247. Automated Welfare – the Simple Violence of Complex Machines
This Machine Kills
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The Role of the Fraud Algorithm in the Design of Welfare Benefits
The researchers used case studies to show how arbitrary and discriminatory the risk assignments were going was. The fraud algorithm created this distribution of risk source scores for not just Sarah and you, but about 12,700 or more than that are welfare recipients from the city's own trading data. If you have poor language skills, you're twice as likely to fall above that threshold where you're going to get flagged for investigation. Someone who has not passed a passive Dutch language requirement is twice as likely to be categorized as high risk for committing fraud.
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