Diagnostics

Self-defense diagnostic tools

Three checks for a person facing an automated decision: whether it can be challenged, whether the appeal can change the outcome, and who can reverse it.

Before the checks

What the law already lets you ask for

The standards on this site are drafts and bind no one. The laws below are in force in the places they name, and one may cover your case. This is not legal advice.

Public benefits and debt recovery

In the EU, if a decision about you was made solely by automated processing, GDPR Article 22 lets you ask for a person to review it, give your view, and contest it. Article 15 lets you ask for meaningful information about the logic involved.

How this kind of system is governed

Credit, payments, and account holds

In the US, if you are refused credit or offered worse terms than you asked for, ECOA and Regulation B entitle you to the specific principal reasons. If the notice does not give them, you can ask within 60 days.

How this kind of system is governed

Health coverage and care decisions

In the US, if a Medicare Advantage plan or a Medicaid or CHIP program denies a prior authorization, it must give you a specific reason. It must decide within 72 hours for an urgent request and seven calendar days for a standard one.

How this kind of system is governed

Platform enforcement

In the EU, a platform that removes your content or suspends your account must tell you why (DSA Article 17), take your complaint through its own system for at least six months after the decision (Article 20), and point you to an out-of-court dispute settlement body (Article 21).

How this kind of system is governed

Tool 1

Can this decision be challenged?

Seven yes-or-no questions: is someone responsible, have you been given reasons and a date, and is there a way to put it right?

Questions

  1. Can you name the person or office responsible for this decision?
  2. Have you been given the reasons and the information the decision used?
  3. Have you been told the date by which they must answer a challenge?
  4. Can you reach a person who is allowed to change the decision?
  5. Does a written policy say what they will do if the decision was wrong?
  6. Will they send you the result of any review in writing?
  7. Does a written rule protect you from being penalized for challenging it?

What your answers mean

Tool 2

Can this appeal change the outcome?

Six yes-or-no questions on whether the appeal can change the outcome, or only records the complaint.

Questions

  1. Can you add new evidence or correct the record when you appeal?
  2. Will someone other than the original decision-maker review it?
  3. Have you been told when the appeal will be decided?
  4. If you win, will they put right what the decision cost you?
  5. Do you know who signs off on reversing the decision?
  6. Will you get the reasons for the appeal result in writing?

What your answers mean

Tool 3

Who holds power here?

Six questions. For each, write down a name, an office, or an organization.

Questions

  1. Who can reverse or pause the decision today?
  2. Which organization or department made the rule this decision followed?
  3. Who holds the records the decision used?
  4. Who would have to answer if the decision harms you?
  5. Which regulator, ombudsman, union, or court can make them act?
  6. Who else could press them to act, such as an elected representative, a professional body, or the press?

What your answers mean

Source: Ethotechnics self-defense diagnostics · https://ethotechnics.org/diagnostics/self-defense-tools