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CJRC researcher and privacy expert\u00a0Dr\u00a0Monique Mann\u00a0<\/a>from the School of Justice, Faculty of Law, recently spoke to New Matilda<\/a><\/em> about the RoboDebt data matching scandal.<\/p>\n Dr Mann\u00a0compares the robo-debt fiasco to the movie I, Daniel Blake<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a Kafka-esque nightmare,\u201d she told New Matilda in an interview. \u201cThere are real questions about the reliability of the data and the program used to match data between Centrelink and the Australian Taxation Office.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are also serious concerns with removal of human oversight of computer-based systems and automated decision-making leading to errors, further compounded by limited avenues for review and appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann, an academic who is also a board member of the non-profit Privacy Foundation, worries about the transparency of such algorithms. \u201cAcademics call this \u2018black box decision making\u2019: we don\u2019t know how the algorithm works, we don\u2019t how these decisions are being made, this is all very opaque and it is very problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann calls it a \u201cprivacy omnishambles,\u201d mentioning the disastrous 2016 Census and the passage of the notorious metadata retention laws in 2015. She also points out that the government\u2019s Digital Transformation Agency is currently working to develop what it calls a \u2018trusted digital identity<\/a> framework\u2019, which it touts as making \u201cthe process of proving who you are to government while online simple, safe and secure.\u201d<\/p>\n Mann says the DTA is proposing that facial biometrics technologies are being considered for use in the trusted digital identitifer. \u201cPrivacy advocates are incredibly concerned about this.\u201d<\/p>\n