Reclaiming Control over Europe’s Technological Borders

Abstract

Surveillance by government and citizens Migration policy and border control in Europe and its member states increasingly take place in a surveillance regime that is focused on control. The surveillance regime consists of the intertwining of migration, integration and security policies on the one hand with a technological apparatus for the control of the movements of people on the other (Haggerty and Ericson 2000; Lyon 2009). Surveillance of citizens, migrants and illegal aliens is not only executed by the state but also by private companies and medical professionals working for the state. Next to that, the surveillance regime is not only regulated externally but travellers internalize security in voluntary behaviour. As a consequence, surveillance is not only exercised by control 'from above' (Big Brother) but also 'from aside' (Little Sister) and 'from within' (Voice Inside). In this concluding chapter, we will describe how surveillance and control affect the citizen: regular inhabitants of the several member states, travellers, migrants and illegal aliens. Moreover, we will sketch the need for a thorough rethinking of the position and the rights of these citizens because of the consequences technological borders have, for instance, on their privacy, bodily integrity, mobility, quality of data, information storage and exchange, and opportunities for correction. We want to reclaim the role of citizens as subjects who are actively involved in controlling and shaping Europe's technological borders. To elaborate on this perspective, it is useful to remember that originally the term surveillance was introduced as a means not for the government, but for the people. By the time of the French Revolution it referred to a form of public oversight that was celebrated as the main remedy for dysfunctional institutions (Rosanvallon 2008: 13). These 170 H. Dijstelbloem et al. (eds.), Migration and the New Technological Borders of Europe