Biometric revisions of the 'body' in airports and US welfare reform

This article explores how biometrics function as technologies of embodiment that both redefine and challenge Agamben's notion of 'bare life' and the state of exception. We contend that the body is transformed when the subject under scrutiny is conceived of in terms of information profiles and communication networks. Through our analysis of two examples - airports and the US welfare system - we reveal how biometrics are used to produce bare life. That is, biometrics dramatize Agamben's assertion that the state of exception becomes the rule as every body is biometrically inscribed with the potential for bare life. Our case studies demonstrate that this process is not random. Rather, biometrics reveal the unequal distribution of risk, and their usage under the aegis of regulating security and poverty reframes what life - and, particularly, 'bare life' - signifies in those spaces governed by security, regulation, marginalization and criminalization.