In the EU Google case I think there's a bit of a chicken / egg case
involved that the Court might have missed (haven't read the whole
judgement as have not been able to locate it yet) and it hinges on the
issue of intent.
Google's algorithms make their decisions irrespective of whether the
data they're sorting is personal, impersonal or whatever. It is, to use
a very clumsy analogy, like a garden shredder: it will eat / process
whatever is fed to it. It is the Gardener who chooses whether to shred
or to re-plant who's making the decisions.
Translate back to the electronic world and Google is just a machine that
will process whatever's uploaded to the web: it seems to me that it's
the people who decide what goes web-side, why, when, whether it can be
forwarded etc are the ones that the Court should have been looking at.
Owen
-----Original Message-----
From: Lawrence Serewicz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 May 2014 12:51
To: Owen Thomas; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Google, SARs and automated processing, any experience?
Owen,
An interesting point and one that makes me wonder what is meant by
"reliability" and "conduct" given that Google searches do appear to be
providing evidence regarding both of those, which is why people are
searching google.
Moreover, how google's algorithms work is not something that the
searcher can decide. The structure of the algorithm and the search
system is under the direct control of Google which I would suggest makes
that an automated system as it acts in a consistent way irregardless of
the instructions. A truck does not stop being a truck because an amateur
is driving it or if a professional is driving it.
Best,
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Owen Thomas
Sent: 19 May 2014 11:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Google, SARs and automated processing, any experience?
Well, 'automated processing' - yes. 'Automated decision making' might be
a bit of a stretch.
Section 12 concerns itself with decisions "... taken by or on behalf of
the data controller which significantly affects that individual is based
solely on the processing by automatic means of personal data in respect
of which that individual is the data subject for the purpose of
evaluating matters relating to him such as, for example, his performance
at work, his creditworthiness, his reliability or his conduct" which
seems a questionable claim for a web-search.
Unless I'm missing something, the only default 'decisions' that Google
(etc) takes are 'what results match the question I was asked?' and
'which of these results will make us most money under our contracts with
corporations?'. A user might be presented with different search results
in different priorities based on the criteria they've applied to the
search (i.e. search tools etc), but that suggests to me that the
resulting 'search / presentational decisions' are even less automated
and are, instead, a response (albeit a very clever one) to a filing
request.
Owen
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