Looking into the black mirror of the overdose crisis: Assessing the harms of collaborative surveillance technologies in the United States response

Abstract

Drug overdose is a leading cause of death among adults in the United States, prompting calls for more surveillance data and data sharing across public health and law enforcement to address the crisis. This paper integrates Black feminist science and technology studies (STS) into an anthropological analysis of the collision of public health, policing, and technology as embedded in the US National Overdose Response Strategy and its technological innovation, the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP). The dystopian Netflix series “Black Mirror,” which explores the seemingly useful but quietly destructive potential of technology, offers a lens through which to speculate upon and anticipate the harms of collaborative surveillance projects. Ultimately, I ask: are such technological interventions a benevolent approach to a public health crisis or are we looking into a black mirror of racialized surveillance and criminalization of overdose in the United States?.