Today ORG joined Big Brother Watch, 38degrees, Organise and other groups to deliver a 270,000+ strong petition to 10 Downing Street.
We say NO to powers in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill that’ll let the UK government spy on the bank accounts of ANY benefit claimant.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill is back at Committee Stage in the UK House of Lords.
Welfare surveillance powers in the Bill are an injustice waiting to happen.
The Department for Work and Pensions (UK) will be able to access the financial information of any benefit claimant – from Universal Credit to Child Benefit and State Pensions.
The Netherlands benefits scandal saw thousands being unjustly accused of fraud and having their benefits incorrectly withdrawn after errors in data sharing and automated decision-making.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (UK) weakens protections against solely automated decisions that have life-changing or significant impacts. This will increase the risk of harms.
Indeed the DWP is already being criticised for its use of AI, despite warnings of algorithmic bias.
The government will have "the right to inspect the bank account of anyone who claims a state pension."
Welfare surveillance powers slipped into the Data Protection and Digital Information are so broadly drawn that they'll let the Department for Work and Pensions surveil the finances of all benefit claimants, including Child Benefit and the State Pension.
Laws that protect our personal data from abuse are being dissolved.
With the government sneaking in welfare surveillance powers to grab the data of people claiming benefits, our embattled right to privacy needs defending.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill “is removing or watering down existing legal safeguards that apply to automated decision-making and AI, thus depriving Regulators of the tools they need to intervene when AI goes wrong."
Welfare surveillance powers have been smuggled into the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill.
The Department for Work and Pensions will be able to access the financial information of any benefit claimant – from Universal Credit to Child Benefit and the State Pension.
The Netherlands benefits scandal saw thousands being unjustly accused of fraud and having their benefits incorrectly withdrawn after errors in data sharing and automated decision-making.
The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill weakens protections against solely automated decisions that have life-changing or significant impacts.
This will increase the risk of harms.
Indeed the DWP is already being criticised for its use of AI, despite warnings of algorithmic bias.
If you don’t know what data is being held about you, it’s harder to challenge decisions or correct mistakes that are driving unjust outcomes.
But even if we can get access, the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill lets organisations refuse requests to erase or correct data if they lack resources to do so.
As AI is trained on data, any inaccurate data means automated systems will continue to make mistakes and biases become embedded.
As the Department for Work and Pensions isn't being transparent over its automated systems while expanding its use, there are real concerns of injustice.
In combination with weakened protections against faulty automated decision-making and curtailed rights to access our data, welfare surveillance powers in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill are an injustice waiting to happen.