Big Capitalism and Devaluation of Human Life | 38 comments (38 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Mark Rutte: Dutch Gov't Snooping On Its Citizens (none / 0)

Just as in lacking measures to counteract climate change, the Dutch court system intervened to protect the privacy and human rights of citizens in The Netherlands. Mark Rutte is by all measures a wolf in sheep's clothing as he consistently follows an Anglo-Saxon conservative policy well suited for a Boris Johnson or Donald Trump. Thank goodness the Dutch are part of the EU!

Digital technology should benefit all people to advance their talent and education, not to suppress the weak, sick or poverty stricken.

Welfare surveillance system violates human rights, Dutch court rules | The Guardian |
People in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The Dutch system aimed to predict the likelihood of an individual committing benefit or tax fraud, or violating labour laws.
The UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, applauded the verdict and said it was "a clear victory for all those who are justifiably concerned about the serious threats digital welfare systems pose for human rights".
The decision "sets a strong legal precedent for other courts to follow", he added. "This is one of the first times a court anywhere has stopped the use of digital technologies and abundant digital information by welfare authorities on human rights grounds."

A Dutch court has ordered the immediate halt of an automated surveillance system for detecting welfare fraud because it violates human rights, in a judgment likely to resonate well beyond the Netherlands.
The case was seen as an important legal challenge to the controversial but growing use by governments around the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and risk modelling in administering welfare benefits and other core services.
Campaigners say such "digital welfare states" - developed often without consultation, and operated secretively and without adequate oversight - amount to spying on the poor, breaching privacy and human rights norms and unfairly penalising the most vulnerable.