Machine Readable Me

404 Inklings #20

by Zara Rahman

As we go about our day-to-day lives, digital information about who we are is gathered from all angles via biometric scans, passport applications, and, of course, social media. This data can never fully capture our complex, fluid identities over decades of our lives. Yet, this data populates numerous databases we may not even be aware of that can make life-or-death decisions such as who is allowed access to welfare benefits or who is granted food parcels as they pass war-torn borders.

Machine Readable Me considers how and why data that is gathered about us is increasingly limiting what we can and can't do in our lives and, crucially, what the alternatives are.

Genres: Nonfiction, Technology

Paperback

Reviews

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Machine Readable Me is an exploration of the data collected about individuals and what this means for the lives of people globally. Part of 404 Ink's Inklings series, it is a pocket-sized look into the world of digital data, identification, and biometrics that then goes on to question if we should accept being categorised in such rigid, unchangeable ways.
I've enjoyed other books in this series, but this one was particularly exciting for me because I tend to read quite a few 'tech books' looking at similar topics. By the end of Machine Readable Me I felt revitalised in my interest in our technological past, present, and future, because it was a fresh look into the tech world and had a global focus (many of the books are very US-centric). As it's a short book, it can only cover so many examples, but there's a lot of situations I'd not seen covered before in other books rather than using the same old talking points.
The power of categorisation feels central in the book, and Rahman builds on other tech writers' work to question some of the societal reasons behind power and tech, rather than focusing just on the technology itself. I've heard people talking about the need to let data be messier and less machine focused, letting humans and their needs take centre stage, and it was good to see that argued here.

I think Machine Readable Me is a good introduction to the area of personal data and technology, borders and ID cards, that focuses on people not tech companies, politics and society rather than just capitalism. At the same time, for people who are already engaged in the area, I think the energy and examples bring fresh insight and something a bit different, all in an accessible size.

[Itursh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Machine Readable Me is well paced with a good combination of context setting and perspectives, brought to life through diverse examples from around the world. We hear a lot about data gathering and exploitation by Google, Facebook and other corporations. Zara exposes us to how the same is done by governments and developmental organisations and how this impacts marginalised groups. In the first chapter, there is an example of how the Belgian colonial powers formalised the groups “Hutu”, “Tutsi” and “Twa” in the official identity of Rwandan people through the census in the 1920s. This example struck close to home for me. As an Indian, I’m very familiar with the British colonial powers approach of “divide and rule” and the complex identity politics that has followed. Chapter 5 eloquently outlines the particular concerns with biometrics, data literally linked to your body. The numerous examples make apparent how biometrics are rarely collected with the true consent of the individual or utilised for their benefit. Rather than focusing on the technology, AI, or buzzwords, this book puts the spotlight on the underlying fundamental human and rights issues.

[Alex Sarll]

"Data about who we are can never truly capture the intangibility of our identities, no matter how long that drop-down menu is." On the face of it, only the most ket-addled tech bro would disagree – even if these days they do seem to be the ones calling most of the shots. But on the other hand, is it reasonable or even hypothetically desirable to expect our full intangible identities to be apprehended every time we need to access goods or services? True, part of the problem here is that I've had this on the shelf for a couple of years, and even back in those faraway halcyon days of 2023, some of its points would have been more newsworthy, less accepted planks of the discourse. Coming to it now, with spurs including the announcement of the publisher's demise, ID cards rearing their ugly head again, and my algorithmic recommendations from Amazon Music in particular somehow contriving to get even worse when the bar had already been set at an abyssal level, too many of the warnings have already played out. Data collected without bad intentions can too easily find its way into malign hands? After DOGE and MAGA got their hands on the USA's databases of what used to be its citizenry, I think we all know about that one. As for the suggestion that repeated breaches and scandals regarding things like the Met's iniquitous Gangs Matrix can threaten trust in democracy: remind me again what that used to be? But where this ought to leave Rahman looking prescient, the book is undermined by consistently swinging the pendulum too far the other way, generally refusing – except in one rather odd hypothetical about vaccines – to countenance or even acknowledge the possibility that anyone in a non-hegemonic position might ever be acting deceitfully, maliciously or simply in error. Meaning the recommendations tend to be airy and unrealisable, progressive buzzwords just as seductive and unhelpful as the technocratic sort that created the problem in the first place. Gods know it's not a fondly remembered show these days, and there are sound reasons for that, but Little Britain pointed out the heart of the problem more than 20 years ago with the 'computer says no' sketch. And yes, both the world and individual identities have only grown more complex since, and forms have struggled to keep pace, but you could still derive from that better, more concrete recommendations than anything offered here: make sure forms always have a space for notes when the tickboxes don't suffice; make sure that anyone affected by imprecisions and mistakes can contact a human with the power to override the system about that; make sure people with the training to have a reasonable chance of telling the chancers and nutters from those who've been the victim of a real injustice are on the other end of that contact.

All of which said, if I hadn't read this I might never have encountered Kwame Anthony Appiah's brilliant term 'the Medusa Syndrome': "what the state gazes upon, it tends to turn to stone".

[All My Friends Are Fictional · Rating 4 out of 5]

Machine Readable Me is informative about how discrimination gets built into data systems, reducing people to numbers, and highlights the unfair reality that data can sometimes move more freely than the humans it belongs too. Rahman pushes us to think differently about innovation and imagine it not as endless digitisation, but as the radical act of respecting absence, limits, and the irreducibility of human life.

“And what about if we reconsider how what we value shows up in our technical systems? Onuphas work has also explored the concept of 'missing data' — the blank spots that exist in spaces that are otherwise data-saturated, noting 'there are advantages to non-existence.' If we, as a society, were willing to recognise those advantages, we could use them. In the case of identification and identity, a lack of data collection — an intentional data absence — could actually signify an intentional respect and acknowledgement that not everything can be digitised. In this day and age, innovation has become synonymous with digitisation. But what if we had a more nuanced approach to innovation? What if the most innovative approach would be to recognise that not everything should be digitised, and to understand the limitations of data gathering and of technology?”

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Machine Readable Me explores the growing impact of data collection on our lives, examining both the constraints it places on our choices and the potential alternatives to this trend. It's a deeply researched, accessible, and necessary intervention as more of our lives become datafied and quantifiable to industry and government. Yet the functioning of how tech shapes our identities often remains opaque and unaccountable to us, while state and commercial actors use it to make consequential decisions about our lives. Machine Readable Me not only outlines these dynamics but offers concrete alternatives for everyday people facing the digital welfare state and big tech.

[Anggi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting today! It is such an important book to read especially because of how much more common it is for almost every app or business that we encounter daily wants to collect our private information.

This book talks about the short history of data collection and how it has changed throughout the years. It gives you a brief overview about private data collection and its impacts to us and the society in general.

One fun fact that I learned from it is that the shape of our earlobes are unique to each of us and may be recorded as part of biometric data collection in some countries.

[Greggish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rahman's slim book provides a great introduction to the dangers and dilemmas of digitized identity. This is an excellent way to start thinking about risks from the development of civic technologies that categorize, surveil, and ultimately re-shape the reality of users – or even people who never choose to use a given tool, but are still codified by some means. Machine-Readable Me provides a useful primer for discussions about how we can take collective action to govern the design and deployment of technologies that are too important to be left to the whims of tech companies. Start here!

[Danna Ingleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book everyone should read. It combines clear technical prowess, an astute understanding of feminism, intersectional and critical race theory, a rich history of activism, a deep sense of humanity and personal experience - yet it does all of this in a remarkably accessible way.

Also, any book about the harms of technology that quotes Octavia Butler and Audre Lord is a book for me!

Can't wait to see more from this author.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating insight which I think was hamstrung by the constraints of the inklings series. I felt that the author and topic deserved a bigger canvas to work on than this wonderful series can provide. However it was excellent in trying to provide a global view of a topic that can appear very first world oriented. Though maybe I should now be worried about what the data associated with this review means for me in the future.

[Adiba Afros · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. Thoroughly researched and easy to follow especially for those (including me) who are new to AI and digital surveillance. This book is a useful introduction to these topics and helps readers to start asking critical questions about how and why our personal information is collected and by whom. Highly recommended!

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rahman highlights how digital information about people is often being used to reinforce inequalities, especially in regard to migration—but under the guise of efficiency or humanitarian aid.

The final paragraph with a quote from Audre Lorde was the icing on the cake of a prescient, well-researched (yet accessible for a non-academic like myself) book!

[Chris Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping to get a bit more insight and learn more reading this but sadly didn’t.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

a quick, interesting read about digital identity data and how it influences people’s lives, with a particular focus on adverse impacts on historically marginalised and disadvantaged groups