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Cited by 145Digitalization, Law, and RegulationEthics and Social Impacts of AIInnovation, Technology, and Society

The concept of function creep

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Koops, Bert-Jaap·2021·Law Innovation and Technology
DOI 10.1080/17579961.2021.1898299
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Abstract

Function creep – the expansion of a system or technology beyond its original purposes – is a well-known phenomenon. Correction: it is a well-referenced phenomenon. Yearly, hundreds of publications use the term to criticise developments in technology regulation and data governance, but surprisingly, no-one has ever written a paper about the concept itself. This paper fills that gap in the literature, by analysing and defining ‘function creep’. This creates conceptual clarity that can help structure future debates and address function creep concerns. After analysing the term ‘function creep’ itself, I discuss concepts that share family resemblances, including other ‘creep’ concepts and many theoretical notions from STS, economics, sociology, public policy, law, and discourse theory. Function creep can be situated in the nexus of reverse adaptation and self-augmentation of technology, incrementalism and disruption in policy and innovation, policy spillovers, ratchet effects, transformative use, and slippery slope argumentation. Based on this, I define function creep as an imperceptibly transformative and therewith contestable change in a data-processing system’s proper activity. Argumentation theory illuminates how the pejorative ‘function creep’ functions in debates: it makes visible that what looks like linear change is actually non-linear, and simultaneously calls for a much-needed debate about this qualitative change.

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Authors
Koops, B.-J.
Affiliations
Tilburg University (NL)
Corresponding author
Koops, Bert-Jaap
ORCID
Koops, Bert-Jaap
Venue
Law Innovation and Technology
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2021-01-02
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
29-56
ISSN
  • 1757-9961 (ISSN-L)
  • 1757-997X
DOI
10.1080/17579961.2021.1898299
OpenAlex
W3014550337
Cited by
145
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 1
FWCI
140.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Law Innovation and Technology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • Research portal (Tilburg University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
Funders
European Union’s Horizon 2020 (653626)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Law › Digitalization, Law, and Regulation
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Innovation, Technology, and Society
Keywords
function creep, technology regulation, data governance, conceptual definitions, incrementalism, disruption, policy spillovers, ratchet effect, transformative use, argumentation theory, nonlinear change, data processing systems

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