Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
How big data is helping states kick poor people off welfare
The government monitoring of EBT card transactions sets the tone for all of our future purchases.
Here’s one example: In 2014, Maine Gov. Paul LePage released data to the public detailing over 3,000 transactions from welfare recipients using EBT cards in the state. (EBT cards are like state-issued debit cards, and can be used to disperse benefits like food stamps.)
LePage created a list of every time this money had been used in a strip club, liquor store, or bar, and used it to push his political agenda of limiting access to state benefits. LePage’s list represents a tiny fraction of overall EBT withdrawals, but it effectively reinforced negative stereotypes and narratives about who relies on welfare benefits and why....
LePage created a list of every time this money had been used in a strip club, liquor store, or bar, and used it to push his political agenda of limiting access to state benefits. LePage’s list represents a tiny fraction of overall EBT withdrawals, but it effectively reinforced negative stereotypes and narratives about who relies on welfare benefits and why....
"Are we entering a kind of soft, digital tyranny that is too nebulous or distant for most of us to notice?"
That’s a difficult question. I think that these tools allow us a moment to think deeply about what we allow government agencies to do on our behalf. These tools are incredible indicators of what we already think, both about poor working-class communities and families, and about government.
Ultimately, these systems make our values visible to us in a way that calls us to a moral reckoning. A lot of readers want me to give a 10-point plan for creating better technologies for public services, but I’ve resisted doing that because I think the real solution for us as a nation is to get our souls right about poverty. Until we do that, we will continue to produce systems that profile and punish poor and working families.
Ultimately, these systems make our values visible to us in a way that calls us to a moral reckoning. A lot of readers want me to give a 10-point plan for creating better technologies for public services, but I’ve resisted doing that because I think the real solution for us as a nation is to get our souls right about poverty. Until we do that, we will continue to produce systems that profile and punish poor and working families.
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/6/16874782/welfare-big-data-technology-poverty
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
