Identified, Tracked, and Profiled

Revealing the politics underlying the rapid globalization of facial recognition technology (FRT), this topical book provides a cutting-edge, critical analysis of the expanding global market for FRT, and the rise of the transnational social movement that opposes it.

With the use of FRT for policing, surveillance, and business steadily increasing, this book provides a timely examination of both the benefits of FRT, and the threats it poses to privacy rights, human rights, and civil liberties. Interviews with analysts and activists with expertise in FRT find that the anti-FRT movement is highly uneven, with disproportionate influence in Western democracies and relatively little influence in authoritarian states and low-income countries in the developing world. Through a global analysis of the uptake and regulation of FRT, chapters create a holistic understanding of the politics behind this technology. Concluding with a look towards the future prospects of FRT in the face of the growing size, reach, and power of its opposition, the book reflects more broadly on the power of transnational social movements and civil society activism to prevent the globalization and normalization of new technologies.

A visionary exploration of FRT, this book will be invaluable to students and scholars of politics and policy, alongside activists, stakeholders, and policy makers interested in the growing power of social movements to resist new technology.