At the moment, we primarily work in German language. Find here more German content on our work on ADM in the public sphere.
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.
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The Council of Europe is in charge of upholding human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Europe. Its member states are currently working on legal frameworks for the development and use of AI systems.
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Crucial digital policy bills are being negotiated in Brussels right now. These bills also have a relevance for Switzerland. While the European Parliament and the European Council are still busy shaping the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), the Digital Services Act (DSA) is approaching the finish line. AlgorithmWatch has been intensely working on proposals regarding both regulations. We have clear demands what should flow into them so that they genuinely protect our fundamental rights as well as the public interest.
Read moreDiscrimination and violations of rights to equal treatment by the law – these are among the risks to human rights posed by the development and use of algorithmic systems by technology companies. In our submission to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) we argue that states have a duty to protect citizens from these risks.
Read moreDigital platforms play an ever-increasing role in structuring and influencing public debate. Civil society watchdogs, researchers and journalists need to be able to hold them to account. But Facebook is increasingly fighting those who try. It shut down New York University’s Ad Observatory in August, and went after AlgorithmWatch, too.
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The Swiss COVID certificate launched in June has undergone its first phase of internal and public security tests, and the results are in.
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Switzerland launched its own COVID-19 certificate system on June 7, both in paper and digital formats. Rollout will be gradual, and the system is expect to be fully functioning by the end of June.
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AlgorithmWatch and AlgorithmWatch Switzerland are joining 177 civil society organizations, activists, technologists, and other experts around the world to call for an outright ban on uses of facial recognition and remote biometric recognition technologies that enable mass surveillance and discriminatory targeted surveillance.
Read moreDuring the pandemic, the public as well as the private sector have worked on digital tools for contact tracing. Private companies developed a variety of check-in apps for venues such as restaurants, bars, and clubs. In contrast to the SwissCovid app, those check-in apps collected data through a centralized architecture. This form of data collection in combination with insufficient checks on the private companies' use of the data raises questions regarding citizens' privacy and data security.
Read moreA large coalition of civil society organizations, among them AlgorithmWatch and AlgorithmWatch Switzerland, have come together in a European movement that demands a ban on biometric recognition systems that enable mass surveillance. Earlier this year, it launched a European Citizens Initiative, calling on the EU to ban biometric mass surveillance - such as automated face recognition in public spaces.
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