Cameras, Scans, and Digital Wallets: Privacy Becomes a Luxury

From Anonymity to Facial Recognition

Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben stood among the first modern thinkers to warn against the dangers of mass surveillance. In 2004, a New York university invited him to deliver a series of guest lectures. However, he refused the invitation after learning that, following the attacks of September 11, 2001, all visitors to the United States had to undergo biometric passport control procedures.

He detailed this event in an article published in Le Monde, where he compared biometric passports to the tattoos that Nazi Germany forced upon prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau. He wrote that:

„The bio-political tattooing the United States imposes now on us to enter its territory is the precursor to what we will be asked to accept later as the normal registration of the identity of a good citizen in the state’s gears.”

Future Airports: Biometrics Instead of Documents

In fact, travel is changing irreversibly, and not only in the United States. The TSA and the company Clear have introduced eGates featuring facial recognition technology. As a passenger approaches, a camera compares their face with a database, often allowing them to pass without even reaching for their documents.

The “Simplified Arrival” program already requires photographs from non-citizens at the borders. Moreover, authorities plan to expand this system to all air and sea ports in the near future.

Global Trends in Observation

In Europe, similar systems have existed for years within biometric passports. Poland, for example, has issued them since 2006, complete with fingerprints and digital photos. This trend remains global. According to industry reports, millions of Americans utilized facial recognition at airports throughout 2025.

Security Versus Constant Observation

Meanwhile, the percentage of travelers who have never experienced biometrics continues to fall systematically. Proponents speak of convenience and safety, whereas critics warn of mass surveillance. Technology successfully reduces queues, but it does so at the expense of personal privacy.

Shopping Under the Camera’s Lens: The End of Anonymity

Even everyday shopping is losing its anonymity. Amazon Go—stores without cashiers—utilize cameras and sensors to track every item you take from the shelf. You simply enter, scan the app, and leave; the system sends the receipt automatically.

The Growth of tech-driven surveillance in Retail

Other retail chains are testing similar solutions. In 2025, “biometrics as a service” continues to grow, with forecasts predicting a market worth billions. These technologies include iris and voice recognition. In some countries, store cameras already identify “suspicious” customers based on their previous behavioral patterns.

Consequently, we must ask: is this convenience or control? Whenever we pay by card or phone, we leave a digital footprint. Cash is becoming a rarity, and the lack of a digital profile is becoming a significant obstacle in daily life.

From China’s Social Credit to Europe’s Digital Identity

China has taken the most extreme steps. Their social credit system links facial recognition with over 200 million cameras. This year, new regulations regarding the use of this technology emerged. In March, the Chinese Communist Party published 23-point guidelines to improve the social credit system.

These guidelines aim to standardize the tool, integrating the actions of regulators and authorities while balancing rewards and punishments. Nevertheless, the reality of constant monitoring remains a fact—citizens receive points for good behavior and face penalties for breaking rules.

The European Digital Identity Wallet: Promises and Risks

Is the European Union taking a fundamentally different path? Starting between 2025 and 2026, member states must offer the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) based on eIDAS 2 regulations. This app contains biometric data and allows users to log into both public and private services. While the European Commission emphasizes user control over data, critics fear the risks of centralization.

In a 2021 speech, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated that:

„A technology where we can control ourselves what data is used and how data is used.”

Data Minimization Only on Paper

The real question remains: who will truly hold the control? Aside from the users themselves, authorities may gain a vast new set of information regarding citizens’ habits and consumer choices. Because people will use Digital IDs for health services, finance, and administration, these systems could allow both the state and private companies to create highly detailed user profiles.

Although the project officially assumes the minimization of shared information, technical practices often allow for the linking of various data points. A group of stakeholders, including scientists and civil society coalitions, recently issued an open letter protesting these practices and highlighting numerous risks.

Will Privacy Become a Privilege for the Few?

The trend appears clear: biometrics and digital identity are becoming the global standard. Experts predict that in the near future, systems will combine multiple modules—face, voice, and behavior—for even greater precision. While digital passports and ubiquitous cameras aim to protect against identity theft, they simultaneously make tracking much easier.

On the other hand, states remain suspicious of tools that truly ensure privacy. We can see this in the recent discussion about the cryptocurrency market in Poland, where the government proposed significantly more restrictive regulations than those found in Germany.

This leads to a haunting question: will the absence of a digital footprint eventually become suspicious? Already, some systems block access to services if a user refuses to provide data. The primacy of control over freedom became especially visible during the coronavirus pandemic.

A World Where Anonymity Becomes a Choice

Anonymity may soon become a luxury available only to those who consciously sacrifice convenience. Are we ready for a world where everyone is instantly recognizable? Technology offers security and efficiency, but the price is our privacy. Once we surrender that privacy—much like freedom itself—history shows that it is incredibly difficult to reclaim.

The late American anthropologist David Graeber predicted this state of affairs to some extent. In his brilliant book, The Utopia of Rules, he argued:

„Regulations choke existence, armed guards and surveillance cameras appear everywhere, science and creativity are smothered, and we all discover that an ever-increasing percentage of our day is spent filling out forms.”

This bureaucratic reality is now reaching its peak, further fueled by the expansion of tech-driven surveillance.

Read teh original article in Polish: Kamery, skany, cyfrowe portfele. Prywatność staje się luksusem