Digital Redlining in the Frictionless Society
Chris Gilliard
Notes
Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss how decisions by powerful institutions over how to implement new technologies in cities, education, health, and more have the effect of creating a form of digital redlining that hides existing social problems.
Guest
Chris Gilliard is a Visiting Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center and teaches at Macomb Community College. You can follow Chris on Twitter as @hypervisible.
Show off your tech skepticism
Tell the world that Tech Won’t Save Us by picking up one of our t-shirts or hoodies. They’re available in a wide variety of colors, cuts, and sizes to suit your needs and tastes.
Links
- Chris wrote about how technology can hide racism in the "frictionless" society. He also wrote about digital redlining in education.
- Despite redlining being outlawed, the effects can still be seen in many outcomes, including health. See the redlining maps at Mapping Inequality.
- Amazon originally excluded predominantly Black communities when it rolled out same-day delivery in Boston.
- In 2019, Facebook was sued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for allowing discrimination in its housing ads. In 2020, it was found to still be doing it.
- Bots are getting US vaccine appointments, and programmers are having to help relatives get appointments.