Three Sides of the Same Coin: Datafied Transparency, Biometric Surveillance, and Algorithmic Governmentalities

Abstract

This article explores how datafied transparency resulting from the use of facial recognition technologies creates different risks and dynamics of power and control. Theoretically, the article draws on Foucauldian studies and assemblage theory and analyzes how the power specific to facial recognition technologies rests on algorithmic governmentalities and interaction of humans and technologies in surveillant assemblages. Empirically, the article examines facial recognition legislation and its use in different corporate and institutional sectors around the world. The article concludes that datafied transparency is inseparable from the operation of surveillant assemblages and algorithmic governmentalities, and that algoactivism could be one form of resistance to counter such forms of power and control.