Data and rights in the digital welfare state: the case of Denmark
福利国家的数据与权利：丹麦案例
Author: Rikke Frank Jørgensen（里克·弗兰克·约根森）
Source：《Information Communication & Society》2023 Volume26 Issue1
Abstract: This paper examines how the logic of surveillance capitalism manifests itself within the public sector with a specific interest in how the government's use of data about its citizens may reconfigure rights and power. In Denmark, for example, the public administration relies heavily on the processing of vast quantities of data about the individual and increasingly uses predictive analytics to identify specific areas of intervention, such as fraud or vulnerability, as part of its decision-making processes. Methodologically, the paper uses Denmark as an example of the digital welfare state, including two public sector cases of automated decision support, namely Gladsaxe municipality and the central processing of welfare benefits (Udbetaling Danmark). It further investigates Danish digitalisation strategies, particularly the governments AI strategy from 2019. The case is examined with a view to understand how technology (and automated decision support in particular) is deployed by state actors, which interests it serves, and how it may benefit or disadvantage the individual. Theoretically, the paper leans towards theories of surveillance capitalism, governance in the digital era, and data politics and rights. The paper argues that unless a more critical and human-centric approach to 'smart governance' is taken, the digital welfare state will advance a digital technocracy that treats its citizens as data points suited for calculation and prediction rather than as individuals with agency and rights.
文摘：本文考察了监控资本主义的逻辑如何在公共部门中体现，特别关注政府对公民数据的使用如何重构权利与权力。以丹麦为例，公共行政严重依赖对大量个人数据的处理，并日益使用预测性分析来识别特定的干预领域（如欺诈或弱势群体），作为其决策过程的一部分。在方法论上，本文将丹麦作为数字福利国家的范例，分析了格拉萨克瑟（Gladsaxe）自治市和福利津贴中央处理机构（Udbetaling Danmark）这两个公共部门自动化决策支持的案例。此外，本文还调查了丹麦的数字化战略，特别是政府 2019 年的人工智能战略。通过考察该案例，旨在理解国家行动者如何部署技术（特别是自动化决策支持），其服务于何种利益，以及如何使个人受益或受损。在理论上，本文倚重监控资本主义、数字时代的治理以及数据政治与权利等理论。文章认为，除非对“智能治理”采取一种更具批判性和以人为本的方法，否则数字福利国家将推进一种数字技术统治，将公民视为适合计算和预测的数据点，而非具有能动性和权利的个体。
Keywords: data politics; digitalisation; digital welfare state; human rights
编译：任艳林、刘鑫
