Wellington, January 7, 2020
Wellington based Transparency International New Zealand (TINZ) has expressed its support to the work of Statistics New Zealand to create an Algorithm Charter.
The Charter aims at a more consistent approach by Government agencies in their use of algorithms in “a fair, ethical and transparent way.
TINZ provided a submission on this Charter.
Chief Executive Julie Haggie said that TINZ strongly supports the primary purpose of the Charter, which is to put the right safeguards in place when algorithms are used so that data ethics are embedded in the work so that the people and communities being served by these tools are always front of mind.
Some recommendations
“TINZ would like to see the Charter go further, through (a) Including a commitment to cross agency engagement on matters such as algorithmic literacy, frameworks for algorithmic hygiene, governance frameworks, whistleblowing, peer bias assessments and public consultation (b) Extending the scope of the charter beyond people, to include natural systems (c) Including algorithm use or development by external organisations for any provision of public services or projects (d) Including a commitment by government agencies to support the development of industry standards in algorithm use,” she said.
Ms Haggie said that the use of sophisticated data modelling puts a lot of power in the hands of a few and that background reports and international research show the risks of using algorithms.
Inherent risks
“These risks include unintended bias, persistent error, breaches of privacy and restriction of choice. It is critical that there are systems in place to monitor and review this use, to make sure it is fair, unbiased and transparent. Also, researchers, journalists and civil society groups have an important role to play in shedding light on the use of data, as has been evident overseas,” she said.
Ms Haggie said that there are different levels of transparency. The general population may not find use in seeing raw anonymized data, and may not understand the associated algorithm itself. But they do need to have trust in the fair use of algorithms that particularly apply to them.
Right to explanation
Transparency International supports the use of a principle called the ‘right to explanation.’
“Using this principle, organisations can show what the outcome would have been for an individual if they had had certain different attributes. This allows people to understand a decision and to challenge it if they think it is not fair,” she said.
TINZ also strongly supports the inclusion of digital literacy within a general framework of literacy. Students should be encouraged to understand what algorithms do and how they are used in both operations and analysis, she said.
“This Charter applies to government agencies, but the main use of algorithms is in the business sector, for example in recruitment, financial services, social media and the private health industry. TINZ calls on the business sector to show a similar commitment as that provided by government agencies, including developing and improving industry standards,” Ms Haggie said.
Source: Transparency International New Zealand, Wellington
