This panel explores public law‘s character in an age of technical governance. As a field, public law draws on principles, such as fairness, justice, and democracy. But technicalities shape how public law governs. Programs ranging from infrastructure to social services are delivered by multiple state and arm‘s-length agencies and regulated by many intersecting rules. Administrative...
‘Robo-Debt‘: Guilt, Responsibility and the Dehumanisation of Welfare Compliance
This paper explores how digital techniques of policy implementation can themselves propel, shape and/or disrupt processes of welfare reform. It does so via a close analysis of the implementation of the Online Compliance Intervention, popularly known as ‘robo-debt‘, by the Australian Department of Human Services (DHS). As it argues, this automated debt recovery system has...
Past, Future, and Present: The New Temporality of Decision-Making Software
Administrative decisions are increasingly co-produced by public officials and specialized software. Draws on “the past,“ as represented by government databases, this software assembles data points to generate decisions about an individual‘s access to public benefits. While such decisions are, in theory, reviewed by a human before taking effect, the technical processes by which they are...
The Constitution of Airbnb
On 1 November 2016, Airbnb introduced a “strengthened and more detailed“ nondiscrimination policy, of which terms “are stronger than what is required by law.“ “The Airbnb community,“ the binding policy declares, “is committed to building a world where people from every background feel welcome and respected, no matter how far they have traveled from home.“...