# Asymmetric Observability **Asymmetric observability** exists when one actor can observe, resolve, model, or predict another actor at substantially higher resolution than the second actor can observe the first or understand the system acting upon it. The asymmetry becomes institutionally consequential when the observing system can change access, opportunity, visibility, movement, treatment, or risk status while its own classifications and causal rules remain illegible to the person being modeled. ## Relationships - **built from:** [[wiki/Information Asymmetry|Information Asymmetry]], [[wiki/Surveillance|Surveillance]], and [[wiki/Machine-Readable Environment|Machine-Readable Environment]]. - **can produce:** [[wiki/Informational Domination|Informational Domination]] and [[wiki/Opportunity Foreclosure|Opportunity Foreclosure]]. - **counterprinciples:** [[wiki/Environmental Legibility|Environmental Legibility]], [[wiki/Auditability|Auditability]], and [[wiki/Model Contestability|Model Contestability]]. - **source thought:** [[thoughts/The Right to Understand Your World|The Right to Understand Your World]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [[thoughts/The Right to Understand Your World|The Right to Understand Your World]] - [GAO — Law Enforcement: DHS Could Better Address Bias Risk and Enhance Privacy Protections for Technologies Used in Public, December 3, 2024](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107302) **As of:** 2026-09-23