Reframing biometric surveillance: from a means of inspection to a form of control
TL;DR: This paper maps the harms caused by biometric surveillance, traces their theoretical origins, and brings these harms together in one integrative framework to elucidate their cumulative power.
Abstract: This paper reviews the social scientific literature on biometric surveillance, with particular attention to its potential harms. It maps the harms caused by biometric surveillance, traces their theoretical origins, and brings these harms together in one integrative framework to elucidate their cumulative power. Demonstrating these harms with examples from the United States, the European Union, and Israel, I propose that biometric surveillance be addressed, evaluated and reframed as a new form of control rather than simply another means of inspection. I conclude by delineating three features of biometric technologies—complexity, objectivity, and agency—that demonstrate their social power and draw attention to the importance of studying biometric surveillance.
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28 May 2020
TL;DR: It is found that the majority of image databases rarely contain underlying source material for how race and gender identities are defined and annotated, and that the lack of critical engagement with this nature renders databases opaque and less trustworthy.
Abstract: Race and gender have long sociopolitical histories of classification in technical infrastructures-from the passport to social media. Facial analysis technologies are particularly pertinent to understanding how identity is operationalized in new technical systems. What facial analysis technologies can do is determined by the data available to train and evaluate them with. In this study, we specifically focus on this data by examining how race and gender are defined and annotated in image databases used for facial analysis. We found that the majority of image databases rarely contain underlying source material for how those identities are defined. Further, when they are annotated with race and gender information, database authors rarely describe the process of annotation. Instead, classifications of race and gender are portrayed as insignificant, indisputable, and apolitical. We discuss the limitations of these approaches given the sociohistorical nature of race and gender. We posit that the lack of critical engagement with this nature renders databases opaque and less trustworthy. We conclude by encouraging database authors to address both the histories of classification inherently embedded into race and gender, as well as their positionality in embedding such classifications.
118 citations
TL;DR: This article made an in depth analysis of the various and complex interactions between precarious (i.e. forced, vulnerable, undocumented or deported) migrants' emancipatory practices enabled by the state.
Abstract: This special issue makes an in depth analysis of the various and complex interactions between precarious (i.e. forced, vulnerable, undocumented or deported) migrants’ emancipatory practices enabled...
36 citations
Cites background from "Reframing biometric surveillance: f..."
...2020) for understanding ‘potential harms’ they can provoke (Marciano 2019)....
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TL;DR: The proposed framework is conceptually grounded in a parsimonious framework that examines different configurations of human–artefact relationships, revealing ‘Six Genres of Technology’, which suggests how the shift from human-human to artefact-artefacts and the increasing autonomy of the artefacts, introduces specific features to each of the six Genres.
Abstract: One approach to developing futuristic views of technology is to draw upon experience and expertise. However, this becomes increasingly speculative as one moves to more distant timelines and visionary technological forms. This raises the question of whether it is possible to rationally predict how a technology development trajectory might unfold into the future, perhaps to some ‘ultimate form’, that is accessible, surfaces the necessary technological features for development as well as considers the implications for human–artefact relationships. The proposed approach is conceptually grounded in a parsimonious framework that examines different configurations of human–artefact relationships, revealing ‘Six Genres of Technology’. This suggests how the shift from human-human to artefact-artefact and the increasing autonomy of the artefacts (technological beings), introduces specific features to each of the six Genres. Four features are identified in the later Genres that in combination, could be construed as, or indeed pose a threat: autonomy, intelligence, language, and autopoiesis. This paper advances the debate about future technological developments by using the proposed framework to structure an argument about the key issues that should be discussed today - so that the developments of tomorrow can be more reflectively considered, appropriately debated and knowingly pursued.
25 citations
Cites background from "Reframing biometric surveillance: f..."
...Further, such questions as to who owns the data, how it is processed and used, and by whom (Newell and Marabelli, 2015) draws attention to the potential of data as a form of control (Marciano, 2019)....
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...and used, and by whom (Newell and Marabelli, 2015) draws attention to the potential of data as a form of control (Marciano, 2019)....
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25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an ethical analysis of the potential conflicts in relation to this information technology that arise between security, on the one hand, and individual privacy and autonomy, and democratic accountability, is presented.
Abstract: Biometric facial recognition is an artificial intelligence technology involving the automated comparison of facial features, used by law enforcement to identify unknown suspects from photographs and closed circuit television. Its capability is expanding rapidly in association with artificial intelligence and has great potential to solve crime. However, it also carries significant privacy and other ethical implications that require law and regulation. This article examines the rise of biometric facial recognition, current applications and legal developments, and conducts an ethical analysis of the issues that arise. Ethical principles are applied to mediate the potential conflicts in relation to this information technology that arise between security, on the one hand, and individual privacy and autonomy, and democratic accountability, on the other. These can be used to support appropriate law and regulation for the technology as it continues to develop.
24 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jan 1991
TL;DR: A case study in the Sociology of Assimilation (I): Trapped in Ambivalence as mentioned in this paper, a case study of the social construction of ambivalence in the social sciences.
Abstract: Introduction. 1. The Scandal of Ambivalence. 2. Social Construction of Ambivalence. 3. Self--Construction of Ambivalence. 4. A Case Study in the Sociology of Assimilation (I):. Trapped in Ambivalence. 5. A Case Study in the Sociology of Assimilation (II):. Revenge of Ambivalence. 6. Privatization of Ambivalence. 7. Postmodernity, or Living with Ambivalence.
2,026 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1932
TL;DR: The concept of the political, expanded edition of Schmitt's "The Age of Neutralization and Depoliticization" as mentioned in this paper is a classic in political theory and philosophy, with a foreword by Tracy B. Strong.
Abstract: In this, his most influential work, legal theorist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt argues that liberalism's basis in individual rights cannot provide a reasonable justification for sacrificing one-self for the state - a critique as cogent today as when it first appeared. George Schwab's introduction to his translation of the 1932 German edition highlights Schmitt's intellectual journey through the turbulent period of German history leading to the Hitlerian one-party state. In addition to analysis by Leo Strauss and a foreword by Tracy B. Strong placing Schmitt's work into contemporary context, this expanded edition also includes a translation of Schmitt's 1929 lecture "The Age of Neutralizations and Depoliticizations," which the author himself added to the 1932 edition of the book. An essential update of a modern classic, "The Concept of the Political, Expanded Edition" belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in political theory or philosophy.
1,651 citations
Book•
29 Aug 2016
TL;DR: The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do so and to set limits on how big data affects our lives as mentioned in this paper. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information?
Abstract: Every day, corporations are connecting the dots about our personal behaviorsilently scrutinizing clues left behind by our work habits and Internet use. The data compiled and portraits created are incredibly detailed, to the point of being invasive. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information? The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do soand to set limits on how big data affects our lives. Hidden algorithms can make (or ruin) reputations, decide the destiny of entrepreneurs, or even devastate an entire economy. Shrouded in secrecy and complexity, decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms were long assumed to be neutral and technical. But leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on automated judgment. Self-serving and reckless behavior is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of this troubling behavior. Frank Pasquale exposes how powerful interests abuse secrecy for profit and explains ways to rein them in. Demanding transparency is only the first step. An intelligible society would assure that key decisions of its most important firms are fair, nondiscriminatory, and open to criticism. Silicon Valley and Wall Street need to accept as much accountability as they impose on others.
1,342 citations
"Reframing biometric surveillance: f..." refers background in this paper
...Biometrics, in this context, are part of a growing array of enigmatic technologies that shape our black box society, according to Pasquale (2015)....
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