Smart Borders

Smart borders are political borders that, with the growth of digital processing and information sharing, rely fully or in part on the technologically assisted and/or automated collection and processing of knowledge to make decisions about inclusion and exclusion of people and goods. They are borders that depend on data processing and expand the geographical and temporal extent of the border, as legal admission may take place before crossing the geographical border and far from it. Smart borders share with “analog” borders the legal power of inclusion and exclusion but highlight the growing use of surveillance and monitoring for decision making. Smart borders also reflect globalization trends toward a speedy processing of people and trade and a globally accepted definition of what constitutes a secured territory. ...