EPIC Comments to ACUS on Disclosure of Agency Legal Records

D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Agrees with EPIC and EFF: Government Cannot Hide Lethal Injection Company’s Name from Public Based on FOIA Exemption 4

Access to Information
Democracy & Free Speech
Freedom of Information Act
Open Government
Updates

Public Benefits, Private Vendors: How Private Companies Help Run our Welfare Programs

If you’ve been following EPIC’s work on the algorithms used in public benefits programs, you may have caught something unusual: although we talk about public welfare programs, most of the systems we’ve uncovered are developed by private companies. That isn’t a coincidence. While a few state agencies have developed their own technical systems for public benefits programs, a large and growing number of states have chosen to outsource the technological systems undergirding public benefits programs to private vendors who promise accuracy, efficiency, and cost-savings. In reality, EPIC’s research suggests the opposite: many vendor systems are costly, prone to bias and error, and developed without considering agencies’ unique needs.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
Freedom of Information Act
Government AI Use
Open Government
Screening & Scoring
Analysis

Epoch Times: Democrats Reject GOP Request for More Information on US Postal Service Surveillance of Conservatives

Government Databases
Privacy Impact Assessments
Surveillance Oversight
News

ITEM 10: How a Small Legal Aid Team Took on Algorithmic Black Boxing at Their State’s Employment Agency (And Won)

In June 2022, Legal Aid of Arkansas won a significant victory in their ongoing work to compel Arkansas’ employment agency to disclose crucial details about how it uses automated decision-making systems to detect and adjudicate fraud. In August, I spoke with Legal Aid of Arkansas Senior Associate Attorney Trevor Hawkins and Director of Advocacy Kevin De Liban about what the decision means for unemployed workers and algorithmic transparency.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
Open Government
Screening & Scoring
Analysis

Sen. Wyden Reveals State Department Gives Law Enforcement Unfettered Access to Sensitive Data from 145 Million Americans

Government Databases
Open Government
Surveillance Oversight
Updates

GAO Report: Federal Agencies Lack Senior Leadership to Effectively Implement Privacy Programs

Open Government
Privacy Impact Assessments
Updates

Agencies Begin to Comply with 2020 Executive Order on AI Transparency

In 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13960, which created concrete requirements aimed to improve transparency around how the United States is currently using automated decision-making systems by creating registries of non-classified federal government uses of AI, and requiring public "use case inventories." This EO prompted specific deadlines for meeting requirements, including mandates that agencies must prepare inventories of AI use cases in compliance with their own guidance by August 2021, and make those inventories public by December 2021 (the OMB additionally clarified that agencies should finalize and publish plans to regulate AI by May 17, 2021). Most deadlines stemming from the executive orders have still not been met by a majority of agencies, which EPIC wrote about in January 2022.

AI Policy
Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
Government AI Use
Open Government
Surveillance Oversight
Analysis

The Shakedown State: Fraud Detection and Predicting the Past

In December 2016, an Australian whistleblower warned The Guardian that a new automated system being rolled out to assess and recover debts from hundreds of thousands of the country’s most vulnerable families was fatally flawed. The whistleblower worked for Centrelink, the government agency tasked with distributing a wide range of government payouts, including social insurance benefits such as old-age pensions, parenting allowances, and job seeker (unemployment) support. In 2015, the agency introduced what they called an “online compliance intervention” to enhance fraud prevention and debt recovery in the department of human services.

AI in the Criminal Justice System
AI Policy
Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights
Commercial AI Use
Data Protection
Government AI Use
Open Government
Screening & Scoring
Analysis

EPIC Urges Administrative Conference to Recommend Sweeping Open Government Reforms

Federal Advisory Committee Act
Freedom of Information Act
Open Government
Privacy Impact Assessments
Updates

EPIC Comments to ACUS on Disclosure of Agency Legal Records

Federal Advisory Committee Act
Freedom of Information Act
Open Government
Privacy Impact Assessments
APA Comments