Opening the government’s black boxes: freedom of information and algorithmic accountability

ABSTRACT

Freedom of information laws are intended to illuminate how governments operate. However, the operations of governments increasingly involve algorithms, such as those used to recommend criminal sentencing and determine eligibility for social services. Algorithms function as ‘black boxes’ that turn inputs into outputs using processes that are often, by design, not transparent. Freedom of information laws allow one potential means for algorithmic transparency. However, whether such laws can be used to access algorithms is unclear. This research examines, in two ways, the availability of government algorithms to the public. First, this study examines laws, regulations, advisory opinions, and court rulings relevant to the disclosure of algorithms. The second part of this study analyzes actual responses by US government agencies to Freedom of Information Act requests for algorithms. This study concludes that governmental policies and practices related to algorithmic disclosure are inconsistent. Such inconsistencies suggest a need for better mechanisms to hold government algorithms accountable.

KEYWORDS:

• Algorithms
• freedom of information
• open government
• public records
• right to know
• transparency

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Nicholas Diakopoulos, Valerie Belair-Gagnon, Ruth Palmer, Soomin Seo and this journal’s reviewers for their invaluable feedback on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Katherine Fink is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts at Pace University. She is also an Affiliated Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale University Law School. Research interests include freedom of information, community journalism, and media business models [email: [email protected]].

Notes

1 The managers work in the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Education, Defense, Health and Human Services, and Interior, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Government Printing Office, and the National Science Foundation.