Paper short abstract:

Our contribution centres on digital social protection systems in the new normal, with a focus on the urban dimension. We bring a data justice perspective to the debate on the new urban normal.

Paper long abstract:

Digital social protection systems rely on digital identification technologies that, while endowed with the power to assist people, are often used for their ability to police and profile. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social protection systems globally have encountered new pressures and challenges, which digital identification technologies have been deemed appropriate to face. Using a data justice framework derived from Taylor et al. (2020), our proposed contribution engages the changes experienced by digital social protection systems during the pandemic: first, digital identification has been used to cross-check data into systems that determined, in more or less opaque ways, assignation of subsidies to households. Second, the same technologies have been used in tracing systems that exposed populations at risk (e.g. undocumented migrants), inducing such populations to refrain from seeking assistance during the emergency. More at large, the pressures imposed by the pandemic have enhanced the surveillance powers of digital identification technology, altering the balance of assistance and policing in favour of the latter. Implications of these points will be drawn for the literature on the new urban normal, as it unfolds in this crucial moment of the history of digital identity.

References:

Taylor, L., Sharma, G., Martin, A., and Jameson, S. (2020). What does the COVID-19 response mean for data justice? In Taylor, L., Sharma, G., Martin, A., and Jameson, S. (Eds.), Data Justice and COVID-19: Global Perspectives (pp.8-18), London: Meatspace Press.