The Law, Technology and. Cyber Clinic (together with partners) filed an Amicus Curiae brief in an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case involved a tax audit produced by the tax authorities to a legal entity (a cooperative settlement – “moshav shitufi”).
The appellant wanted to appeal, and requested the state reveal the way the audit was calculated, and received the response that “the audit was produced by computed software”. The authority was unable to provide any further explanation, since they themselves did not know how the algorithm used operates.
The cooperative settlement filed a petition under the Freedom of Information Act, requiring the state to disclose the algorithm, however the district court decided that the term “information” does not apply to software.
The cooperative settlemet appealed to the supreme court. In the Amucis Curiae, the Clinic argued that when algorithms are used by the government and affect people’s rights and entitlements, they must be transparent.
The hearing was held in the end of December 2020, and the court instructed the District Court to rehear the case applying the Freedom of Information Act to algorithms.

the Faculty of Law Legal Clinics Newletter
Contact us for any issue: legalclinics@univ.haifa.ac.il