New Surveillance Technologies & Their Publics: A Case of Biometrics

Public Understanding of Science, Forthcoming

19 Pages Posted: 6 Nov 2013 Last revised: 11 Feb 2014

See all articles by Aaron Martin

Aaron Martin

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD); Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

Kevin Donovan

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor; University of Cape Town (UCT)

Date Written: January 2014

Abstract

Before a newly-elected government abandoned the project in 2010, for at least eight years the British state actively sought to introduce a mandatory national identification scheme for which the science and technology of biometrics was central. Throughout the effort, representatives of the government attempted to portray biometrics as a technology that was easily understandable and readily accepted by the public. However, neither task was straightforward. Instead, particular publics emerged that showed biometric technology was rarely well understood and often disagreeable. In contrast to some traditional conceptualizations of the relationship between public understanding and science, it was often those entities that best understood the technology that found it least acceptable, rather than those populations that lacked knowledge. This paper analyzes the discourses that pervaded the case in order to untangle how various publics are formed and exhibit differing, conflicting understandings of a novel technology.

Keywords: surveillance studies; biometric identification; public understanding of science

Suggested Citation

Martin, Aaron and Martin, Aaron and Donovan, Kevin, New Surveillance Technologies & Their Publics: A Case of Biometrics (January 2014). Public Understanding of Science, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2350300

Aaron Martin (Contact Author)

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) ( email )

2 rue Andre Pascal
Paris Cedex 16, 75775
France

Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford ( email )

Old Indian Institute
34 Broad Street
Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3BD
United Kingdom

Kevin Donovan

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ( email )

Ann Arbor, MI 48109
United States

University of Cape Town (UCT) ( email )

Private Bag X3
Rondebosch, Western Cape 7701
South Africa

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