Digital Rights Update!

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09/10/2021

This week was very hectic, since many conferences about EU non- discrimination law and AI took place! All the discussions were very fruitfull and we have so much feedback to reflect on!

“Recently, the European Commission has promoted several initiatives to set up the principles of a trustworthy and secure AI. In 2019 the high-level expert group on AI presented Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence. Two years later, on 21st April 2021, the European Commission published a regulatory framework to monitor AI, laying down harmonised rules on AI, the so-called Artificial Intelligence Act.

In addition, EU Member States have also understood that they need to keep up with AI progress. Many already adopted national AI strategies, while others are in the final drafting phase. Given that a European-centred approach to AI is essential, the EU has put in place measures to strengthen coordination mechanisms and to provide analysis and studies through the creation of AI Watch.”

In this context, European AI Regulation Week organised amongst others by CiTIUS and supported by amongst others the NoBIAS project was held from 5 to 8 October 2021in Santiago de Compostela, in Spain. DATAWO attended this event virtually.

On 8 October 2021 Algorithmic Bias and EU Non-Discrimination Policy organised by the Universitat Bayreuth. The conference brought together jurists from all over Europe to discuss the ramifications of algorithmic bias for the law. Topics covered include the importance of data (quality) for fair and non-discriminatory AI, the regulation of AI technology via existing non-discrimination law as well as the proposal for an AI-Act and the significant enforcement challenges in the realm of algorithmic decision-making. DATAWO was there to attend ti!

Last but not least, from 5 to 9 October 2021 ACM conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms, and Optimization (EAAMO ’21) takes place. The conferences aims to highlight work where techniques from algorithms, optimization, and mechanism design, along with insights from the social sciences and humanistic studies, can help improve equity and access to opportunity for historically disadvantaged and underserved communities. The conference provides an international forum for presenting research papers, problem pitches, survey and position papers, new datasets, and software demonstrations towards the goal of bridging research and practice.

To conclude, 3 days ago, on 6 October 2021 the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted for a recommendation of a ban on mass biometrics surveillance by police in a report. The MEPs did not vote to ban the indiscriminate government use of facial recognition and other biometrics for surveillance in public spaces. They voted to reject a call to strip such a call from a report submitted by the parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, known as LIBE.

More particularly, MEPs ask for a permanent ban on the automated recognition of individuals in public spaces, noting that citizens should only be monitored when suspected of a crime. Parliament calls for the use of private facial recognition databases (like the Clearview AI system, which is already in use) and predictive policing based on behavioural data to be forbidden. MEPs also want to ban social scoring systems, which try to rate the trustworthiness of citizens based on their behaviour or personality.

Finally, Parliament is concerned by the use of biometric data to remotely identify people. For example, border control gates that use automated recognition and the iBorderCtrl project (a “smart lie-detection system” for traveller entry to the EU) should be discontinued, say MEPs, who urge the Commission to open infringement procedures against member states if necessary.

According to the text, AI-based identification systems already misidentify minority ethnic groups, LGBTI+ people, seniors and women at higher rates, which is particularly concerning in the context of law enforcement and the judiciary. To ensure that fundamental rights are upheld when using these technologies, algorithms should be transparent, traceable and sufficiently documented, MEPs ask.

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