Paper short abstract:

There is a disconnect in the development field: for all the discourse about the importance of data for development, and its role in the establishment of people as "visible" and "empowered", the safety and security of the data is often held in reckless disregard.

Paper long abstract:

The datafication of development brings with it many issues that have begun to be critiqued by discourses like "data justice". Yet as we are approaching the broader geographies of power that data brings, this has to be within the context in which the level of protection and security placed on that data is often very low. There is a disconnect in the development field: for all the discourse about the importance of data for development, and its role in the establishment of people as "visible" and "empowered", the safety and security of the data is often held in reckless disregard.

A number of examples are included in this. Fintech firms in countries with limited legal and regulatory regimes for the protection of data gather vast amounts of data. The goal of the initiatives based on Aadhaar is to make the nation "data-rich", yet at the same time there are data breaches affecting millions. The data protection practises of development and humanitarian agencies potentially put beneficiaries at risk.

This paper is based upon research conducted by Privacy International and our network of partners, including fieldwork in Kenya and India and our work with development and humanitarian agencies. This paper will use themes from data protection and security to develops a critique of the development sector's rush towards data-intensive systems without their considering the consequences for the people they purport to support