State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Digitalisation) has registered more than one hundred algorithms used by the government. In this way they can be controlled by citizens.
An algorithm is a step-by-step plan executed by a computer. The use of such a system often facilitates the work of government. But it can also have negative consequences, for example if people are ethnically profiled on this basis.
Ministries, municipalities and other branches of government can share their algorithms on a dedicated platform register online, but it’s not yet mandatory. The House of Representatives wants this to happen. Van Huffelen wants to work on this. He expects that obligation to go into effect in 2024 at the earliest.
The current first version of the online registry contains 109 algorithms. For example, it’s a system that helps government employees determine whether two fingerprints are from the same hand. This is explained on the website, for example by explaining why the government deems it absolutely necessary to do so.
Van Huffelen points out that this is an early version and that the registry is still not perfect. For example, details on how the fingerprint algorithm works have not yet been disclosed, so programmers cannot verify them.
