Citation
Seeing Through Money: Democracy, Data Governance, and the Digital Dollar
Financial technology (fintech) companies partner with U.S. government agencies to provide services to millions of people via thousands of programs. While doing so, they continuously collect data to sort, store, score, share, and sell. Most policymakers, scholars, and industry stakeholders agree this model makes the financial system more inclusive, safe, and accountable, thereby “democratizing finance.” Yet standard operating procedure exacerbates identity fraud, punishment of poor people (especially impoverished people of color), and mass surveillance of the general public without the knowledge, much less consent, of the governed.