Marginalização digital e governo eletrônico: como garantir direitos previdenciários e assistenciais na cibersociedade?

Abstract

Information and communication technologies, as a symbol of the present age, have had a direct impact on the exercise of citizenship. The growing popularity of the internet around the world has shifted the focus of civil and institutional activities to the digital environment. However, the benefits of online browsing are not enjoyed equally. On the other hand, the literature on the subject shows that the phenomenon of the digital divide is deepening because, although access has become more democratic, the ubiquity of the internet means that use of the network is becoming increasingly complex. In this context, we can see that digital inequality is a new facet of structural social inequalities. This means that groups that are already marginalized due to variables such as income, schooling, geographical location and age, tend to remain excluded or even suffer a worsening of the situation of segregation, with the migration of activities previously carried out in an analogue way to the digital environment. Despite this, there is an international trend towards transferring public services to institutional platforms and websites, under the banner of technological "modernization", especially after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, some public services that are the responsibility of the State- Administration are elevated to the category of fundamental social rights, which are part of the concept of citizenship and are essential for the exercise of civil and political rights. This is the case with welfare and social assistance, which impose a positive obligation on the state to guarantee food security to those at social risk. In view of the homogeneity between the beneficiaries of these public policies and the digitally marginalized, this research seeks to answer the following question: "In what way is it possible to make access to social security and welfare rights conditional on the digital environment in Brazil?” Methodologically, the hypothetical-deductive method is used to approach the problem. The study consists of exploratory research, given the low incidence of the subject in scientific literature. Therefore, it makes use of the comparative study method in order to seek inspiration from sources of technological regulation in terms of social rights in the Spanish system, as well as collecting and analyzing statistical data on internet use in Brazil. Finally, it was identified that the realization of benefit rights in the context of e-Government faces two main and independent challenges: a) conditioning the request for social security and welfare rights to the digital environment leads to the exclusion of potential beneficiaries of such benefits, due to the phenomenon of digital marginalization; b) the use of artificial intelligence by the Public Authorities to respond to these demands is reckless, since a specific regulatory framework is still lacking. At the end of the day, the main hypothesis tested is fully confirmed: the use of technological tools as a sine qua non condition for access to these benefits fails to comply with the constitutional precepts of equal treatment, non-discrimination and the universality of social security policies.