A new chapter on ‘ID Scanners and Uberveillance’
Darren Palmer and Ian Warren (Criminology) and Peter Miller have just had a book chapter published:
‘ID Scanners and Uberveillance in the Night-Time Economy: Crime Prevention or Invasion of Privacy?’chapter 9 (pp. 208-225) in MG Michael and K Michael eds. Uberveillance and the Social Implications of Microchip Implants: Emerging Technologies. A volume in the Advances in Human and Social Aspects of Technology (AHSAT) Book Series.
ABSTRACT: ID scanners are promoted as an effective solution to the problems of anti-social behavior and violence in many urban nighttime economies. However, the acceptance of this and other forms of computerized surveillance to prevent crime and anti-social behavior is based on several unproven assumptions. After outlining what ID scanners are and how they are becoming a normalized precondition of entry into one Australian nighttime economy, this chapter demonstrates how technology is commonly viewed as the key to preventing crime despite recognition of various problems associated with its adoption. The implications of technological determinism amongst policy makers, police, and crime prevention theories are then critically assessed in light of several issues that key informants talking about the value of ID scanners fail to mention when applauding their success. Notably, the broad, ill-defined, and confused notion of “privacy” is analyzed as a questionable legal remedy for the growing problems of überveillance.