Case studies

Each week (sessions 2-5), students will present a real-life case study of the failures of an automated decision-making system.

Students will pick from the following cases:

Session 2: Access to benefits

• Tafakul (Jordan) - see Toh, A. (2023). Automated Neglect: How The World Bank’s Push to Allocate Cash Assistance Using Algorithms Threatens Rights. Human Rights Watch.
• Samagra Vedika (India) - see Tapasya, Sambhav, K., Joshi, D. (2024). How an algorithm denied food to thousands of poor in India’s Telangana. Al Jazeera.
• Social Card Register (Serbia) - see A11. (Anti) Social Card.
• Pensión 65 (Peru) - see the Salud Con Lupa project.

Session 3: Law enforcement, incarceration, child services

• Riscanvi (Catalonia) - see See Arandia, P., Ley, M., Sisqués, S., Martín., Ortega, M., Mateo, M., Luengo, J. (2024). Riscanvi: Un algoritmo define el futuro de los presos en Cataluña: ahora sabemo cómo funciona.
• Alerta Niñez (Chile) - see Risk Scoring Children in Chile, a recap by Paz Peña for the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (NYU Law).

Session 4: Fraud detection in social services

• The Childcare Benefits scandal (The Netherlands) - start with this recap: Adelmant, V., van Veen, C. (2022). Hollow rights victories? Dutch struggles against digital injustice. Open Global Rights. /!\ SyRI and the Childcare Benefits scandal are two different affairs!
• The Robodebt scandal (Australia) - start with this article by The Guardian

Session 5: Facial recognition technologies in healthcare and education

• A cancer-detection algorithm (Basque Country). Bernardo, Á., Álvarez del Vayo, M., Torrecillas, C., Maqueda, A., Laursen, L. (2025). Mole or cancer? The algorithm that gets one in three melanomas wrong and erases patients with dark skin. Civio.
• Robin Pocornie’s case against Proctorio (The Netherlands) - see the Racism and Technology Center’s dossier on the case.