Algorithms can also be opaque as a result of technical complexity — not in terms of their code per se, but in terms of the structure of the software system within which they are embedded. This point is clearly stated in “Auditing Algorithms: Research Methods for Detecting Discrimination on Internet Platforms,” a paper presented in 2014. In this paper, Charles Sandvig and his co-authors point out that “algorithms differ from earlier processes of harmful discrimination (such as mortgage redlining) in a number of crucial ways.” One of these is their “complicated packages of computer code crafted jointly by a team of engineers.” It follows that “even given the specific details of an algorithm, at the normal level of complexity at which these systems operate an algorithm cannot be interpreted just by reading it [emphasis mine].” Grasping how an algorithm actually works requires understanding the entire software structure. Making datasets transparent may be relatively straightforward, but making complex algorithmic processes transparent is not. The ultimate functioning of the algorithm is likely to remain inaccessible to the outsider. The technical choices of certain expert groups can thus have an enormous impact on the collective, but it might be that neither the public nor regulators have the expertise to evaluate their responsibilities and actions.