Border Controls, Politics and Digitization

As academic research has confirmed, there is no single form of security (national or global) but rather, multiple forms of security that are contradictory and can be mutually destructive. This is the case between predictive security and evidence-based security relating to a specific individual. Predictive security is rooted in suspicions and anticipations of behaviours that seek to prevent the entry of persons who might be unwanted. It is founded on the anticipation of actions based on risk profiles and statistical categories. Nowhere is the use of predictive security tools increasing more rapidly than in the area of border controls and visa processing.

But what is lost in these processes is the focus on individual circumstances and the reasons for the patterns which their data might produce. The objective of this presentation is to analyze how the politics of digital suspicion affects travellers seeking entry or transit visas. With a view to the consequences for individuals, we will analyze what groups are in charge of elaborating these policies and the link between private providers and public authorities, as well as the declared objectives and the difficulties of constructing reliable and relevant data.