Profiling and SyRI
Citizens provide a lot of information about themselves to the government. This is the case, for instance, when they apply for a permit or for an unemployment benefit, when they file their taxes, or when they get married. The so-called ‘System Risk Indication’ (SyRI), which is an implementation of the Dutch Work and Income Act, enables departments of the government, such as the Employee Insurance Agency, the Tax and Customs Administration, or the Social Insurance Bank to use the information they receive for purposes other than for which this data was originally provided.
SyRI, an instrument that is based on Article 64 and Article 65 of the Work and Income Act, allows different departments of the government to exchange information about citizens to detect fraud. It also authorizes the government to use big data analytics to look for patterns of possible fraudulent behavior.
On the basis of data available within the ‘System Risk Indication’, risk profiles are constructed. If a person fits a certain profile, he or she will be investigated further by various government agencies. Thus, under the guise of fraud prevention, anyone can be investigated without reasonable suspicion. Furthermore, citizens become suspects as a consequence of profiling without them even knowing this. According to an article in the Volkskrant (a Dutch daily newspaper), ‘a citizen will be investigated on the basis of a certain criminal profile.’
The Dutch Council of State and the Dutch Data Protection Authority have both strongly criticized the government because of its use of SyRI. The Council of State has expressed its concern in an advisory opinion, in which it spoke of a ‘far-reaching restriction of the right to respect for private life.’ The Council of State concluded that ‘there is hardly any personal information that may not be processed within SyRI. The list of data that may be analyzed is not limitative, but seems to have been drawn up to give government agencies more room to maneuver.’ This is against the statutory duty of the government to only collect data that is strictly necessary to achieve a specific purpose. The Data Protection Authority is also of the opinion that it is imperative to carefully select data before it is passed on to the Minister for processing within SyRI. Alarm also sounds from unexpected quarters. Dutch writer Tommy Wieringa warns the public in his Rudy Kousbroek address: ‘SyRI makes use of anti-grassroots software. The control it exercises is ever-present. The government and the terrorist have the same view of humanity: no one is innocent.’
The gathering and exchange of personal data and the use of big data analytics, data which has not specifically been provided for this purpose, might be in contravention of the right to respect for private life and other human rights. Together with Boekx attorneys and the Platform for the Protection of Civil Rights, the PILP is investigating the legal possibilities to challenge the law that authorizes government use of SyRI.
Update:
- Honors students of the University of Utrecht are currently conducting research on this topic for the Public Interest Litigation Project (PILP).