Tuesday, November 20, 2018
The UN Warns of Human Rights Impact of the Digital Welfare State
Technology has its own biases.
US scholars are raising concerns regarding lack of cultural competency and other biases that are built into technological tools used to obtain information from those seeking to access public benefits. These concerns were recently reiterated by the UN Rapporteur for Extreme Policy who raised concerns about the UK's move to digitize the delivery of public services.
Philip Alston warned that "A major issue with the development of new technologies is lack of transparency. Evidence shows that the human rights of the poorest and most vulnerable are especially at risk in such contexts."
Digital tools used in the US as well as the UK do not account for those whose primary language is not English. Sherley Cruz, who studies the lack of cultural competency in most digital tools, notes that the tools do not account for those who have limited or no experience with digital tools let alone those who are illiterate or who do not understand any complexity in the wording used by the tool. And there is no transparency in how the tools are configured or how responses are assessed. Prof. Cruz' article is forthcoming in the University of Tennessee Law Review.
The Special Rapporteur's full statement may be viewed here.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2018/11/the-un-warns-of-human-rights-impact-of-the-digital-welfare-state-.html