Author: Hans de Zwart

Microsoft will update its English (UK) dictionaries with a more inclusive name database

A huge billboard on the side of a building in a UK city showing names of which some are underlined and some aren't.

We wrote about the I am not a typo campaign before. They have shared good news with us: “Responding to feedback from customers and working with members of the I Am Not A Typo campaign, Microsoft has implemented product updates to ensure its dictionary better reflects the names of people living in modern, multicultural Britain, using official Office for National Statistics (ONS) baby name data as a guide.”

Continue reading “Microsoft will update its English (UK) dictionaries with a more inclusive name database” →

Racist Technology in Action: The algorithm that was supposed to match asylum seekers to places with jobs doesn’t work and is discriminatory

A dark stylished picture of the Netherlands with a city in the North highlighted with yellow round marker.

For many years and for many people, GeoMatch by the Immigration Policy Lab was a shining example of ‘AI for Good’: instead of using algorithms to find criminals or fraud, why don’t we use it to allocate asylum seekers to regions that give them the most job opportunities? Only the naive can be surprised that this didn’t work out as promised.

Continue reading “Racist Technology in Action: The algorithm that was supposed to match asylum seekers to places with jobs doesn’t work and is discriminatory” →

50% of the profiling algorithms used by the Dutch tax office are discriminatory and therefore unlawful according to the Data Protection Authority

Illustrated network diagram showing connected circles containing sepia-toned vignettes of bipoc people engaged in various activities including reading, working at computers, caring for children, and collaborating.

The Dutch tax office is plagued by one problem after another. The Child Benefits Scandal was supposed to be a wake-up call, but apparently, their system use is so atrophied that they can’t seem to do what is needed. Follow the Money reports on a letter from the Dutch data protection authority to the Minister of Finance, which argues that the tax office uses 50 algorithms that use discriminatory profiling and are therefore potentially unlawful.

Continue reading “50% of the profiling algorithms used by the Dutch tax office are discriminatory and therefore unlawful according to the Data Protection Authority” →

Setting the record straight: Scientists show that the algorithm that Proctorio used is incredibly biased towards people with a darker skin colour

Different faces of different colours in the testing facility showing how OpenCV performs much worse on dark skin colour than DLIB.

Do you remember when our Robin Pocornie filed a complaint with the Dutch Human Rights Institute because Proctorio, the spyware that she was forced to use as a proctor for doing her exams from home, couldn’t find her face as it was “too dark”? (If not, read the dossier of her case.)

Continue reading “Setting the record straight: Scientists show that the algorithm that Proctorio used is incredibly biased towards people with a darker skin colour” →

Join the (Dutch) Masterclass Net Politics!

To successfully govern our information society in the years to come, a solid understanding of technological developments is crucial. The Masterclass Net Politics is a series of meetings with speakers from Amnesty International, Bits of Freedom, Internet Society Netherlands, Open State Foundation, PublicSpaces, SetUp, Waag Futurelab, and yours truly: The Racism and Technology Center.

Continue reading “Join the (Dutch) Masterclass Net Politics!” →

Racist Technology in Action: Grok AI is obsessively focused on the extreme right trope of “white genocide” in South Africa

Trump and Ramaphose in the White House with Trump holding up some printed pieces of paper with pictures of white people on them.

For a day or so, Musk’s Grok AI chatbot would add its belief in a “white genocide” in South Africa, by now a classic white supremacist fabrication, to nearly every answer it would give regardless of the question asked.

Continue reading “Racist Technology in Action: Grok AI is obsessively focused on the extreme right trope of “white genocide” in South Africa” →

Dutch Institute for Human Rights creates an evaluation framework for risk profiling and urges organisations to do more to prevent discrimination based on race and nationality

The Dutch Institute for Human Rights has published an evaluation framework for risk profiling intending to prevent discrimination based on race or nationality.

Continue reading “Dutch Institute for Human Rights creates an evaluation framework for risk profiling and urges organisations to do more to prevent discrimination based on race and nationality” →

In reaction to censorship and the genocide in Gaza, the Muslim community creates its own technological infrastructure

Two people pose smiling in front of a Muslim Tech Fest event backdrop, which features the event logo repeated in white text with green geometric frames. One person wears business casual attire while the other wears a hijab and jeans.

If you want to send money to help the Palestinian cause, there is a high chance your payment might get blocked somewhere. Same thing if you want to make a game about the Palestine experience and are trying to get it published in the app stores.

Continue reading “In reaction to censorship and the genocide in Gaza, the Muslim community creates its own technological infrastructure” →

Racist Technology in Action: Grok’s total lack of safeguards against generating racist content

Grok logo

Grok is the chatbot made by xAI, a startup founded by Elon Musk, and is the generative AI solution that is powering X (née Twitter). It has recently gained a new power to generate photorealistic images, including those of celebrities. This is a problem as its ‘guardrails’ are lacking: it willingly generates racist and other deeply problematic images.

Continue reading “Racist Technology in Action: Grok’s total lack of safeguards against generating racist content” →

Dutch government has to pay back 61 million euros to students who were discriminated against through DUO’s fraud profiling operation

The white and wavy offices of DUO in Groningen

We’ve written twice before about the racist impact of DUO’s student fraud detection efforts. The Dutch government has now decided to pay back all the fines and the study financing they held back for all students that were checked between 2012 and 2023.

Continue reading “Dutch government has to pay back 61 million euros to students who were discriminated against through DUO’s fraud profiling operation” →

Racist Technology in Action: Anti-money laundering efforts by Dutch banks disproportionately affect people with a non-Western migration background

A censored bank statement with a collage of eyes and magnifying glasses pasted over it.

Banks have a requirement to ‘know their customers’ and to look for money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Their vigilante efforts lead to racist outcomes.

Continue reading “Racist Technology in Action: Anti-money laundering efforts by Dutch banks disproportionately affect people with a non-Western migration background” →

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑