Picturing algorithmic surveillance: the politics of facial recognition systems

This paper opens up for scrutiny the politics of algorithmic surveillance through an examination of Facial Recognition Systems (FRS's) in video surveillance, showing that seemingly mundane design decisions may have important political consequences that ought to be subject to scrutiny. It first...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Introna, Lucas (Author)
Contributors: Wood, David (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2004
In:In: Surveillance & Society 2(2004), 2/3, Seite 177-198
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
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Summary:This paper opens up for scrutiny the politics of algorithmic surveillance through an examination of Facial Recognition Systems (FRS's) in video surveillance, showing that seemingly mundane design decisions may have important political consequences that ought to be subject to scrutiny. It first focuses on the politics of technology and algorithmic surveillance systems in particular: considering the broad politics of technology; the nature of algorithmic surveillance and biometrics, claiming that software algorithms are a particularly important domain of techno-politics; and finally considering both the growth of algorithmic biometric surveillance and the potential problems with such systems. Secondly, it gives an account of FRS's, the algorithms upon which they are based, and the biases embedded therein. In the third part, the ways in which these biases may manifest itself in real world implementation of FRS’s are outlined. Finally, some policy suggestions for the future development