Paper details

Paper authors	Sean McDonald
In panel on	Interrogating Humanitarian Technology: Critical Perspectives on Data
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

2018 has been a landmark year for establishing data rights. In May, the European Union began implementing the General Data Protection Regulation. In June, the United States Supreme Court established landmark data privacy in its Carpenter v. US decision, and the state of California passed an aggressive data protection law. At the same time, the world's largest humanitarian organizations continued campaigning for access to call detail records, biometric ID systems, and open ledger databases. Said slightly differently, humanitarian organizations are calling for more access to more sensitive data at the same time that the world's governments are recognizing and protecting sensitive data. Humanitarian organizations now commonly ask for data that they would not be able to get at home - often justifying their access based on unproven techniques and ambiguous outputs. Humanitarians' willingness to apply a double standard to the rights they respect abroad, and expect at home, asks larger questions of the modern humanitarian imperative. Humanitarians are familiar with uncertainty, but how they conduct themselves amidst regulatory turmoil may determine whether their principals endure the digital age, or double down on a double standard.

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