Abstract
This article gives a critical overview of the policy process introducing biometrics in the European Union. It starts out by describing how existing biometrics practices, such as fingerprinting and access control, are now being transformed and expanded in order to improve security and efficiency in the governance of global mobility. Following strong US initiatives in 2001 and onwards, the governance of mobility has been attempted transformed through what I call the biometrics vision. In brief, this vision states that biometric information can serve to increase control of mobility by enhancing the capacity of government agencies for monitoring and exchanging information about individuals. I follow this vision as it arose in the US, travelled through international organisations and into the European Union, where it has been promoted at high political levels. I finish off by a critical examination of the biometrics vision, referring to James Scott’s concept of “seeing like a state”, but using it in the context of the European Union. It is argued that the biometrics vision overlooks a number of technological and social issues. Social and technical complexities and problems may take on increased relevance as vision is turned into practice.
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Notes
- 1.
Citizens of countries included in the US Visa Waiver program can travel to the US for up to 90 days without a visa.
- 2.
For the European setting, the problem is even bigger: estimates are that a total number of 300 million people travel in and out of the region annually (EC 2008).
- 3.
Due to technical problems with the visa stickers, the proposal was not implemented into law until 2006. The choice of contactless chips entailed the use of RFIDs, thus settling for a more complicated option than that chosen in the US. The inclusion of RFIDs in travel documents and passports has been a source of much criticism, not the least due to increased risks of spoofing (i.e. hacking into documents from a distance).
- 4.
The 4 European G8 member states + Spain.
- 5.
Even more radical measures include efforts to develop systems that may detect “malignant intentions” and suspicious behaviour, see Sutrop and Laas-Mikko in this edition.
- 6.
A number of other databases, not dealt with in this article, are also being developed. VIS SIS II and Eurodac are among the biggest and most important.
- 7.
Denoting, respectively, the first and second generation of the Schengen Information System. The plan was for transition from SIS to SIS II in 2007, but rollout has been delayed due to a number of problems.
- 8.
Some of the rationale of this is further described by Gunnarsdottir, this edition.
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Acknowledgements
This paper was made possible by the research opportunities emerging from the FP7-funded project TECHNOLIFE (project number 230381). The author also thanks Statewatch, who made available many of the documents cited in this article.
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Rommetveit, K. (2016). Introducing Biometrics in the European Union: Practice and Imagination. In: Delgado, A. (eds) Technoscience and Citizenship: Ethics and Governance in the Digital Society. The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32414-2_8
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