New ID card systems are appearing in countries around the world, based on biometrics and using searchable databases. High technology companies promote these, governments seek them for administrative efficiency and post-9/11 demands for ‘security’ provide a rationale for their introduction. The surveillance issue is not so much the cards themselves but the national registries that provide for processing the personal data. These foster a ‘culture of control’ whose reach expands geographically as identification measures are harmonized and integrated across national borders. They also encourage...

New ID card systems are appearing in countries around the world, based on biometrics and using searchable databases. High technology companies promote these, governments seek them for administrative efficiency and post-9/11 demands for ‘security’ provide a rationale for their introduction. The surveillance issue is not so much the cards themselves but the national registries that provide for processing the personal data. These foster a ‘culture of control’ whose reach expands geographically as identification measures are harmonized and integrated across national borders. They also encourage less inclusive notions of citizenship, and facilitate the sorting of ‘desirable’ and ‘undesirable’ mobilities, based on the criteria of ‘identity management’. The social sorting capacities of new IDs are underplayed, as are the implications for governance of ‘multiple function’ ID systems, with consequences for social justice.