Current legislation on the controversial System Risk Indication (SyRI) program will be withdrawn. According to the court of the Hague it is not allowed and does not sufficiently respect the private life of the citizens involved.

The Work and Income Implementation Structure Act, which regulates the deployment of SyRI, is contrary to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the past Amnesty International has already argued against the introduction of this new system, but the Dutch government stood firm.

SyRI attempts to collect, and link personal data to make calculated assumptions as to prevent fraud,, for example in the childcare allowance. That is important, says the judge, because fraud affects solidarity and public support for the system.
But, according to the judge, there is no "fair balance" between social interest and the struggle for private life, as required by the European Court of Human Rights.

Discrimination and stigmatization

It is insufficiently clear and cannot be explained how exactly data is processed, and thus the process is not transparent, says the court. This is important because otherwise unintentionally discriminatory and / or stigmatizing effects occur.

The court believes that the state should be able to use new technologies to prevent and combat fraud, but must find the right balance between benefits and the right to privacy.

Source: nos.nl