Description
Book SynopsisSince the 1960s, a significant effort has been underway to program computers to see the human face and to develop automated systems for identifying faces and distinguishing them from one another - commonly known as Facial Recognition Technology. This book focuses on the politics of developing and deploying these technologies.
Trade ReviewThis work is a fascinating, timely investigation of the cultural practices and institutional priorities surrounding automated face perception technologies -- C. Tappert * Choice *
A groundbreaking study. Our Biometric Future considers facial recognition technology through its wide range of political entanglements, such as post-9/11 security measures, the management of urban populations in commercial districts, and self-representation in online social networking sites. Across these contexts, Gates shows how facial recognition's political effects have developed in spite of the fact that the technology does not actually work very well. Written with style and wit, Our Biometric Future will resonate with readers in cultural studies, new media, science and technology studies, and anyone interested in surveillance, privacy and security in contemporary life. -- Jonathan Sterne,McGill University, author of The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction
Gates deftly explores the cultural work performed by facial recognition technologies, and in so doing demonstrates considerable skill in the critical analysis of emergent technologies. This book represents a significant contribution to our understanding about the ongoing elaboration of surveillance society throughout the globe. -- Anne Balsamo,author of Technologies of the Gendered Body
Given its spotty track record, it's hard to see why facial recognition technology has so quickly become one of the most widely used forms of biometrics (second only to fingerprints). Kelly Gates' Our Biometric Future, a thorough exploration of FRT's relatively short history, provides some clues...[an] impressive book. * London Review of Books *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 "Self-Motivating Exhilaration": On the Cultural Sources of Computer Communication2 Romanticism and the Machine: The Formation of the Computer Counterculture3 Missing the Net: The 1980s, Microcomputers, and the Rise of Neoliberalism4 Networks and the Social Imagination5 The Moment of Wired6 Open Source, the Expressive Programmer, and the Problem of PropertyConclusion: Capitalism, Passions, Democracy NotesIndex About the Author
