Nouvelles techniques d'identification, nouveaux pouvoirs. Le cas de la biométrie

Abstract

With biometric identification we are imperceptibly moving from the remote control of the population practised by the modern States on to large technical systems which increasingly impose their own logic on people. From an anthropological viewpoint, this paradigm shift calls into question the very definition of «identity» by broadening the divide between civil identity and personal or social identity. The frontier is now inscribed on the biological body of the individual within the space that is managed from the terminals of the global flow management networks scattered the world over (airport zones, consulates). The frontier thus tends increasingly to coincide with the functional limits of the large technical system. From a legal viewpoint, the introduction by States of biometric identification systems results primarily in a restriction of the freedom of circulation granted to individuals. One of the findings which emerge from a review of national legislations is however that law is globally adapting to this new situation. In the conclusion, the article considers some of the reasons behind these successive backward steps, and proposes, amongst them, an implicit definition of the individual on which modern law is founded.