Report fr @Alston_UNSR on the digital welfare state: "There is a grave risk of stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia....Big Tech operates in an almost human rights free-zone, and...is designing...significant parts of the dig welfare state." bit.ly/2IWkvet
@Alston_UNSR (1/2) In the ‘digital welfare state’ "systems of social protection and assistance are increasingly driven by digital data and technologies that are used to automate, predict, identify, surveil, detect, target and punish."
@Alston_UNSR (2/2): "The process is commonly referred to as ‘digital transformation’, but this somewhat neutral term should not be permitted to conceal the revolutionary, politically-driven, character of many such innovations." (p 3)
@Alston_UNSR (1/3): "The embrace of the digital welfare state is presented as an altruistic and noble enterprise designed to ensure that citizens benefit from new technologies, experience more efficient government, and enjoy higher levels of well-being."
@Alston_UNSR (2/3): "Often, however, the digitization of welfare systems has been accompanied by deep reductions in the overall welfare budget, a narrowing of the beneficiary pool, the elimination of some services, the introduction of demanding and intrusive forms of conditionality..."
@Alston_UNSR (3/3): ..."the pursuit of behavioural modification goals, the imposition of stronger sanctions regimes, and a complete reversal of the traditional notion that the state should be accountable to the individual." (p 3)
@Alston_UNSR (1/2): "Neoliberal economic policies are seamlessly blended into what are presented as cutting edge welfare reforms, which in turn are often facilitated, justified, and shielded by new digital technologies."
@Alston_UNSR (2/2): "Although the latter are presented as being ‘scientific’ and neutral, they can reflect values and assumptions that are far removed from, and may be antithetical to, the principles of human rights." (p 4)
