#publicsector - AlgorithmWatch

Position, 4 July 2023

Battle in Strasbourg: Civil society fights for safeguards against AI harms

With negotiations on a Convention on Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the Council of Europe entering a crucial stage, a joint statement by AlgorithmWatch and ten other civil society organizations reminds negotiating states of their mandate : to protect human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. To adhere to this mandate and to counter both narrow state interest and companies’ lobbying, the voice of civil society must be listened to.

Irem Kurt for AlgorithmWatch, CC BY 4.0

Project, 20 April 2023

Automation on the Move

With the ‘Automation on the Move’ project, AlgorithmWatch will help to challenge the untenable status quo for people on the move.

massimo [notamax] nota on Flickr

Story, 17 April 2023

The algorithm that blew up Italy’s school system

An algorithm was supposed to save time by allocating teachers on short-term contracts to schools automatically. Failures in the code and in the design severely disrupted teachers’ lives.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

Position, 6 December 2022

Joint statement: The EU AI Act must protect people on the move

In its current form, the AI Act does not adequately address and prevent harms stemming from the use of AI in the migration context. Today, AlgorithmWatch together with 191 organizations and individuals are sending a decisive signal to EU decision-makers: ensure the protection of human rights of people on the move!

Adrian Grycuk | CC BY-SA 3.0

Position, 18 October 2022

Civil society responds to the Council of Europe Treaty on AI

Together with other observer civil society organizations in the Committee on AI in the Council of Europe, AlgorithmWatch stresses the importance of that legal framework on AI based on human rights, democracy, and the rule of law that is currently being elaborated in Strasbourg. We urge the EU not to delay this process in light of the negotiations on its own AI Act currently ongoing in Brussels. The two frameworks have a different purpose and should complement rather than copy-paste each other.

Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash

Position, 17 October 2022

EU rules for AI have some distance to go

The AI Act and Directive on AI Liability aim to protect fundamental rights, health and safety, but fall short in the current form. An op-ed, published first at Context.

Photo by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Position, 21 July 2022

Our response to the EDPB’s guidelines on facial recognition in law enforcement

The European Data Protection Board has called for input on its recently published guidelines on the use of facial recognition technology in law enforcement. AlgorithmWatch responded.

"Privacy" by g4ll4is | CC BY-SA 2.0

Position, 9 June 2022

Submission to the UN report on the right to privacy in the digital age

When the right to privacy is violated, it is often the case that other human rights are also negatively impacted. In our submission, we list key areas of concerns on the way automated decision-making systems (ADMs) affect people’s basic rights.

Stanford University Libraries via Public Domain Review

Blog, 20 May 2022

Council of Europe creates rules for Artificial Intelligence

Not only the EU but also the Council of Europe – an international organization based in Strasbourg – plans to regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI). To this end, it is currently negotiating a Convention on AI. In this explainer, we show what this is all about, why it is relevant to you and what the next steps are.

Andrew Seaman | Unsplash

Position, 10 May 2022

Members of the European Parliament could protect us from biometric surveillance – if they wanted to

Together with Reclaim Your Face and 51 other civil society organizations, AlgorithmWatch calls for a meaningful ban of remote biometric identification systems in public spaces. In an Open Letter to Members of the European Parliament, we urge them to amend the draft AI Act accordingly.