Acknowledgments  ix

Introduction. Imagining Biometric Security  1

1. Biometric Failure  19

2. I-Tech and the Beginnings of Biometrics  51

3. Criminalizing Poverty: Adding Biometrics to Welfare  69

4. Biometrics at the Border  91

5. Representing Biometrics  127

Conclusion. Biometric Failure and Beyond  149

Appendix  159

Notes  165

Bibliography  171

Index  199

“Taking her cue from science and technology studies' methods and theories, where definitions of ‘success’ in connection with technological developments are long-standing topics of interest . . ., Magnet focuses on its counterpart, the issue of technological failure. In view of the fact that their often substandard performance seldom seems to play a role in government decisions on whether to opt for the large-scale implementation of biometrics (eg, the US-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology system, or Europe's use of biometric passports), exposing whole populations to the consequences of their failure, these are timely questions. . . . [F]or those interested in the technology, its social implications and use in a number of US contexts, the details of Magnet's investigations are very much worth reading.”—Irma van der Ploeg, Times Higher Education Supplement

“When Biometrics Fail offers a damning analysis of the technical problems that dog biometric identification, many of which stem from the premises on which individual difference is defined. . . . [A] useful synthesis of the activities contemporary biometric industry, providing a compelling dissection of how the idea of a science of biometrics fails, and a timely critique of an industry and its claims which exploit a misconception about the human body and use technological fetishism to posit the solution as a high tech – and therefore ethically unproblematic -solution to a range of problems that have serious political and humanitarian consequences.”
—Hannah Drayson, Leonardo Reviews

“The book allows the reader to ponder what sorts of assumptions about people, science, and society are at play when biometrics continues to have ongoing success, in light of its failure…. These and other interdisciplinary questions pertaining to late capitalism, identity, resistance, and the violence of identification, make up the crux of this rather accessible book… [I]nsightful in terms of its crisscrossing empirical analysis…. [I]t will be of great interest to scholars and nonscholars alike who are interested in identity, gender, and race relations, as well as the impact of technology on strategies of political resistance and moral regulation.”—Bianca Baggiarini, Canadian Review of Sociology

“Overall, Magnet’s critique of biometric discourse and technologies is penetrating, relentless and often devastating. This is an enlightening, exquisitely critical book that should be required reading as much for neo-liberal policy-makers considering quick-fix technological solutions to systemic social and crime control problems as for students and scholars of criminology.”—Randy K. Lippert, Theoretical Criminology

“Magnet's When Biometrics Fail sounds some compelling notes of caution about placing too much reliance on unthinking machines to do human beings' work.”—Rick Docksai, World Future Review

“Taking her cue from science and technology studies' methods and theories, where definitions of ‘success’ in connection with technological developments are long-standing topics of interest . . ., Magnet focuses on its counterpart, the issue of technological failure. In view of the fact that their often substandard performance seldom seems to play a role in government decisions on whether to opt for the large-scale implementation of biometrics (eg, the US-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology system, or Europe's use of biometric passports), exposing whole populations to the consequences of their failure, these are timely questions. . . . [F]or those interested in the technology, its social implications and use in a number of US contexts, the details of Magnet's investigations are very much worth reading.”—Irma van der Ploeg, Times Higher Education Supplement

“When Biometrics Fail offers a damning analysis of the technical problems that dog biometric identification, many of which stem from the premises on which individual difference is defined. . . . [A] useful synthesis of the activities contemporary biometric industry, providing a compelling dissection of how the idea of a science of biometrics fails, and a timely critique of an industry and its claims which exploit a misconception about the human body and use technological fetishism to posit the solution as a high tech – and therefore ethically unproblematic -solution to a range of problems that have serious political and humanitarian consequences.”
—Hannah Drayson, Leonardo Reviews

“The book allows the reader to ponder what sorts of assumptions about people, science, and society are at play when biometrics continues to have ongoing success, in light of its failure…. These and other interdisciplinary questions pertaining to late capitalism, identity, resistance, and the violence of identification, make up the crux of this rather accessible book… [I]nsightful in terms of its crisscrossing empirical analysis…. [I]t will be of great interest to scholars and nonscholars alike who are interested in identity, gender, and race relations, as well as the impact of technology on strategies of political resistance and moral regulation.”—Bianca Baggiarini, Canadian Review of Sociology

“Overall, Magnet’s critique of biometric discourse and technologies is penetrating, relentless and often devastating. This is an enlightening, exquisitely critical book that should be required reading as much for neo-liberal policy-makers considering quick-fix technological solutions to systemic social and crime control problems as for students and scholars of criminology.”—Randy K. Lippert, Theoretical Criminology

“Magnet's When Biometrics Fail sounds some compelling notes of caution about placing too much reliance on unthinking machines to do human beings' work.”—Rick Docksai, World Future Review

“When Biometrics Fail is overwhelmingly persuasive, exhaustively researched, eloquently written, and full of mordant humor and bitter truth. Shoshana Amielle Magnet explains the history, science, and ideology of our contemporary biometric moment with great skill and insight. Everyone needs to read this book. An outstanding study of the informationalization of race, gender, and immigration.”—Lisa Nakamura, author of Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet

“Impassioned, critical, and readable, When Biometrics Fail explores the underside of technologies that have been touted as a panacea for many of the discontents of post-9/11 society. Shoshana Amielle Magnet reveals the seldom-discussed impacts of these new technologies on people marginalized by race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, and disability, and she challenges the commonplace assumption that human bodies can be reduced to a string of numbers.”—Simon A. Cole, author of Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification

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