The Supreme Court has condemned the Government to deliver the Bosco source code, the application that automatically decides which vulnerable families receive the electric social bonus. The sentence responds to Resource of the Civio Foundation after seven years of legal battle.
Why is it important. This decision creates jurisprudence and establishes that citizens have constitutional right to know how algorithms that manage social rights work.
- The sentence raises algorithmic transparency to the level of fundamental, inseparable right of the democratic state.
The context. Bosco has worked as a black box that emitted binary verdicts. It was limited to two results:
Without more explanations, leaving thousands of vulnerable families in helplessness. Civio detected errors that harmed groups such as widows or large families, but The government refused to reveal the code alleging intellectual property and national security.
The panoramic. The “Bosco Doctrine” establishes two principles:
- Transparency improves security by allowing experts to detect failures, rejecting the argument of “dark security.
- Public interest exceeds intellectual property when it comes to algorithms that manage social rights.
Between the lines. The supreme has invested the burden of proof: now it will be the administration who must demonstrate specific and serious risks, not theoretical possibilities. The sentence quotes the precedent of Covid radarwhose code was published by the government itself.
And now what. Public authorities have the obligation to explain “understandably” the functioning of all algorithms that affect citizens.
This doctrine will apply to future cases of AI and automated systems in the public administration, creating a new era of transparent “digital democracy”.
Outstanding image | Judicial Branch
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