Prejudices behind Algorithms: Automated Surveillance Systems as Tools of Segregation and Discrimination

The aim of this paper is to describe the emerging phenomenon of new racism brought by the development of automated surveillance tools. We would like to show that this new system of discrimination is a byproduct of some general transformations in the field of social control. For this purpose, we will refer to invisible hand type of explanation, and the concept of perverse effect in particular. We will also relate widely to some cases and concepts from the “new surveillance” and social control literature and we will try to summarize it.