The plaintiffs and their lawyers in the SyRI case
Today the court in The Hague ruled on the government’s use of the algorithm system SyRI (System Risk Indication). The judge ruled that the government must stop profiling citizens with large-scale data analysis to detect social security fraud. The Dutch are no longer “a priori suspects.
The lawsuit against the Dutch state was brought by a coalition of civil society organizations, consisting of the Platform for the Protection of Civil Rights, the Dutch Legal Committee for Human Rights (NJCM), trade union FNV, Privacy First, KDVP Foundation, the National Clients Council and authors Tommy Wieringa and Maxim February.
The court finds that SyRI violates the European Convention on Human Rights. SyRI makes a disproportionate intrusion into citizens’ private lives. This applies not only to people identified by SyRI as high risk, but to anyone whose data is analyzed by SyRI. According to the court, SyRI is not transparent and therefore not verifiable. The invasion of private life is unforeseeable to citizens and they cannot defend themselves against it.
The court additionally cited the real risk of discrimination and stigmatization of citizens in so-called problem neighborhoods where SyRI has been deployed. This, by socioeconomic status and possibly migration background. There is a risk of bias in the deployment of SyRI that cannot be controlled. Mr. Ekker and mr. Linders, lawyers for the plaintiffs: ‘The court confirms that the large-scale linking of personal data violates fundamental human rights, including the protection of privacy, EU law and Dutch law. This ruling is therefore also important for other European countries and at the international level.
From now on, personal data of unsuspecting citizens may not simply be aggregated from different sources if there is no well-founded suspicion. Tijmen Wisman of the Civil Rights Protection Platform commented, ‘Today we have been proven right on all major fundamental points. This is a timely victory for the legal protection of citizens in the Netherlands.’
Breach of trust with citizen
Trade union FNV disapproves of SyRI on principle grounds of how people were put down by the government. Kitty Jong, vice president of FNV: ‘The focus of this kind of algorithm system is on people with little income. The really big fraudsters, the tax-dodging and fraudulent organizations, are hardly addressed by the Dutch state. We are pleased that the judge is now definitively drawing a line under SyRI. We see more in a positive approach of the government to benefit recipients. Invest in training and good guidance in the search for work.’
Kentering
The parties hope the ruling will herald a change in the way the government handles citizens’ data. They feel vindicated in this by the court’s considerations; they apply not only to SyRI, but also to similar practices. Zo hebben veel gemeenten eigen datakoppelsystemen die burgers profileren voor allerhande beleidsdoeleinden. A linkage law with an even broader scope than SyRI also allows private-party databases to be linked to government databases. However, the Hague District Court ruling puts a stop to these Big Data analyses. Therefore, according to the plaintiffs, it is crucial that the SyRI verdict be reflected in current and future political policies.
Social discussion
The lawsuit against SyRI serves both a legal and social purpose. With this judgment, plaintiffs see both goals realized. Merel Hendrickx of PILP: ‘In addition to stopping SyRI, it was just as much our approach to start a social discussion about how the government deals with its citizens in a digitizing society. This ruling shows how important it is to have that social discussion.’
Although the legal adoption of SyRI in 2014 went fairly smoothly, discussion about the legality of the system swelled after the lawsuit was announced. Deployment of SyRI in two neighborhoods in Rotterdam-Zuid led to protests among residents and discussion in the city council in early 2019. Not much later, Mayor Aboutaleb pulled the plug on the investigation; the municipality and the ministry could not agree on the legal basis. In June 2019, the Volkskrant revealed that SyRI had not yet detected a single fraudster since its introduction. In October 2019, UN rapporteur Philip Alston wrote in a critical Amicus curiae to the court expressing profound doubts about the legality of SyRI. In late November 2019, SyRI won the Expert Award from the Big Brother Awards.
The coalition was represented at the trial by Anton Ekker (Ekker Advocatuur) and Douwe Linders (SOLV Advocaten) and is coordinated by PILP.
