The use of biometric identification systems is rapidly increasing across the world, owing to their potential to combat terrorism, fraud, corruption and other illegal activities. However, critics of the technology complain that the creation of an extensive central register of personal information controlled by the government will increase opportunities for the state to abuse citizens. There is also concern about the extent to which data about an individual is recorded and kept. This book reviews some of the most current and complex legal and ethical issues relating to the use of biometrics. Beginning with an overview of biometric systems, the book goes on to examine some of the theoretical underpinnings of the surveillance state, questioning whether these conceptual approaches are still relevant, particularly the integration of ubiquitous surveillance systems and devices. The book also analyses the implementation of the world’s largest biometric database, Aadhaar, in detail. Additionally, the identification of individuals at border checkpoints in the United States, Australia and the EU is explored, as well as the legal and ethical debates surrounding the use of biometrics regarding: the war on terror and the current refugee crisis; violations of international human rights law principles; and mobility and privacy rights. The book concludes by addressing the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by private-sector entities such as Axciom and Facebook, and government use of these tools to profile individuals. By examining the major legal and ethical issues surrounding the debate on this rapidly emerging technology, this book will appeal to students and scholars of law, criminology and surveillance studies, as well as law enforcement and criminal law practitioners.

This book highlights criminology's analysis and engagement in new understandings of globalisation, in particular its harmful and unethical manifestations, and offers a mode of scrutiny and vigilance.

The scope of Artificial Intelligence's (AI) hold on modern life is only just beginning to be fully understood. Academics, professionals, policymakers, and legislators are analysing the effects of AI in the legal realm, notably in human rights work. Artificial Intelligence technologies and modern human rights have lived parallel lives for the last sixty years, and they continue to evolve with one another as both fields take shape. Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence explores the effects of AI on both the concept of human rights and on specific topics, including civil and political rights, privacy, non-discrimination, fair procedure, and asylum. Second- and third-generation human rights are also addressed. By mapping this relationship, the book clarifies the benefits and risks for human rights as new AI applications are designed and deployed. Its granular perspective makes Human Rights and Artificial Intelligence a seminal text on the legal ramifications of machine learning. This expansive volume will be useful to academics and professionals navigating the complex relationship between AI and human rights.

This book addresses the use of biometrics – including fingerprint identification, DNA identification and facial recognition – in the criminal justice system: balancing the need to ensure society is protected from harms, such as crime and terrorism, while also preserving individual rights. It offers a comprehensive discussion of biometric identification that includes a consideration of: basic scientific principles, their historical development, the perspectives of political philosophy, critical security and surveillance studies; but especially the relevant law, policy and regulatory issues. Developments in key jurisdictions where the technology has been implemented, including the United Kingdom, United States, Europe and Australia, are examined. This includes case studies relating to the implementation of new technology, policy, legislation, court judgements, and where available, empirical evaluations of the use of biometrics in criminal justice systems. Examples from non-western areas of the world are also considered. Accessibly written, this book will be of interest to undergraduate, postgraduate and research students, academic researchers, as well as professionals in government, security, legal and private sectors.

This important text/reference presents the latest secure and privacy-compliant techniques in automatic human recognition. Featuring viewpoints from an international selection of experts in the field, the comprehensive coverage spans both theory and practical implementations, taking into consideration all ethical and legal issues. Topics and features: presents a unique focus on novel approaches and new architectures for unimodal and multimodal template protection; examines signal processing techniques in the encrypted domain, security and privacy leakage assessment, and aspects of standardization; describes real-world applications, from face and fingerprint-based user recognition, to biometrics-based electronic documents, and biometric systems employing smart cards; reviews the ethical implications of the ubiquity of biometrics in everyday life, and its impact on human dignity; provides guidance on best practices for the processing of biometric data within a legal framework.

This book is open access. This book undertakes a multifaceted and integrated examination of biometric identification, including the current state of the technology, how it is being used, the key ethical issues, and the implications for law and regulation. The five chapters examine the main forms of contemporary biometrics–fingerprint recognition, facial recognition and DNA identification– as well the integration of biometric data with other forms of personal data, analyses key ethical concepts in play, including privacy, individual autonomy, collective responsibility, and joint ownership rights, and proposes a raft of principles to guide the regulation of biometrics in liberal democracies. Biometric identification technology is developing rapidly and being implemented more widely, along with other forms of information technology. As products, services and communication moves online, digital identity and security is becoming more important. Biometric identification facilitates this transition. Citizens now use biometrics to access a smartphone or obtain a passport; law enforcement agencies use biometrics in association with CCTV to identify a terrorist in a crowd, or identify a suspect via their fingerprints or DNA; and companies use biometrics to identify their customers and employees. In some cases the use of biometrics is governed by law, in others the technology has developed and been implemented so quickly that, perhaps because it has been viewed as a valuable security enhancement, laws regulating its use have often not been updated to reflect new applications. However, the technology associated with biometrics raises significant ethical problems, including in relation to individual privacy, ownership of biometric data, dual use and, more generally, as is illustrated by the increasing use of biometrics in authoritarian states such as China, the potential for unregulated biometrics to undermine fundamental principles of liberal democracy. Resolving these ethical problems is a vital step towards more effective regulation.

Bio-Privacy: Privacy Regulations and the Challenge of Biometrics provides an in-depth consideration of the legal issues posed by the use of biometric technology. Focusing particularly on the relationship between the use of this technology and the protection of privacy, this book draws on material across a range of jurisdictions in order to explore several key questions. What are the privacy issues in the biometric context? How are these issues currently dealt with under the law? What principles are applied? Is the current regulation satisfactory? Is it applied consistently? And, more generally, what is the most appropriate way to deal with the legal implications of biometrics? Offering an analysis, and recommendations, with a view to securing adequate human rights and personal data protection, Bio-Privacy: Privacy Regulations and the Challenge of Biometrics will be an important reference point for those with interests in the tension between freedom and security.

The growth of data-collecting goods and services, such as ehealth and mhealth apps, smart watches, mobile fitness and dieting apps, electronic skin and ingestible tech, combined with recent technological developments such as increased capacity of data storage, artificial intelligence and smart algorithms, has spawned a big data revolution that has reshaped how we understand and approach health data. Recently the COVID-19 pandemic has foregrounded a variety of data privacy issues. The collection, storage, sharing and analysis of health- related data raises major legal and ethical questions relating to privacy, data protection, profiling, discrimination, surveillance, personal autonomy and dignity. This book examines health privacy questions in light of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the general data privacy legal framework of the European Union (EU). The GDPR is a complex and evolving body of law that aims to deal with several technological and societal health data privacy problems, while safeguarding public health interests and addressing its internal gaps and uncertainties. The book answers a diverse range of questions including: What role can the GDPR play in regulating health surveillance and big (health) data analytics? Can it catch up with internet-age developments? Are the solutions to the challenges posed by big health data to be found in the law? Does the GDPR provide adequate tools and mechanisms to ensure public health objectives and the effective protection of privacy? How does the GDPR deal with data that concern children’s health and academic research? By analysing a number of diverse questions concerning big health data under the GDPR from various perspectives, this book will appeal to those interested in privacy, data protection, big data, health sciences, information technology, the GDPR, EU and human rights law.

Private face recognition technologies are increasingly entering the private and public sphere, with no adequate checks and balances. This comprehensive and important new reference work explores crucial regulatory challenges, stemming from the use of private face recognition technologies in Europe. After detecting technological neutrality in law, legal uncertainty in case law and the risk of over-surveillance, it recommends an ex ante and targeted classification approach with a view to minimising privacy harms. Under the proposed scheme, an expert agency can scrutinise a given technology, balance conflicting stakes, classify that technological use and, finally, give a ‘go’, ‘no-go’ or ‘go-in-condition’ decision, before its actual implementation in the real-world. Recommended for legal and technology researchers and scholars focusing on surveillance and privacy, as well as government, regulatory and civil rights agencies.