2024-07-10 00:01:00
“All over the world, different technical systems are strong gender differences and ethnic integration and economic systems of power,” Amnesty International said today in a press release we can not Ethics and Human Rights in the Digital Age.
Marginalized groups, including women and LGBTI people, face threats to their human rights due to comprehensive and incomplete data collection practices that do not reflect their individual reality. Governments justify such data collection procedures as a cost-saving solution to automate systems in the public sector for the payment of benefits, while large technology companies collect and use users’ personal data for commercial purposes. at their expense. source of income is moderate.
This Poor regulatory compliance and extensive data processing is not just harmful surveillancebut they also failed discrimination against women and LGBTI people.
“From the administrative implementation of digital identity systems to the algorithms used in social benefit programs, there is a growing trend to integrate technology into all aspects of daily life in the context of a global gender. ‘digital divide’ “a pre-existing condition where access to. to technology has been restricted for some people thanks to examples of historical inequality,” said Imogen Richmond, researcher on technology and economic, social and cultural rights at Amnesty International.
“Any technology introduced for management is put in the exclusive position of the existing digital divide“
For example Pakistan, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has suspended the department The decision leaves thousands of transgender and gender diverse people without a valid identity document, preventing them from exercising their basic rights, such as voting or access to health and opportunities job However, entries in the category They resume in September 2023.
In addition to the digital divide, there are other barriers that women, girls and LGBTI people face when exercising their human rights in the digital space, including access to information about sexual and reproductive health, rights and services, such as abortion.
Restricting access to health information, especially for important services for women and LGBTI people, by governments or social media platforms can be a violation of the right to health. This trend is increasing USAwhere abortion rights activists and organizations objected to the removal of related content on Meta and TikTok, effectively preventing people from accessing life-saving information.
The systems they use algorithm to promote content on social media platforms can also facilitate oppression by increasing harmful and discriminatory content. An Amnesty International investigation into Tiktok discovered that the companyshows the personal characteristics of a user, including their gender and interests, based on the information it has about them to personalize and activate content and advertising.
Today’s choice of tracking through the use of spyware It can also be a form of gender violence facilitated by technology. Women and LGBTI people are marginalized and overlooked for participating in human rights activism, subjecting them to many gender-related roles.
Amnesty International’s investigation into Thailand has shown that state and non-state actors are maliciously and unfairly subjected to digital surveillance and cyberbullying, which has had gender-related consequences for women and human rights defenders LGBTI. These catastrophic targeted attacks, some of them carried out with the well-known Pegasus spyware, have created a deterrent effect that, in some cases, has led to self-censorship or the withdrawal of activism.
Women and LGBTI activists in Thailand are also subjected to forms of online harassment, such as sharing personal data, smear campaigns, threats and insulting messages, which aim to intimidate, cause distress and silence them.
“It is important that governments and private actors adopt a gender-sensitive approach to regulate technologies and address their harms. If these systems perpetuate discrimination and inequality for women and LGBTI people, then they should not be implemented,” concluded Imogen Richmond-Bishop.
Additional Information
In the year 2024, Amnesty International publishes a technical information document on the use of the Programme Vedic Samagra in it Indian state of Telangana. Technical information precedes information in a press release that blamed this system for excluding thousands of people from access to social security measures, including those related to food security, income and housing.
In 2023, Amnesty International’s investigation was presented in a report titled Trapped by Automation: Poverty and Exclusion Serbia‘s Welfare State notes that many people, especially Roma and people with disabilities, are unable to pay their bills or bring food home, and are struggling to make a living after being removed from social assistance with the presentation of the registration of the social card.
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