L’identification biométrique : vers un nouveau contrôle social ?

Abstract

Biometry is defined today as the possibility of identifying an individual on the basis of purely technical criteria in a mass and in flux. It is indissociable from the process of digitalization of the society and the imperative of traceability (signs, things and today living beings) imposed by the covering of the real world by its controlled and controllable numerical image. The spread of biometric identification mechanisms thus illustrates the convergence in operation between the State logic of long-distance control and the logic proper to Technical-Macro-Systems. That is the first thesis defended in this article, which then asks about the type of control and power exercised by these new means. The thesis of a new social control is discussed based on the empirical data gathered among the primary users of these mechanisms and its determinism is called into question. The automatized social control, sought in the contours of Technical-Macro-Systems, mimic the movements of the real society more than controlling it. In that resides its limit.