related to specific persons. The thesis proposes a clustering approach by comparing pairs of face feature vectors extracted from images created in unconstrained conditions and based on reasoning using non-axiomatic logic and graphs. Face clusters will be the central points around which data from various police reports will be grouped. A system model has also been proposed in which software agents will play a significant role, primarily in connecting the distribution environment points formed in practice by police information systems. The clustering approach was experimentally tested with six different face image databases characterized by the fact that they were created in a way that simulates unconstrained conditions. The obtained results of the proposed solution are compared with other state-of-the-art methods. The results showed that the approach gives similar but mostly better results than the others. What gives a notable advantage over other methods is the possibility of using mechanisms from non-axiomatic logic such as revision and deduction, which can be used to acquire new knowledge based on information from different system nodes, or in the local knowledge base, respectively.Рад криминалистичке полиције у савременом друштву одликује пролиферација података и информација које треба обрађивати, већи захтеви за ограничењима у раду са личним подацима, појачани надзор пре свега јавности, већа очекивања у ефикасности откривања извршилаца кривичних дела, али и даље недостатак ресурса, како људских тако и материјалних. Један од сложенијих задатака јесте разрешавање идентитета чијом променом се настоје прикрити криминалне активности, односно сам извршилац који је у бекству. Да би се разрешио идентитет, потребно је груписати и презентовати све расположиве доказе везане за одређене особе. У дисертацији је предложен нови приступ кластеровању поређењем парова вектора одлика лица екстрахованих из слика насталих у неконтролисаним условима, а заснован на резоновању применом неаксиоматске логике и графова. Кластери слика лица представљају централне тачке око којих се групишу подаци из различитих полицијских извештаја. Такође је предложен модел система у коме ће значајну улогу имати софтверски агенти, пре свега у повезивању тачака дистрибуираног окружења које у пракси формирају полицијски информациони системи. Нови приступ кластеровању је експериментално испитан са шест различитих база података лица карактеристичних по томе што су креиране на начин којим се симулирају неконтролисани услови. Добијени резултати предложеног решења су упоређени са осталим врхунским методама. Резултати су показали да приступ даје приближне, али углавном боље резултате од осталих. Оно што даје посебну предност у односу на остале методе јесте могућност коришћења механизама из неаксиоматске логике попут ревизије и дедукције, помоћу којих се могу стицати нова знања на основу информација из различитих нодова система, или у локалној бази знања, респективно

Big Data as a Technology of Power

The growing importance of big data in contemporary society raises significant and urgent ethical questions. In the academic literature and in the media, the dominant response to many of these ethical questions is to re-examine the role and importance of privacy protections, but I argue that it is far more fruitful to investigate the relationship between power and big data. As algorithmic processes are increasingly used in decision-making processes, it is crucial that we understand the ways in which big data can be used as a technology of power. Only then can we properly understand the ways in which the use of big data impacts on and reorganises society, and go on to develop effective, tailored protections for individuals against harm from the use of big data. First, I show that the rise of big data highlights the limits of privacy protections, as big data-based analytics allow for personal information to be inferred in ways that circumvent privacy protections and problematises the category of personal information. In order to properly protect people from the potential harms that can arise from the use of big data in decision making, I argue that we must also examine the relationship between big data and power. In this thesis, I will present an argument for a pluralistic understanding of power, and a lens through which we can identify the kinds of power being exercised in the contexts we are investigating. Power is best understood as an umbrella term that refers to a diverse range of phenomena across an equally diverse range of domains or contexts. We can use this attitude to examine the central features of an exercise of power to identify the relevant theoretical accounts of power to draw on in understanding the modes of power present in a context. In Chapter 4, I will demonstrate the value of this approach by using it to analyse four contexts where big data is used as a technology of power, showing that we cannot use a single theoretical understanding of power across all exercises of power. Following this, I examine the impacts of big data on the operation of power. While many in the literature see big data as necessitating the development of new theoretical understandings of power, I argue that there are important historical continuities in power. Big data can be picked up and used as part of existing kinds of power just as any new technology can, and while this may change the efficiency, range, and effectiveness of exercises of power, it does not change their fundamental nature. However, there are impacts on the operation of power that are unique to big data, and one of these impacts I consider here is that the inferential capabilities of big data shift power from acting on human subjects and towards acting on data doubles (fragmentary digital representations of people). This leads to significant ethical problems with ensuring that power is exercised accountably. Finally, I will demonstrate these problems in Chapter 7 through examining four more contexts in which big data is used as a technology of power, showing how the shift to the data double as the subject of power undermines the effectiveness of accountability as a check on the abuse of power

Rule of law and human rights issues in social media content moderation

This thesis explores the content moderation process at social media companies. This process is divided into three distinct stages: Creation (the production of terms and conditions), Enforcement (the enforcement of those rules), and Response (the use of both internal and external methods of appeal to enact change). It explains how content moderation occurs and identifies a number of serious issues for both human rights and the rule of law in the current approach. It also proposes a variety of solutions for both small-scale and broader reform and argues for a regulatory approach grounded in procedural rule of law principles and mandatory human rights due diligence

Legitimität, Sicherheit, Autonomie: Eine philosophische Analyse der EU-Sicherheitspolitik im Kontext der Digitalisierung

Das Buch ergründet die aktuelle dynamische und folgenreiche Entwicklung der europäischen Sicherheitspolitik. Dabei liefert es einen wichtigen und originellen Beitrag sowohl für die Praktische Philosophie als auch für die Bereiche der Security- und European Studies. Durch konkrete Analysen und die Herausarbeitung möglicher Lösungsansätze, verwirklicht das Buch einen philosophischen Ansatz, der in der Realität verankert ist und gleichzeitig auf Theorie und Normativität besteht. Im Fokus stehen die Charakteristika von neuen Sicherheitstechnologien und -verständnissen sowie deren Einfluss auf die "kopernikanische Wende" der Neuzeit, mit der das Individuum und der Schutz seiner Grundrechte ins Zentrum der politischen Legitimation gerückt sind.This book examines the current dynamic and momentous development of European security policy. In doing so, it provides an important and original contribution to both practical philosophy and to the fields of security studies and European studies. Using concrete analyses and by offering possible solutions to certain problems, the book develops an approach that is embedded in reality and which, at the same time, insists on theory and normativity. It focuses on the characteristics of new security technologies and ways in which security is understood as well as their influence on the 'Copernican Revolution' of the modern age, through which individuals and the protection of their fundamental rights have become the focus of political legitimation