Machine Readable Me - The Hidden Ways Tech Shapes our Identities

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.

Zara Rahman is a British-Bangladeshi researcher and writer based in Berlin whose interests lie at the intersection of power, technology and justice. For over a decade, she has worked in civil society to support activists from around the world to support context-driven and thoughtful uses of technology and data. She has held fellowships at Stanford University and the Harvard Kennedy School, and is a trustee at Saheli, a charity providing support and refuge to women of colour fleeing domestic abuse.