How Australia Used Tech Against Welfare Recipients w/ Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran

Paris Marx is joined by Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran to discuss Australia’s robodebt scandal where automated decision-making was used against welfare recipients, and how exploitative AI implementations are being deployed by governments in social welfare and at the borders.

Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran is a proud Tamil person and a PhD candidate at Australian National University whose work focuses on digital identification systems and border policing regimes. Follow Dhakshayini on Twitter as @Dhakshayini_S.

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Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

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Also mentioned in this episode:

• Dhakshayini wrote about robo-governance and why we need to oppose it.
• Robodebt eventually resulted in a A$1.8 billion settlement in favor of welfare recipients.
• Robo-planning was another proposed system for Australia’s disability insurance scheme that has been canceled. A blockchain trial was also considered.
• Australia is trialing a controversial cashless welfare card, and plans to increase the use of biometrics.
• Scarlet Wilcock researched the history of “welfare cheat” narratives in Australia.
• Canada has been using automated decision making to process visa applications.
• Just Futures Law and Mijente released a report called “ICE: Digital Prisons.”
• Israeli company NSO’s Pegasus technology was weaponized against activists, politicians, and journalists.
• The Australian Human Rights Commission released a report on human rights and technology, while the European Data Protection Supervisor has called for a ban on biometrics.