There’s a lot of discussion around the fair and ethical use of algorithms and machine learning with governments and industry producing guidelines and standards to promote confidence in the appropriate use of these methods. However, there is perhaps less guidance on the practical side – how do you actually implement these guidelines and standards? For some insight into this we’ll consider New Zealand which,  in July 2020, introduced an Algorithm Charter for government agencies and departments (https://data.govt.nz/assets/data-ethics/algorithm/Algorithm-Charter-2020...). This is effectively a call to action for government bodies to provide New Zealanders with the confidence that algorithms are being used appropriately and ethically and in a proportionate way. 

In the year and a half since then, the various agencies that have signed up to the Charter have taken steps to meet their commitments. We will discuss some practicalities of implementing the Charter commitments as well as highlighting areas that are more challenging to agencies. We will use some examples from NZ Police as part of this, drawing on material they have published in relation to their Charter commitments.