Digital Discrimination Research Articles

Digital discrimination under disparate impact: A legal and economic analysis

The lack of broadband in many rural and Tribal communities in the U.S. is widely recognized, but there are also claims of a lack of broadband availability in predominantly Minority and urban communities, sometimes labeled digital redlining or digital discrimination. Motivated by such claims, the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 includes a provision addressing digital discrimination and directing the Federal Communications Commission to write rules implementing the statutory provision. The Commission's rules adopt two legal discrimination standards including intentional discrimination (differential treatment) and disparate impact (differential effect). Using data from the Commission's new broadband fabric data, we test for differences in broadband availability between predominantly minority and majority neighborhoods (measured as census block groups) and find no evidence of digital discrimination against minorities.

Quilombola women confronting digital discrimination in Brazil

This work discusses the relationship between digital disconnection and the violation of rights in Quilombola territories. Quilombolas are an ethnic-racial group with Black origins associated with oppression and resistance over the centuries in Brazil. The research was conducted with 41 women aged between 18 and 73 who are leaders in 35 remaining Quilombola communities in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The impacts of limited access to information and communications technology (ICT) were assessed using an intersectional perspective, considering social markers of difference such as gender, social class, ethnic-racial belonging, and territory. The results show that 11 territories lack internet service, significantly restricting access to information, health, education, and social participation. The research points to the need for considering digital inequity as another matrix of intersectional oppression, as being disconnected or having restrictions on access and use of ICT increases the vulnerability of these territories, especially for the Quilombola women.

Genetic and Digital Discrimination in Labor Law: Problem Statement

The last few decades have been characterized by the most active development of medicine and genetics, leading to the emergence of new knowledge about the functioning of the human body. The identification of a genetic predisposition to the development of certain diseases requires a rethink of traditional approaches to the use of employee personal data, labor protection, and the balance of public and private interests in labor legislation. This article analyzes approaches to determining the legal nature of genetic information, identifies possible areas of restriction of workers’ rights depending on the identification of hereditary predisposition to certain diseases, draws a line between discrimination based on genetic characteristics and differentiation. In the context of the active digitalization of personnel processes, the risks of possible digital discrimination in the selection and evaluation of employees using artificial intelligence technologies are noted.

Discrimination on Sharing Economy Platforms: A Systematic Review of Cases and Coping Strategies

This paper presents a systematic review of empirical research on the phenomenon of discrimination on sharing economy platforms. Sharing platforms such as Airbnb, Uber, and BlaBlaCar have recently become notorious as hotbeds of digital discrimination. Difficult to detect and deter, digital discrimination describes the state when an online transaction is influenced by the race, gender, age, or other non-business characteristics of providers or consumers. Four key themes emerged from our analysis: forms of discrimination, domains (industries), outcomes and coping strategies. There is strong evidence of bias on both the demand side (consumers, guests) and the supply side (providers, hosts) and across domains such as accommodation sharing, ridesharing, skills sharing, and peer-to-peer lending. We propose a framework to organize the existing studies and guide future research and practical solutions to reduce inequality on online platforms.

The Right to Access the Internet and Modern Models of Digital Discrimination

The article proposes a systematic assessment of the right to the Internet in the context of modern legal and political challenges. The authors substantiate the thesis that the right to the Internet is a complex category that cannot be considered solely in terms of providing technical capabilities and overcoming the digital divide (inequality) between different social groups and states. Much more complex and important is the consideration of the right to the Internet in the context of the corresponding duty of states not to impede the possibility of information exchange via the Internet, as well as in the plane of the search for a “golden mean” between the right to the Internet and natural human rights.The main purpose of the article was to determine the main features of the right to the Internet in the context of human and civil rights and freedoms and to analyze the main manifestations of digital discrimination as a consequence of the digital divide.A detailed methodological basis of the article contributed to the achievement of the abovementioned purpose. The research was based on a systematic method, which made it possible to consider the right to the Internet as a complex and dynamically developing legal and political category. The authors used functional and logical (deduction, induction and analogy) methods, as well as a number of particular scientific methods: historical, sociological and statistical. The approach proposed in the article to determine the key parameters of the right to the Internet was substantiated mainly on the basis of the application of comparative legal, formal legal and axiological methods.The methodology of the research made it possible to formulate and substantiate the conclusion that the right to the Internet in the face of modern legal and political challenges is undergoing a qualitative transformation both in the direction of expanding the positive obligations of the state to overcome the digital divide, and in the direction of restricting the right to freedom of Internet communication under the auspices of ensuring the right to privacy and the need to respect the public interest. The presence of «double standards» in determining the boundaries of the right to the Internet leads to conflicting legal decisions and allows us to predict the aggravation of this contradiction in the context of the rapid development of digital platforms and the active sanction policy of the collective West.

Digital Discrimination and Broadband Subsidies: Which Matters?

Digital Discrimination and Broadband Subsidies: Which Matters?

Will Digital Discrimination Policies End Discount Plans for Low-Income Consumers?

Will Digital Discrimination Policies End Discount Plans for Low-Income Consumers?

ANTECEDENTS TO THE UNDERPRIVILEGED UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' INTENTION TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE CLASSES

COVID-19 pandemic has forced educational institutions to use e-learning systems. Bangladesh is no exception; many students come from underprivileged families who are not well-off. This study aimed to explore the antecedents to the underprivileged undergraduate students' intention to participate in online classes in Bangladesh through the integration of the Technology Acceptance Model, Information Systems Success Model, and Theory of Planned Behaviour. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the hypotheses. The non-probability sampling method was used to select 394 respondents by dint of the subjective judgment of the researchers. Using smart PLS software, the data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). It was divulged that e-Learning usage intention (BI) is influenced by attitude (ATT), perceived usefulness (PU), students' online learning satisfaction (SOS) and subjective norms (SN). But perceived ease of use (PEU) and system quality (SQ), internet service quality (ISQ) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) do not influence BI. Even ISQ does not influence SOS. It was also revealed that PEU mediated attitude and PU, and PEU and SQ also influenced SOS. The study contributes to e-Learning literature by incorporating three models which may guide policymakers in understanding how to integrate students from all social classes into e-learning systems to eliminate academic digital discrimination.

Online Misogyny and the Law: Are Human Rights Protected on the Net?

This paper opens by analysing the complexity of misogyny, sexism, and toxic masculinity. It then examines online misogyny, dissecting the many acts and behaviours that comprise this kind of digital discrimination. It considers the Gamergate scandal and demonstrates how the video game industry reinforces gender stereotypes. It closes with an analysis of efficiency and limits of legislative systems for combatting online sexism.

Postcolonial Differentials in Algorithmic Bias: Challenging Digital Neo-Colonialism in Africa

As digital technologies become the dominant driver of the global economy, Africa finds itself once again faced with the prospect of developmental stagnation. In an increasingly technological age, parallels to the colonial era can be made, particularly in reference to the detrimental impact on the African economy and the continent’s developmental trajectory. AI, which drives these technologies, is informed by algorithms. The biases inherent in these algorithms lead to digital discrimination. This discrimination has resulted in a new form of colonialism, referred to as digital neocolonialism, which denotes the exclusionary barrier that has been created by algorithms. This work challenges algorithmic bias through the application of postcolonial theory, which calls for a dismantling of colonial imposition by reimagining and reframing the concept of the ‘other’. The gaps in current AI systems, and the power imbalances created, are interrogated through an analysis of bias and its impact. Through a postcolonial lens, a call is made for more inclusive AI systems, and datasets that challenges the assumed neutrality of algorithms.

Disability Discrimination in the Digital Realm: How the ICRPD Applies to Artificial Intelligence Decision-Making Processes and Helps in Determining the State of International Human Rights Law

Abstract Scholars have identified challenges to protecting individuals from discrimination in contexts where organisations deploy artificial intelligence decision-making processes. While scholarship on ‘digital discrimination’ is growing, scholars have paid less attention to the impact of the use of artificial intelligence decision-making processes on persons with disabilities. This article posits that while the use of artificial intelligence technology can be beneficial for some purposes, its deployment can also construct a disability. The article demonstrates that the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities can be interpreted in a manner that confers a wide variety of human rights on persons with disabilities in the context when entities deploy artificial intelligence decision-making processes. The article proposes a test for digital discrimination based on disability and shows how it can be incorporated into the treaty through legal interpretation. Thereafter, it moves to developing an analogous general test for digital discrimination under international human rights law, applicable beyond a catalogue of protected characteristics.

Digital Discrimination: Addressing Ageism in Design and Use of New and Emerging Technologies

Digital Discrimination: Addressing Ageism in Design and Use of New and Emerging Technologies

“All Is Fair in… Meme!” How Heterosexual Users Perceive and React to Memes, News, and Posts Discriminating against Sexual Minorities

Digital discrimination against sexual minorities is becoming prevalent. It increasingly spreads through discriminatory content that mixes text and images (e.g., memes), thus, making online discrimination more difficult to detect. The present survey study focused on digital content that is discriminatory towards sexual minorities, aiming to analyze whether a sample of heterosexual social network users (65.2% female; Mage = 27.13) perceived different forms of discriminatory content (i.e., memes, news, and posts) as equally offensive and to what extent such different forms elicited the same online behavioral reactions. Furthermore, we considered how individuals’ online network heterogeneity could influence their perception of digital discrimination. Results showed that individuals perceived memes as less offensive when compared to both news and posts. Accordingly, we also found that individuals took less time to react to posts when compared to the other forms of content. In addition, those who declared that they had a heterogenous online network perceived memes as more offensive than those who did not. Finally, regarding reacting behaviors, overall results showed that memes elicited few proactive behaviors and more acquiescent and ignoring behaviors than news and posts. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

The Income Conundrum: Intent and Effects Analysis of Digital Discrimination

The Income Conundrum: Intent and Effects Analysis of Digital Discrimination

Personal data protection and State surveillance: the risks of digital discrimination and Federal Supreme Court’s vision

This article proposes an examination of the changes that have taken place in the organization of society in the face of the advancement of new mechanisms of monitoring and state surveillance, with the objective of identifying the dangers arising from them and the risks that a new digital discrimination entails for fundamental rights. Based on a dialectical analysis, we move on to the study of the necessary transformations of consent, revisiting the classic civil law institute, now in the wake of the new General Law for the Protection of Personal Data (Law nº. 13.709/2018). Subsequently, we move on to the study of the impact brought about by the decision rendered by the Federal Supreme Court in the legal analysis of ADI (Direct Action of Unconstitutionality) nº. 6.389/DF, which deemed the provisions contained in Provisional Measure nº 954/2020 and recognized the existence, in our national legal system, of the fundamental right to informative self-determination that, with the approval of EC (Constitutional Amendment) 115/22, was inserted in art. 5, LXXIX as a fundamental right to personal data protection. Finally, it concludes by the necessary structuring of the National Data Protection Authority (ANPD), provided for in article 55-A of the LGPD (General Law for the Protection of Personal Data), representing its creation as an instrument that materializes the objective dimension of this fundamental right.

A Review of Bias and Discrimination In Digital Platforms

Digital bias and discrimination have become major concerns around the world, prompting developed and developing countries to set up a legal framework to address the issues; recent articles revealed that Nigeria took a step in this establishment. Users of digital platforms are treated unfairly, unethically, and partially discriminated against based on personal data that is automatically processed by an algorithm. This study used a mixed methods research design. This included conducting a literature search, conducting a systematic literature review by assessing the literature, and analyzing studies on digital discrimination. Digital discrimination often replicates offline discrimination, either by inheriting the biases of previous decision makers or simply reflecting societal prejudices. It may also worsen existing inequalities by giving less weight to historically disadvantaged groups. This review examines this difficult problem, existing solutions, and their limitations from a legal and computer science standpoint. An empirical Study of Apparent Gender-Based Discrimination in the Display of STEM Career Ads is featured in the review to highlight algorithmic bias. It concludes with a road map of outstanding issues for mitigating these constraints. Keywords: Digital Discrimination, algorithmic bias, Machine Learning, AI, Online advertisement

THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL INCLUSION: ESSENCE, FACTORS, ELEMENTS

The country's information security is formed under the influence of many multidirectional factors, one of which is a high level of digital inclusion. This factor is determined by the fact that individuals and societies have free access to information and communication technologies and have the skills to use them. Consequently, they can benefit from the information society without increasing cyber threats. In this regard, measures to ensure the country's information security should include those measures aimed at assessing the level of digital inclusion and increasing it. This will ensure the safe and reliable interaction of people, governments and societies in a digital society. The study aims to clarify the understanding of the concept of «digital inclusion» and systematize its elements, taking into account specific features and factors of influence. The article contains a logical and comparative analysis and generalization of scientific literature devoted to the concepts of digital inclusion and systematization of its elements, taking into account the specific features and factors of influence, emphasising the impact on the level of information security of the country.
 The article determines that the complexity of the interpretation of the concept of «digital inclusion» is explained by its complexity since it is at the junction, multi-level intersection of socio-political, technological and economic concepts. At the same time, depending on the researchers' goal, this concept is studied from different points of view: the ability of an individual or communities to use ICT; ultimate goals; counterbalancing the emergence of the digital divide and/or digital discrimination; public or political activity. The factors influencing the level of digital inclusion are systematized.

The language of discrimination: assessing attention discrimination by Hungarian local governments

In our study we assess the responsiveness of Hungarian local governments to requests for information by Roma and non-Roma clients, relying on a nationwide correspondence study. Our paper has both methodological and substantive relevance. The methodological novelty is that we treat discrimination as a classification problem and study to what extent emails written to Roma and non-Roma clients can be distinguished, which in turn serves as a metric of discrimination in general. We show that it is possible to detect discrimination in textual data in an automated way without human coding, and that machine learning (ML) may detect features of discrimination that human coders may not recognize. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first attempt to assess discrimination using ML techniques. From a substantive point of view, our study focuses on linguistic features the algorithm detects behind the discrimination. Our models worked significantly better compared to random classification (the accuracy of the best of our models was 61%), confirming the differential treatment of Roma clients. The most important predictors showed that the answers sent to ostensibly Roma clients are not only shorter, but their tone is less polite and more reserved, supporting the idea of attention discrimination, in line with the results of Bartos et al. (2016). A higher level of attention discrimination is detectable against male senders, and in smaller settlements. Also, our results can be interpreted as digital discrimination in the sense in which Edelman and Luca (2014) use this term.

Building agency: women vendors and gendered technology in informal markets in Assam

ABSTRACT Demonetisation of the Indian economy in 2016 facilitated significant changes in the lifestyle of people, particularly in adoption of digital transactions in everyday life. While there have been studies on mobile phones and the digital divide even prior to demonetisation, the growing gender disparity in the use of new technologies for secure payment via UPI (Unified Payment Interface) methods remains largely unexplored. Therefore, this paper explores the impact of new payment methods through digital means on street vendors in local markets through an ethnographic study based on narratives, unstructured interviews, and general observation. The study focuses on Assam while bringing out the larger socioeconomic context of the digital discrimination within the country. It locates how the government’s drive for digital economy post-demonetisation exacerbated the gender gap in access to technology in informal markets. The article observes how men use mobile phones and technology to sell their commodities while women vendors lag behind in ownership, usage, or access to such technology due to social norms and expectations. Subsequently, the study brings about the narratives on how women negotiate through such constraints to build their social ‘agency’ and identity in the market at both individual and collective level.

Antecedents of students’ e-learning continuance intention during COVID-19: An empirical study

This study aims at exploring the underlying determinants influencing students' continuance intention to use an e-Learning platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the technology acceptance model and expectation-confirmation model, the study investigated the role of contextual (i.e., social isolation), psychological (academic year loss and cyberchondria), and student support-related (government and institutional supports) determinants on students' continuance intention to use an e-Learning platform during the pandemic. The study collected data from 440 respondents and analyzed those with Structural Equation Modeling. The findings showed that an e-Learning continuance intention during the pandemic is affected by usefulness, ease of use, attitudes, and intention to use the e-Learning platform; while the behavioral intention is influenced by usefulness, ease of use, attitudes, contextual, psychological, and student support-related determinants; and attitudes are impacted by usefulness and ease of use. Moreover, usefulness is predicted by confirmation of expectation; e-satisfaction is forecasted by usefulness and confirmation of expectation; whereas, cyberchondria is influenced by social isolation; fear of academic year loss is influenced by cyberchondria. Finally, intention to use mediated the impact of usefulness, ease of use, attitudes, contextual, psychological, and student support-related determinants on continuance intention. The study contributes to e-Learning literature incorporating contextual, psychological, and student support-related determinants into the technology acceptance model and expectation-confirmation model, which guide policymakers to understand how all levels of students can be brought into the e-Learning platforms that eventually help to eliminate digital discrimination barrier in the academia during any emergency. The policymakers must be careful in designing eLearning platforms since students' e-learning continuance intention may vary due to unprecedented crises, such as COVID-19.