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PRIVATE-PUBLIC RELATIONSHIPS AND NGO PRESENCE: ARE CCTV AND FACIAL RECOGNITION POLITICAL TECHNOLOGIES?



INTRODUCTORY EXCERPT


Technological instruments as CCTV and facial recognition “can be accurately judged not only for their contributions of efficiency and productivity, not merely for their positive and negative environmental side effects, but also for the ways in which they can embody specific forms of power and authority” (Winner, 1980, 121). This project aims to unveil the relationships between private corporations and States with respect to technological instruments as well as investigate the presence and claims of NGOs and residents for what concerns the application of CCTV and facial recognition. By analysing two extremely different contexts, it will be possible to question the inevitability of CCTV and facial recognition instruments’ usage, arguing for opportunities to implement these tools more responsively and responsibly.




Power relations will be considered along with the apparent “objectivity” of technological instruments, paying attention to “cases of what can be called inherently political technologies, man-made systems that appear to require, or to be strongly compatible with, particular kinds of political relationships” with respect to the UK and China (Winner, 1980, 123).

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