What constitutes a dossier? What are the historical continuities and discontinuities that frame the present political state of these surveillance-based files? (These files can private and public, commercial and governmental and are kept on citizens.) What is the role of the dossier in bureaucratic transactions and paperwork within today’s surveillance societies? What conceptual parallels can be drawn between new trends and well-tested mechanisms of surveillance-based political management, such as the dossier? How did the rise of smart technology and algorithmic intelligence provide a new impetus to the classic political tactic of ‘gathering dirt’ on targeted individuals? What is the role of the personal dossier in carrying out the strategies employed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, such as contact tracing, quarantine tracking, and immunity mapping?