Biometric State

Download or read book Biometric State written by Keith Breckenridge and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking study of South Africa's role as a site for global experiments in biometric identification throughout the twentieth century.

Download or read book Security, Risk and the Biometric State written by Benjamin Muller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-02-25 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines a series of questions associated with the increasing application and implications of biometrics in contemporary everyday life. In the wake of the events of 9/11, the reliance on increasingly sophisticated and invasive technologies across a burgeoning field of applications has accelerated, giving rise to the term 'biometric state'. This book explores how these ‘virtual borders’ are created and the effect they have upon the politics of citizenship and immigration, especially how they contribute to the treatment of citizens as suspects. Finally and most importantly, this text argues that the rationale of 'governing through risk' facilitates pre-emptory logics, a negligent attitude towards 'false positives', and an overall proliferation of borders and ubiquitous risk, which becomes integral to contemporary everyday life, far beyond the confined politics of national borders and frontiers. By focusing on specific sites, such as virtual borders in airports, trusted traveller programs like the NEXUS program and those delivered by airlines and supported by governmental authorities (TSA and CATSA respectively), this book raises critical questions about the emerging biometric state and its commitment and constitution vis-à-vis technology of ‘governing through risk’. This book will be of interest to students of biopolitics, critical security, surveillance studies and International Relations in general. Benjamin J. Muller is assistant professor in International Relations at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada. He completed his PhD in the School of Politics and International Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2005.

Download or read book Identification and Citizenship in Africa written by Séverine Awenengo Dalberto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-05-10 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the context of a global biometric turn, this book investigates processes of legal identification in Africa ‘from below,’ asking what this means for the relationship between citizens and the state. Almost half of the population of the African continent is thought to lack a legal identity, and many states see biometric technology as a reliable and efficient solution to the problem. However, this book shows that biometrics, far from securing identities and avoiding fraud or political distrust, can even participate in reinforcing exclusion and polarizing debates on citizenship and national belonging. It highlights the social and political embedding of legal identities and the resilience of the documentary state. Drawing on empirical research conducted across 14 countries, the book documents the processes, practices, and meanings of legal identification in Africa from the 1950s right up to the biometric boom. Beyond the classic opposition between surveillance and recognition, it demonstrates how analysing the social uses of IDs and tools of identification can give a fresh account of the state at work, the practices of citizenship, and the role of bureaucracy in the writing of the self in African societies. This book will be of an important reference for students and scholars of African studies, politics, human security, and anthropology and the sociology of the state.

Download or read book When Biometrics Fail written by Shoshana Magnet and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-11 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the proliferation of surveillance technologies&—such as facial recognition software and digital fingerprinting&—that have come to pervade our everyday lives. Often developed as methods to ensure "national security," these technologies are also routinely employed to regulate our personal information, our work lives, what we buy, and how we live.

Download or read book Biometric Systems written by James L. Wayman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-09-20 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biometric Systems provides practitioners with an overview of the principles and methods needed to build reliable biometric systems. It covers three main topics: key biometric technologies, design and management issues, and the performance evaluation of biometric systems for personal verification/identification. The four most widely used technologies are focused on - speech, fingerprint, iris and face recognition. Key features include: in-depth coverage of the technical and practical obstacles which are often neglected by application developers and system integrators and which result in shortfalls between expected and actual performance; and protocols and benchmarks which will allow developers to compare performance and track system improvements.

Download or read book Our Biometric Future written by Kelly A. Gates and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2011-01-23 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the 1960s, a significant effort has been underway to program computers to “see” the human face—to develop automated systems for identifying faces and distinguishing them from one another—commonly known as Facial Recognition Technology. While computer scientists are developing FRT in order to design more intelligent and interactive machines, businesses and states agencies view the technology as uniquely suited for “smart” surveillance—systems that automate the labor of monitoring in order to increase their efficacy and spread their reach. Tracking this technological pursuit, Our Biometric Future identifies FRT as a prime example of the failed technocratic approach to governance, where new technologies are pursued as shortsighted solutions to complex social problems. Culling news stories, press releases, policy statements, PR kits and other materials, Kelly Gates provides evidence that, instead of providing more security for more people, the pursuit of FRT is being driven by the priorities of corporations, law enforcement and state security agencies, all convinced of the technology’s necessity and unhindered by its complicated and potentially destructive social consequences. By focusing on the politics of developing and deploying these technologies, Our Biometric Future argues not for the inevitability of a particular technological future, but for its profound contingency and contestability.

Download or read book Biometric Technologies and Verification Systems written by John R. Vacca and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2007-03-16 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biometric Technologies and Verification Systems is organized into nine parts composed of 30 chapters, including an extensive glossary of biometric terms and acronyms. It discusses the current state-of-the-art in biometric verification/authentication, identification and system design principles. It also provides a step-by-step discussion of how biometrics works; how biometric data in human beings can be collected and analyzed in a number of ways; how biometrics are currently being used as a method of personal identification in which people are recognized by their own unique corporal or behavioral characteristics; and how to create detailed menus for designing a biometric verification system. Only biometrics verification/authentication is based on the identification of an intrinsic part of a human being. Tokens, such as smart cards, magnetic stripe cards, and physical keys can be lost, stolen, or duplicated. Passwords can be forgotten, shared, or unintentionally observed by a third party. Forgotten passwords and lost "smart cards" are a nuisance for users and an expensive time-waster for system administrators. Biometric security solutions offer some unique advantages for identifying and verifying/ authenticating human beings over more traditional security methods. This book will serve to identify the various security applications biometrics can play a highly secure and specific role in.* Contains elements such as Sidebars, Tips, Notes and URL links* Heavily illustrated with over 150 illustrations, screen captures, and photographs* Details the various biometric technologies and how they work while providing a discussion of the economics, privacy issues and challenges of implementing biometric security solutions