Facial recognition is set to fundamentally change our experience and
understanding of monitoring, surveillance, and privacy. Backed by
powerful industry interests, this technology is being integrated into
many areas of society - from airports to shopping malls, classrooms to
casinos. Despite the promise of security and efficiency, fears are
growing that this technology is inherently biased, intrusive, and
oppressive, with broad-ranging societal consequences.
In this timely book, Neil Selwyn and Mark Andrejevic provide a critical
introduction to facial recognition. Outlining its complex social history
and future technical forms, as well as its conceptual and technical
underpinnings, the book considers the arguments being advanced for the
continued uptake of facial recognition. In assessing these developments,
the book argues that we are at the cusp of a generational shift in
surveillance technology that will reconfigure our expectations of
anonymity in shared and public spaces. Throughout, the book addresses a
deceptively simple question: do we really want to live in a world where
our face is our ID?
Facial Recognition is essential reading for students and scholars of
media and communications studies, surveillance studies, criminology, and
sociology, as well as for anyone interested in one of the defining
technologies of our times.
