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Biometric applications: surveillance |


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Biometric technologies are not surveillance technologies in themselves, but as identification technologies they provide an input into surveillance which can make such as face recognition are combined with camera systems and criminal data banks in order to supervise public places and single out individuals.
Another example is the use of biometrics technologies is in the supervision of probationers, who in this way can carry their special hybrid status between imprisonment and freedom with them, so that they can be tracked down easily.
Unlike biometric applications in access control, where one is aware of the biometric data extraction process, what makes biometrics used in surveillance a particularly critical issue is the fact that biometric samples are extracted routinely, unnoticed by the individuals concerned.

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Institute for Policy Studies
IPS, based in Washington D.C. is a multi-issue, nationally focused think tank aiming at the promotion of economic redistribution, full employment, ecological restoration, democratic participation, community empowerment, and global nonviolence. IPS pursues its mission through the following eight strategies: activism; scholarship; public debate; political advocacy; model building; memory; training; and global alliances.
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