Your Digital Self – Discovering narratives on identity and biometrics in Latin America: The case of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico

Biometric technologies have permeated people’s daily lives, being promoted by States as the infallible solution to the structural problems faced by society. In this research, we will go deeper in the analysis of the current situations faced by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico regarding the narratives on people’s identity and their relationship with the implementation of technologies that collect, store and process biometric data.

By studying legal frameworks and the public policies promoted, we will describe the impact that biometric technology may have on the exercise of rights. Its impact affects individual rights such as the right to privacy and freedom of speech, assembly, and association, as well as collective rights, such as the rights to health, education, and social security. 

The relationship between identity and people, as something that the State is entitled to manage, unveils a logic of control where public institutions govern the population as resources. This becomes more conspicuous when the provision of social benefits or welfare schemes are conditioned by the submission of biometric data without any other alternatives, deepening social inequality further.