In 2012, I delivered a lecture at Indiana University Bloomington about how new data-based technologies were impacting public services. When I was finished, a well-dressed man raised his hand and asked the question that would launch this book. “You know,” he asked, “what’s going on here in Indiana, right?” I looked at him blankly and shook my head. He gave me a quick synopsis: a $1.3 billion contract to privatize and automate the state’s welfare eligibility processes, thousands losing benefits, a high-profile breach-of-contract case for the Indiana Supreme Court. He handed me his card. In gold
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