Re: Digital Identity in the Migration & Refugee Context

From page 25:

> "There are clear deficiencies in a system that depends on legally recognized ID certificates in the form of paper documents that are easily stolen, lost, or destroyed and also difficult to re-place once inside the EU. It is here where the promises of technology, through digitally-encrypted, decentralized ledgers, for example, may seem like a tempting solution. Yet any technological intervention in sociotechnical systems already rife with problems can amplify existing biases."

I was disappointed that the paper didn't elaborate with examples. But, of course, it's fair to say that technology could turn a bad situation worse by making negative activities faster, cheaper and more efficient. On the other hand, I didn't come to the conclusion that SSI specifically would make the situation worse. Much of the problem stems from the asymmetry of power between the government and the refugees. Example: "If you want food, you must let us fingerprint you." Given the situation in Italy, it's unlikely that the government there is going to make informed consent by refugees its top priority. But that may not always be the case everywhere.

There may be situations where SSI could help. For example, even if a refugee doesn't want to give his/her fingerprints to a government, it may be possible for a cultural mediator to convince the refugee to create an SSI relationship with an NGO, which would enable the refugee to benefit from the NGO's services.

Perhaps a useful exercise would be to write a paper to explore the potential benefits and dangers that SSI poses to refugee populations. Does anyone want to work with me on that?

Jim Flynn

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‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Saturday, April 20, 2019 5:11 PM, Kim Hamilton Duffy <kim@learningmachine.com> wrote:

> Excellent questions raised in this study. +1 to further discussion.
>
> On Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 9:19 PM Adrian Gropper <agropper@healthurl.com> wrote:
>
>> Digital Identity in the Migration & Refugee Context is a major study that questions the use of technology. I skimmed it and saw no mention of SSI but it makes me wonder how many of the problems raised in the study are we actually solving. Are we at risk of making things worse?
>>
>> https://datasociety.net/output/digital-identity-in-the-migration-refugee-context/
>>
>> I feel unprepared to comment on our refugee use-case for SSI but I hope some of our group will review or run a journal club at IIW about this.
>>
>> --
>> Adrian