The Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill has moved to the House of Lords for scrutiny following completion of the Report stage and third reading in the House of Commons.
Various Civil Rights groups, including the Public Law Project have been briefing MPs that the Bill will weaken important data protection rights and safeguards, reducing transparency and putting individuals at greater risk of unfairness and discrimination. The main cause for concern is Clause 34 which will give the government the right to inspect the bank account of anyone who claims or who is connected to someone who claims ‘social security benefits’.
The Open Rights Group (ORG) claim that the new welfare surveillance powers were slipped into the DPDI Bill by stealth to circumvent Parliamentary scrutiny:
“They treat vulnerable populations as potential criminals rather than individuals in need of support. In combination with weakened protections against faulty automated decision-making and curtailed rights to access our data, the DPDI Bill is an injustice waiting to happen.”
ORG’s Legal and Policy Officer, Mariano delli Santi added:
“Welfare surveillance further stigmatises people who receive benefits, many of whom already face discrimination and negative stereotyping. It could lead to some of the most vulnerable people facing unjust accusations of fraud, and potentially having their benefits removed and their lives destroyed.”
ORG explains that we currently have protections against solely automated decision-making when there are life-changing or significant consequences:
“The DPDI Bill weakens those safeguards, exposing more areas of our lives to algorithms and all their associated biases, except where it involves special category data.
“People who claim benefits will have fewer financial freedoms and will be over-exposed to algorithmic injustice. This isn’t a theoretical possibility. The DWP has been criticised already for using AI secretively to target welfare fraud “despite warnings of algorithmic bias against groups of vulnerable claimants.” With the DWP algorithm already being challenged for discriminating against people with disabilities, these new welfare surveillance powers are primed for disastrous consequences.
“The government is opening up financial information of benefit claimants to an expanding use of AI, while weakening the rights of individuals to challenge how those decisions are being made. The lack of transparency over the algorithm used in the DWP’s Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service only serves to leave vulnerable people overexposed to harms. And it’s not like the public sector is renowned for having robust and effective IT systems – over 200,000 pensioners were underpaid by the DWP last year as a result of computer errors.”
You can read the fuller analysis by the ORG on their web site.
BTW: Did you realise that the Tory’s are pushing through a section of the Bill that will allow the Secretary of State broad powers to amend our data protection laws via statutory instrument, without adequate scrutiny by Parliament. The wide powers given to the Secretary of State in Clauses 5, 6, 12 and 114 should be removed or narrowed.
Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software
A white female wheelchair user is sat at a table with a small amount of money in front of her. She is holding a series of final demands for gas, electric whilst a tear glistened on her cheek. A small children peer across the table at her. A wall mounted television has on its screen ‘DWP to employ more fraud investigators to curb disabled scroungers’. A sinister figure wearing a dark hat with a card reading DWP inserted in the hat band looms over her shoulder. He is peering through a magnifying glass at her and is holding copies of her bank statements. In his pocket is a copy of the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) Bill. He is saying: “Hmm … now let’s see what I can find to justify my nice fat salary!”.
Crippen Cartoons 