Abstract

This paper explores in details the way surveillance cameras work and more specifically their intelligent development, in order to identify new methods of control which put into perspective Foucault’s notion of biopolitics. Through these surveillance devices it is no longer the image itself that is analysed. The image is now described as a translation interface between the world and digital data. This translation of the world into coordinates changes surveillance applications and modifies the representation of filmed humans, therefore questioning the validity of biopolitics in today’s world. In this paper I argue that this theoretical framework needs to be revised in the light of technologic innovations and the digitalization of individuals, and I refer to “datapolitics” as a new form of governmentality.