Digital public infrastructure (DPI) promises to expand access to essential services, improve government efficiency and advance digital inclusion. But can efforts to make people more visible to the state also expose them to greater surveillance and control? And how can the pursuit of inclusion be reconciled with the rights to privacy and autonomy?
Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Human Rights: Tensions between inclusion, visibility, privacy and autonomy, by Senior Researcher Dr Thomas Linder, examines the complex and interconnected human rights challenges that arise in the design and implementation of DPI.
The paper argues that dominant approaches to DPI, focused on technological solutions and long-term economic growth, risk overlooking the cumulative human rights harms that can emerge throughout implementation. In particular, efforts to improve inclusion can create new forms of vulnerability and exclusion, especially for already marginalised communities.
Moving beyond conventional approaches to data protection and regulatory safeguards, Linder proposes a contingent impact assessment that considers how rights-related tensions emerge and accumulate throughout DPI development. This approach identifies opportunities for meaningful public participation, local decision-making and greater autonomy in the design of digital systems.
The paper makes the case for DPI that is not simply more efficient or inclusive, but fundamentally rights-enabling, with human rights considerations embedded throughout its design and implementation.
