2020年MPAcc考试考前英语外刊阅读（八）

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‘Digital welfare state’: Big Tech allowed to target and surveil the poor, UN warns

Nations around the world are “stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia” in which artificial intelligence and other technologies are used to target, surveil and punish the poorest people, the United Nation’s monitor on poverty has warned. AI has the potential to improve dramatically the lives of disadvantaged communities, but warns that such hope is being lost amid the constant drive for cost cutting and “efficiency”.

Big Tech companies are being allowed to go unregulated in “human rights free-zones”, welfare budgets are being decimated and new penalties are being imposed for non-compliance on people who may be digitally illiterate or lack access to the internet. In the UK, he notes, 12 million people, or one in five of the population, do not have essential digital skills needed for modern day-to-day life.

Crucial decisions to go digital have been taken by government ministers without consultation, or even by departmental officials without any significant policy discussions taking place. As a result of the absence of accountability, digital technologies are employed in the welfare state to surveil, target, harass and punish beneficiaries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable among them.

选自：The Guardian(卫报)

作者：Ed Pilkington

原文标题：‘Digital welfare state’: Big Tech allowed to target and surveil the poor, UN warns

参考翻译

“数字福利国家”：联合国警告称，允许大型科技公司监视穷人

联合国贫困监测机构警告称，世界各地的国家正“像僵尸一样跌跌撞撞地步入一个数字福利反乌托邦”，在这个反乌托邦中，人工智能和其他技术被用来瞄准、监视和惩罚最贫穷的人们。人工智能有潜力极大地改善贫困社区的生活，但在不断推动成本削减和“效率”的过程中，这种希望正在丧失。

大型科技公司被允许在“人权自由区”不受监管，福利预算大幅削减，对可能是数字文盲或无法上网的人实施新的惩罚。他指出，在英国，有1200万人(或者说，总人口的五分之一)没有现代日常生活所需的基本数字技能。

政府部长未经协商就做出了走向数字化的重要决定，甚至部门官员也未进行任何重大的政策讨论。由于缺乏问责制，福利国家使用数字技术来监视、瞄准、骚扰和惩罚受益人，特别是其中最贫穷和最脆弱的人。

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