The machine doesn't judge

Counternarratives on surveillance among people accessing a safer opioid supply via biometric machines

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4602376
AutoresGeoff Bardwell (0000-0003-3368-7681, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, autor de correspondencia), Andrew Ivsins (0000-0002-0305-0455, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use), James R Wallace (0000-0002-5162-0256, University of Waterloo), M Mansoor (0000-0002-2727-3485, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use), Thomas Kerr (0000-0002-0870-7153, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use)
Año2024
Volumen345
Páginas116683
Fecha de publicación2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditorialElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116683
PMID38364722
OpenAlexW4391792314
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas87

People who use illegal drugs experience routine surveillance, including in healthcare and harm reduction settings. The MySafe Project - a safer supply pilot project that dispenses prescription opioids via a biometric vending machine - exists in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The machine scans a participant's palmprint and has a built-in camera that records every machine interaction. The aim of this paper is to understand participants' experiences of surveillance, privacy, and personal security when accessing this novel program. An integrative case study and grounded theory methodology was employed. Qualitative one-to-one interviews were conducted with 46 MySafe participants across three different program sites in Vancouver. We used a team-based approach to code interview transcripts and utilized directed and conventional content analyses for deductive and inductive analyses. While participants described negative experiences of surveillance in other public and harm reduction settings, they did not have concerns regarding cameras, collection of personal information, tracking, nor staff issues associated with MySafe. Similarly, while some participants had privacy concerns in other settings, very few privacy and confidentiality concerns were expressed regarding accessing the machine in front of others. Lastly, while some participants reported being targeted by others when accessing the machines, most participants described how cameras, staff, and machine locations helped ensure a sense of safety. Despite negative experiences of surveillance and privacy issues elsewhere, participants largely lacked concern regarding the MySafe program and machines. The machine-human interaction was characterized as different than some human-human interactions as the machine is completing tasks in a manner that is acceptable and comfortable to participants, leading to a social preference toward the machines in comparison to other surveilled means of accessing medications. These findings provide an opportunity to rethink how we conceptualize surveillance, medication access, and harm reduction programs targeting people who use drugs

Biometrics · Computer security · Confidentiality · Grounded theory · Harm · Harm reduction · Internet privacy · Public health · Qualitative research · SAFER · Sociology · Computer Science · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence