Reverse-engineer the PredPol ‘black box’: An unpredictable hackathon

Reverse-engineer the PredPol ‘black box’: An unpredictable hackathon

Our Values:

1. We open the black box

Our objective is to open up and reverse engineer closed systems. This may involve both technical expertise to look at closed algorithms by reverse engineering their decisions, but also engaging in sociological analysis based on lived-experience of communities affected by these algorithms. What matters the most is taking the inescrutable black box of PredPol and picking it apart, in all sorts of ways.

2. We look at all the parts

If we are to analyze how a complex system such as PredPol works, we need to focus on different aspects of it. We need to have teams look into the: code (data, algorithms, automated decision making), norms (how do officers create data, how is the data used, what do citizens/affected communities know and think of it?), market (how can we track who is financing, how they get money, how governments spend it) and law (how can we think of better public policy, how could it be infringing current policy, what would be good actions in the judicial sphere?).

3. We don’t miss the big picture

Although we position ourselves critically towards predictive policing and all forms of algorithmic bias, we cannot miss the big picture of reducing violent crime and societal problems. Therefore, as we reverse-engineer the black box of PredPol, we not only work to deconstruct and problematize their design, but also think: how could we do it better? How could we fix predictive policing and think about a safer, community-based form of public safety?

4. We care about the small details

We value the small data too: looking at how individual people and communities are affected. Their lives, bodies and stories matter, and need to be taken seriously.  Here, there is a focus not only on ’Big Data’, but also on small data of all kinds.

5. We value the ethics of data

We value ethics, and adopt an ethics of care approach to personal data, and all that arises from our interactions with data. That way, we have a focus on data protection considered in its context, with special focus on responsibility and working alongside the affected people.

Where?

The Hackhaton would be organized in a city in the USA, where PredPol has been implemented and the community has been impacted by it. Cities like Los Angeles would be ideal, in this sense.

Who is there?

The Hackhaton invites people from different cities in the USA where PredPol is present (at least 4 different cities, plus the home city). Diversity of backgrounds is welcome and encouraged: a lot of the effort will be put into inviting people from different parts of society: designers, hackers, engineers; social scientists, anthropologists, economists; policymakers, lawyers, politicians; community leaders, citizens, activists; etc.

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