The mass surveillance state turns on beneficiaries first

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The mass surveillance state is turning on beneficiaries first with Bill English’s new plan to demand all personal information taken by any community group using taxpayer funds to provide services.

Poor people are terrified having to deal with Housing NZ, WINZ, Ministry of Development, Corrections, Probation, CYFS because those state departments are only seen to punish those desperate enough to need their services, that’s why people go to community groups.

The Salvation Army angrily rejected Paula Bennett’s lies that Ministry of Development staff had gone out with them to meet homeless kiwis in cars because the Salvation Army is all too aware of the fear and anger these departments cause in almost everyone who has to interact with them, so this new attempt to put the mass surveillance state onto every beneficiary is a terrible step backwards.

The state already have a surveillance team who trawl social media looking to catch beneficiaries out in relationships so that they can be prosecuted for fraud. 60% of beneficiaries owe WINZ money because of this ludicrous policy and allowing the state even more power to spy on the most vulnerable in society will mean people are less likely to seek any help at all.

 

15 COMMENTS

  1. Quoted from the article by Simon Collins in the Herald:
    “The data will be used to track the outcomes of services under Finance Minister Bill English’s “social investment” approach – checking whether services help people overcome their problems and become independent, or whether they recycle back into the social support system.

    “It’s about assuring us that the spend is effective and is going to the people who are most targeted for that spend, therefore the most vulnerable,” Edridge said.

    But Council of Christian Social Services executive officer Trevor McGlinchey said the move was a step towards a “surveillance society” and would undermine people’s trust in non-government agencies.”

    Oh my God, when are the people out there going to bloody well WAKE UP AND STAND UP, I ask?

    Where are Labour with their useless welfare spokeswoman on this???

    This is exactly what we can expect from this lying, dishonest government.

    If you write to MSD’s Online Service and ask for some information, they do not even identify themselves when they write back (that is IF they write back). The usual response is that they referred the matter to a department that will look into it and respond later. And the email bears NO NAME, and if you are lucky only a coded number, which may internally identify who wrote the response.

    The client gets NO info, deals with faceless, anonymous persons, and when needing support has to turn every pocket inside out and provide all kinds of personal and other information.

    This is DISGUSTING!

    Of course they claim it is all for reasons for more “efficiency” and bla, bla, bla.

    I get furious also with some advocacy organisations, who depend on MSD funding, who never really say much against such stuff, as they rather not bite the hand that feeds them.

    We do already have powerless, often compromised “advocates” that do little and more talking than walking the talk, so perhaps it is time to go and protest.

    Oh, no, sorry, “protest” is a naughty activity, and the MSM will portray protestors as no-hopers and idiots, so we cannot have that, can we?

    I better escape into by social media frivolities and send naughty pics around, and silly messages, to distract myself, that is “more important”.

    This country and this society is so damned screwed up, it is embarrassing having to live here now, I must say.

    I also hear of stories where WINZ now single out and attack outspoken clients, who dare challenge them.

    But many will continue with “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about”.

  2. Well, my advice is, for those who still have enough strength to fight for themselves, rather than go and consult a budget- or advocacy service, go online and get info and help there, perhaps. Some already offer it:

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/senior-scientist-and-legal-experts-discredit-evidence-used-by-msd-and-dr-bratt-when-claiming-the-health-benefits-of-work/

    http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/designated-doctors-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc-the-truth-about-them/

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/designated-doctors-used-by-winz-msd-the-truth-about-them-post-upd-18-10-2016.pdf

    http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/advice-to-winz-beneficiaries-facing-medical-examinations-and-work-ability-assessments/

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/the-medical-appeal-board-how-msd-and-winz-have-secretely-changed-the-process-disadvantaging-beneficiaries/

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/mab-process-how-msd-discretely-changed-it-further-disadvantaging-clients-nzsjb-updated-20-09-16.pdf

    https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/msd-dr-bratt-present-misleading-evidence-on-worklessness-and-health-publ-post-19-09-16.pdf

    There may be new potential, to offer assistance in other ways, than go and see persons who gather data for WINZ and MSD, some may have new ideas and new solutions?! Don’t let government encroach on you, when they are no longer your “friend” (if they ever were).

    • It’s about time the White Ants started tunneling and creating alternative services instead of competing like starving rats for scraps from the gummint.

      “new ideas and new solutions” sounds like the germ of a breakthrough, Mike. A way to walk off from the current game of Monopoly that seems to be in its end phase. (If there’s anyone who has never endured Monopoly, that phase is when someone has been lucky enough with the roll of the dice to acquire most of the lucrative sites and is forcing the other players to pay exhorbitant amounts; aka ‘beggar my neighbour’.)

      Let those who feel ‘lucky’ play their Monopoly game. Let the rest of us create a new and different game, and spark a fresh cycle or spiral that ‘should’ last for 30-50 years – just as the last one has lasted (the neo-liberal doom-loop.)

      • Yep, back to grassroots work and networks, collective sharing and helping, perhaps paid for on a kind of service bartering level.

  3. This will go away as always! john key only need to explain this is because terrorist wants to steal the rugby world cup from the kiwi and people will give him the keys to their own jails!

  4. No point in getting the Nat Party friendly Privacy Commissioner give an opinion on this, he is a damned useless “watchdog” without teeth.

  5. BBB “Bash beneficiaries bank: eh Martyn!!!!!

    National must be slipping into negative financing territory now by the looks of this.

  6. I’m sick of people asking, “when will people wake up and stand up?”. The reality is being poor is a crime, as such poor people aren’t going to ‘stand up’ because they’ll just be put before the courts.

    The NZ Government loves targeting and exploiting beneficiaries. Legal aid lawyers love beneficiaries. Landlords enjoy receiving their benefit and accommodation subsidies. The NZ Police love ticketing and arresting them, rather than investigating white-collar-crime.

    When things go wrong, who gets part of the blame … beneficiaries and the poor! Everybody wants to blame the poor, while exploiting them mentally, socially and in employment. The rich are quick to exploit poor neighborhoods and commit fraud far in excess of any beneficiary.

    Increased surveillance of the poor will result in more beneficiaries being charged for baking a cake for the local bakery or not declaring their birthday money. Unfortunately the result will be more people rejecting state assistance and increased panhandling on the street, while the rich say “those gross, smelly people should go to WINZ or get jobs, just don’t apply at our businesses!”

      • The poor have a voice, it’s called a vote. It’s pathetic Labour have no policies to address the oppression of beneficiaries and the working poor. When was the last time the Greens or Labour raised awareness about surveillance and related legislation? When was the last meaningful debate?

        The lack of policies to help beneficiaries and the working poor is also pathetic. Sure, the Greens and Labour occasionally bang on about child poverty, but I’ve got news for you – not all poor people have children and children DON’T vote!

        • On that I must actually agree with you, Zack! It is embarrassing what Labour and even Greens “deliver” in effective alternative social policy, they should be at the forefront, helping at the City Mission, with the Sallies and have soup kitchens in Marae and squares in South Auckland, simply to connect with the people they should be representing.

        • The ‘poor’ would be voting once every three years and have NO way to call the troughers to account any time in between.

          The system was designed for the rising middle class nearly two centuries ago – and hasn’t been updated, modernised, improved any time since.

          Sad as this may seem – ‘votes for women’ surely hasn’t led to equal pay, protection from violence, or freedom from discrimination. And they’re the majority. What hope can you offer for minorities and other categories when you urge them to vote?

          The reality of the faux power of the ballot box is plain to see by all.

  7. I could not believe it, when I watched The Nation on TV3 this morning. There was Dame Diane Robertson, being interviewed, and then telling us, that (personal) data is simply just another COMMODITY.

    She is now in charge of this outfit:
    http://datafutures.co.nz/who-we-are/

    “The Partnership is an independent group that was created by Government to develop innovative solutions to data-use issues. The Partnership’s work is directed by a Working Group that was appointed by Cabinet. The Working Group is supported by a secretariat housed at Statistics NZ.”

    “Diane is a successful social sector entrepreneur, giving her a unique combination of strong business and financial skills with strong social sector credentials. Her passion is to deliver better outcomes for New Zealanders through the development of sound policies informed by qualitative and quantitative data.”

    So she has been hired by the government now, it seems, to “assist” the government in gathering and evaluating data they gather for the “investment approach”.

    Once these once upon a time “do-gooders” get knighted or become “Dames”, they all seem to experience a sudden transformation, and become part of the cocktail and dinner party circles, get initiated into some kind of “society”, and rewarded with jobs for the “boys” and “girls” in their respective “networks”.

    I feel DISGUSTED, how people are in ever growing numbers showing their true colours and become mercenaries for this government and the rotten system they have forced upon us.

    Who can we still trust, I ask?

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