Case studies

A failure case: the Australian Robodebt scheme is the definitive demonstration of what occurs when automated government decision-making operates without review checkpoints, audit trails, reasons, recourse, or reversibility. It is the test the accountability patterns are measured against.

A failure case: a decade of cookie-consent banners shows how a disclosure obligation, implemented as a screen users learn to dismiss, can defeat its own purpose. It is the test any new disclosure duty (jurisdiction, AI use, or data movement) has to be designed against.

A scenario following one person who authorizes an agent to lodge her annual tax return, and the subsequent interactions: from a question about eligibility to a disputed assessment. Each step shows how a pattern resolves in sequence, and how they depend on each other.

A scenario following one consultation on a mandatory buyback in a flood-hazard zone: a resident disputes the boundary with her own elevation survey, while a campaign submits thousands of copies of one template opposing the buyback. The journey shows how what each step captures decides what the analysis can tell apart later.