automating inequality by virginia eubanks

While we all live under this new regime of data, the most invasive and punitive systems are aimed at the poor. Today, automated systems-rather than humans-control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain needed resources, and who is investigated for fraud. Since the dawn of the digital age, decision-making in finance, employment, politics, health and human services has undergone revolutionary change. In Pittsburgh, a child welfare agency uses a statistical model to try to predict which children might be future victims of abuse or neglect. 'The State of Indiana denies one million applications for healthcare, foodstamps and cash benefits in three years-because a new computer system interprets any mistake as 'failure to cooperate.' In Los Angeles, an algorithm calculates the comparative vulnerability of tens of thousands of homeless people in order to prioritize them for an inadequate pool of housing resources. She shows how automated systems, rather than humans, control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain needed resources, and who is investigated for fraud.

Eubanks investigates the impacts of data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models on poor and working-class people in America.

Automating inequality by virginia eubanks