Opposition to the Use of Black Chain Identity

WHEREAS, Blockchain technologies are being developed as tools of digital identity management; and

WHEREAS, transaction data pertaining to vital records, voting, ownership, healthcare, professional and educational credentials, employment, and financial income can be stored on Blockchain systems; and

WHEREAS, global technology interests are placing heavy pressure on governments to scale Blockchain adoption as a financial tool within proposals to privatize public services, including 'Public-Private Partnerships (P3)'; and

WHEREAS, governmental interests are exploring the use of 'smart contracts' on Blockchain as a means of delivering public benefits; and

WHEREAS, public benefits distributed via 'smart contracts can incorporate coded interventions that preference specific behavioral outcomes; and

WHEREAS, the use of "programmable money/digital currency" may undermine the ability of benefit recipients to make autonomous economic choices, and indenture the future wealth of such populations; and

WHEREAS, aggregation of an individual's public benefit data within a Blockchain identity system could exacerbate punitive profiling of recipients of services; and

WHEREAS, prototypes linking Blockchain systems to profit extraction through social impact investment initiatives have already been developed; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of billions of dollars have already been directed into social impact investments by the world's most powerful individuals and financial institutions; and

WHEREAS, consolidation of personal data in Blockchain identity systems will position the global poor who receive benefits via smart contracts to become data backbones upon which "impact" metrics would rest, in effect amplifying investment wealth of elite investors on the backs of vulnerable communities; and

WHEREAS, researchers have warned of the harms of relying on Blockchain systems, given the immutable nature of the technology that would mean false data and/or embedded vulnerabilities would never fully be able to be reversed, remedied, redacted, nor deleted; and

WHEREAS, security flaws are already rampant in Blockchain systems that claim to be secure, leading to the compromised integrity of the systems, and to highly sensitive personal information being vulnerable to exploitation.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP opposes any state or federal legislation that would require an individual to create a Blockchain identity in order to receive any public services or benefits, including but not limited to: education, healthcare, addiction treatment, behavioral health services, law enforcement, housing, and/or food and nutrition.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP will engage in community education efforts to communicate to the public about the structure, function, benefits and inherent risks of Blockchain technologies.