Robo-adjudication and fake fraud reports [Spectral Lines]

Over 34,000 individuals, wrongly accused of unemployment fraud in Michigan from October 2013 to August 2015, may finally hear if they will receive some well-deserved remuneration for the harsh treatment meted out by the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System (MiDAS). Michigan legislators have promised to seek US $30 million in compensation for those falsely accused. This is miserly, given how many people experienced punishing personal trauma, saw their credit and reputations ruined, filed for bankruptcy, had their houses foreclosed on, or were made homeless. A sum closer to $100 million, as some are advocating, is probably warranted. The fiasco is all too familiar: A government agency wants to replace a legacy IT system to gain cost and operational efficiencies, but alas, the effort goes horribly wrong because of gross risk mismanagement.