Introduction to Digital Identity, Virtual Borders and Social Media

Abstract

This book discusses how states deploy frontier and digital technologies to manage and control migratory movements and how they cooperate with tech corporations in this field. Blockchain, artificial intelligence/machine learning, social media, big data analysis and various smart border solutions offer wide range of opportunities for states to deal with legal and irregular migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. However, this is an emerging area, these tech-based projects are still experimental and they are understudied topics in the literature. This book aims to contribute to the literature as authors critically examine consequences of these technologies and evaluate them from the perspective of rights and liberties of migrants. Despite the obvious power imbalances, technology remains an arena of political struggle. However, migrants and refugees do not have the same access to the arena of political contestation to protect and advance their interests. For anyone wishing to observe the likely shape of a dystopian future of a tech-oriented society in which people lose their political autonomy, a close look at the daily experiences of migrants and refugees vis-à-vis the large tech providers will provide sufficient clues. This book aims to challenge such a totalitarian and hegemonic approach to the people on the move and provide cases demonstrating how such technologies are deployed for the interests of states and corporations and deny the basic rights, liberties and agencies of migrants and refugees.