memorizing conference lines

first (after gregor)

Hi I’m Henry and I work for the Springfield newspaper. But before that, I was homeless for about 8 years and I’m here to just fill in on that perspective. I definitely believe that we, especially those that access social services, are being heavily surveilled and that there needs to be less data out there on those groups.

second (after flash)

Okay, I do agree with the point that the government has relied on data collection, or really, “surveillance” to solve our societal issue of homelessness. There’s this prevailing belief that having more information on people who access services will allow us to better direct these resources. And I understand where it comes from! But the reality is, whenever this tech is built, it’s built to leave people behind. For starters, homeless people, who are at the lowest point of their lives, obviously aren’t keen on offering up all this information about themselves, sometimes their traumas and deepest regrets, to a system that’s just gonna give them like a 7, say “eh you’ll be alright without a house for now”, and send them on their way to a shelter. That wouldn’t be the biggest deal if it was a 10-20 minute test, you’re in and you’re out, but it’s an entire day that you spend in a case worker’s office filling it out. And without taking that test, there’s no other way of getting a shot at permanent housing. This is without even considering the complete lack of privacy these systems often have. Cops need a warrant signed by a judge to search your car or your house, but for these systems, cops can literally just go in and ask the datacenter to get some information on people and that’s fully allowed. Confidentiality isn’t built in or seriously considered because homeless people are deemed undeserving of it. And considering that most aspects of being unhoused are criminal, like sleeping in a park, or trying to use the bathroom, is a crime, imagine cops having easy access to people least likely to know their rights. Oh, and even worse, if you go to jail because you made a mistake and the cops could more easily identify you, the system counts that as housing. Does that sound like a system designed to help people?

third (after flash long)

“You know what, I actually believe that we should put access to social services back into the hands of caseworkers. Yeah, myself and many other homeless people have had a bad run in with some of them. Like ones you need to preach the gospel to sleep in their shelter or the ones that judge you for drinking to keep yourself warm at night. But, that’s not to say there aren’t a lot of good people out there who really want to help people, but can’t because they need to match their case reports to an automated system that just spits out numbers. After all, if you don’t like one caseworker, you can usually get them changed or go above their head. The tech guys don’t know what’s going on, but the caseworkers do. And if they use their powers to hurt people rather than help them, we have the power to hold their feet to the fire. We can’t really do that with tech companies who built the system they were paid and contracted for.”

order of when you go

after flash both times, but after flash’s second time speaking for third line