The use of biometric technology for identification has gone from                  Orwellian fantasy to everyday reality. This technology, which verifies or recognizes                  a person's identity based on physiological, anatomical, or behavioral patterns                  (including fingerprints, retina, handwriting, and keystrokes) has been deployed for                  such purposes as combating welfare fraud, screening airplane passengers, and                  identifying terrorists. The accompanying controversy has pitted those who praise the                  technology's accuracy and efficiency against advocates for privacy and civil                  liberties. In America Identified, Lisa Nelson investigates the complex public                  responses to biometric technology. She uses societal perceptions of this particular                  identification technology to explore the values, beliefs, and ideologies that                  influence public acceptance of technology. Drawing on her own extensive research                  with focus groups and a national survey, Nelson finds that considerations of                  privacy, anonymity, trust and confidence in institutions, and the legitimacy of                  paternalistic government interventions are extremely important to users and                  potential users of the technology. She examines the long history of government                  systems of identification and the controversies they have inspired; the effect of                  the information technology revolution and the events of September 11, 2001; the                  normative value of privacy (as opposed to its merely legal definition); the place of                  surveillance technologies in a civil society; trust in government and distrust in                  the expanded role of government; and the balance between the need for government to                  act to prevent harm and the possible threat to liberty in government's                  actions.

America Identified: Biometric Technology and Society PDF

The list of books you might like