~ P-P-A-P-T-P ~ Profile – Police – And – Punish – The – Poor

~ YA-NAOTMDTSOL-WMBHB-T-WHCMOTD-MPT-SM-AES-RA-A-PRM-C-WNGP-WFANR-WIS-LFE-AWIIFF ~ Years Ago – Nearly All Of The Major Decisions That Shape Our Lives – Were Made By Human Beings – Today – We Have Ceded Much Of That Decision-Making Power To – Sophisticated Machines – Automated Eligibility Systems – Ranking Algorithms – And – Predictive Risk Models – Control – Which Neighborhoods Get Policed – Which Families Attain Needed Resources – Who Is Short-Listed For Employment – And – Who Is Investigated For Fraud

~ H-CFIARP-TTGMOIICB-P-N-C ~ Health-Care Fraud Is A Real Problem – Though The Great Majority Of It Is Committed By – Providers – Not – Consumers

~ TTTABTBAA:YGASOAPITDN-AEETTY-BYCPYFOEWA ~ That’s The Thing About Being Targeted By An Algorithm: You Get A Sense Of A Pattern In The Digital Noise – An Electronic Eye Turned Toward You – But You Can’t Put Your Finger On Exactly What’s Amiss

~ TIN-SL-TCCTRT-ID-OT-DFDS ~ There Is No – Sunshine Law – That Compels Companies To Release The – Inner Details – Of Their – Digital Fraud Detection Systems

~ WTNEO-CR-WHRLAT-T-E-A-A-M-TSO-LC ~ With The Notable Exception Of – Credit Reporting – We Have Remarkably Limited Access To – The – Equations – Algorithms – And – Models – That Shape Our – Life Chances

~ DSG-CIAU-MIAOB-A-CATR-TASDWITFOSLT-MOTTWDENWABWAA ~ Digital Security Guards – Collect Information About Us – Make Inferences About Our Behavior – And – Control Access To Resources – They Are So Deeply Woven Into The Fabric Of Social Life That – Most Of The Time We Don’t Even Notice We Are Being Watched And Analyzed

~ PP-L-NITW-IWIT-HSOSP-A-RTCNTTWAPAA-C/L/S-A ~ Performative Politics – Legislation – Not Intended To Work – It Was Intended To – Heap Stigma On Social Programs – And – Reinforce The Cultural Narrative That Those Who Access Public Assistance Are – Criminal / Lazy / Spendthrift – Addicts

~ DTAD-MHBRI-P-PF-M-CR-CS-BM-F-A-TAOPP ~ Digital Tracking And Decision-Making Systems Have Become Routine In – Policing – Political Forecasting – Marketing – Credit Reporting – Criminal Sentencing – Business Management – Finance – And – The Administration Of Public Programs

~ TNROD-CPAW-CP-O-DTPO-LTM-A-UTHR-TDRBANFSM? ~ The New Regime Of Data – Constricts Poor And Working-Class People’s – Opportunities – Demobilizes Their Political Organizing – Limits Their Movement – And – Undercuts Their Human Rights – How Has The Digital Revolution Become A Nightmare For So Many?

~ PAW-CP-ATB-NTODPM-A-FL-TCAAR-AES-DTFCPRTTNTSAT ~ Poor And Working-Class People – Are Targeted By – New Tools Of Digital Poverty Management – And – Face Life-Threatening Consequences As A Result – Automated Eligibility Systems – Discourage Them From Claiming Public Resources That They Need To Survive And Thrive

~ AD-M-STSSN-CTP-ID-A-CODNV-IR-SSDAWWAAWWWTB-A-SEP ~ Automated Decision-Making – Shatters The Social Safety Net – Criminalizes The Poor – Intensifies Discrimination – And – Compromises Our Deepest National Values – It Reframes – Shared Social Decisions About Who We Are And Who We Want To Be – As – Systems Engineering Problems

~ AWTMSDD-MTATIWCBC-‘LRE’-WTAFEO-PAAT-SFDF-TP-WE-BUOE ~ And While The Most Sweeping Digital Decision-Making Tools Are Tested In What Could Be Called – “Low Rights Environments” – Where There Are Few Expectations Of – Political Accountability And Transparency – Systems – First Designed For – The Poor – Will Eventually – Be Used On Everyone

~ WHF-A-DP-F-D-A-A-RM-IPTETRAROETCB ~ We Have Forged – A Digital Poorhouse – From – Databases – Algorithms – And – Risk Models – It Promises To Eclipse The Reach And Repercussions Of Everything That Came Before

~ WM-TIP-IOTEO-SR-F-EP ~ We Mange – The Individual Poor – In Order To Escape Our – Shared Responsibility – For – Eradicating Poverty

~ O-NDT-SF-P-M-VOP-A-CASOH-TCAI ~ Our – New Digital Tools – Spring From – Punitive – Moralistic – Views Of Poverty – And – Create A System Of High-Tech Containment And Investigation

~ TDP-DTPFAPR-PTL/S/S/P-TTPTFB-A-PACTWDNCWID ~ The Digital Poorhouse – Deters The Poor From Accessing Public Resources – Polices Their Labor / Spending / Sexuality / Parenting – Tries To Predict Their Future Behavior – And – Punishes And Criminalizes Those Who Do Not Comply With Its Dictates

~ WMS ~ Welfare Management System

~ WMS ~ Workflow Management System

~ HMIS ~ Homeless Management Information System

~ CAWH ~ Crimes Associated With Homelessness

~ OASOS-R-IA-TTHTBIBTWCS-IC-I-ND-BS-TTOEFTD-TTCATDC-NB ~ Older Analog Systems Of Surveillance – Required – Individualized Attention – The Target Had To Be Identified Before The Watcher Could Surveil – In Contrast – In – New Data-Based Surveillance – The Target Often Emerges From The Data – The Targeting Comes After The Data Collection – Not Before

~ MAOIAC-OAWVOIAG-T-TDIM-A-A-S-IOTIPTFMTS ~ Massive Amounts Of Information Are Collected – On A Wide Variety Of Individuals And Groups – Then – The Data Is Mined – Analyzed – And – Searched – In Order To Identify Possible Targets For More Thorough Scrutiny

~ WPTPIAPATHOTATMOPP-DIEAE ~ We Pretend That Poverty Is A Puzzling Aberration That Happens Only To A Tiny Minority Of Pathological People – Denial Is Exhausting And Expensive

~ T-OPL-ARATCBEAB-BD/IB/CP-IF-PIAO-TS-EC-BAHNOP-FWDBDANIROB ~ The – Official Poverty Line – A Regrettable Anomaly That Can Be Explained Away By – Poor Decisions / Individual Behavior / Cultural Pathology – In Fact – Poverty Is An Often-Temporary State – Experienced Cyclically – By A Huge Number Of People – From Wildly Different Backgrounds Displaying A Nearly Infinite Range Of Behaviors

~ WPPOAFFTRAS-TW ~ When Poor People Organize And Fight For Their Rights And Survival – They Win

~ TDPIHTU-T-S/A/M-TPI-ACAOS ~ The Digital Poorhouse Is Hard To Understand – The – Software / Algorithms / Models – That Power It – Are Complex And Often Secret

~ TTTOTPWEBUOE ~ Technological Tools Tested On The Poor Will Eventually Be Used On Everyone

~ A-NC-OA-PRC-MJ-TDOTDPFSC-ATCS ~ A – National Catastrophe – Or A – Political Regime Change – Might Justify – The Deployment Of The Digital Poorhouse’s Full Surveillance Capability – Across The Class Spectrum

~ AIHUA ~ Automated Inequality Hurts Us All

~ H-TT-HAB-IAAPOO-TOLUTBTTDALDTTMBH-B-BII-T-PC-DS-A-PM ~ High-Tech Tools – Have A Built-In Authority And Patina Of Objectivity – That Often Lead Us To Believe That Their Decisions Are Less Discriminatory Than Those Made By Humans – But – Bias Is Introduced – Through – Programming Choices – Data Selection – And – Performance Metrics

~ TDPHPP ~ The Digital Poorhouse Preempts Politics

~ WCDTDP ~ We Can Dismantle The Digital Poorhouse

~ TMISI-DTDP-ICHW-T/T/F-AP-ACAIMS-TBCFTMOBDITBS ~ The Most Important Step In – Dismantling The Digital Poorhouse – Is Changing How We – Think / Talk / Feel – About Poverty – As Counterintuitive As It May Sound – The Best Cure For The Misuse Of Big Data Is Telling Better Stories

~ TBSPOAP-IIYWBP-BPITQOY-E-TRIYN-YETVAT-A-YH ~ The Best Single Predictor Of Adult Poverty – Is If You Were Born Poor – Because Poverty Impacts The Quality Of Your – Education – The Resources In Your Neighborhood – Your Exposure To Violence And Trauma – And – Your Health

~ TGNITTMIAWUW-BIMTEP-LBTP-HBOTR ~ The Good News Is That This Mission Is Already Well Under Way – Broadbased Inclusive Movements To End Poverty – Led By The Poor – Have Been On The Rise

~ T-RA-TWUWWROCS-IA-E-ST-V-F ~ The – Righteous Anger – That Wells Up When We Recognize Our Common Suffering – Is An – Earthshaking – Structure-Tumbling – Visionary – Force

~ WTTBTIIWTAN-PP? ~ Would The Tool Be Tolerated If It Was Targeted At Non-Poor People?

~ DND-BSTOAELROTP ~ Design No Data-Based System That Overturns An Established Legal Right Of The Poor

~ ETVOTDPWRAGDOC ~ Exposing The Violence Of The Digital Poorhouse Will Require A Great Deal Of Courage