ABSTRACT National digital ID systems have been promoted by both private and public sector actor actors as a means of fostering economic development and individual empowerment, and of administering a growing digital welfare state. However, these digital ID systems have also been associated with different forms of injustice and remain flashpoints for the contestation of public sector digitalization and datafication initiatives. The complex, intersectional impacts that such systems may have on social exclusion and human rights have made it challenging to articulate rights-based approaches that cover the range of potential injustices or to institutionalize legal and administrative mechanisms capable of remedying violations. This paper posits two ways in which the legal contestation of digital ID has revealed potential barriers to obtaining adequate remedies for digital ID related harm. First, a core methodological challenge is the way in which powerful narratives about the capabilities of digital ID have worked in tandem with individualizing logics of databases, making it difficult to center the collective experiences of affected groups and balance competing interests. Second, is the way in which legal frameworks have structured governance of national digital ID systems, fragmenting responsibility across institutions and individuals in ways that compromise access to justice, rule of law, and pathways to remedies. In bringing together a data justice framework with insights from legal analysis, the paper seeks to assess both limitations and potential opportunities to work through existing legal frameworks to better address the collective harms of digital ID systems.
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