Standardizing Security: The Business Case Politics of Borders

Author(s): Matthias Leese
Journal Title: Mobilities (online first)
Reviewed:  
Publisher(s): Taylor & Francis online
Publication Year: 2018

This paper discusses the role of standards and standardization in the regulation of security and mobility through the EU’s Programming Mandate M/487 and biometric Automated Border Control (ABC) systems. It argues that the choice for facial recognition as the standard biometric modality was largely pre-configured through existing infrastructures, and that the restructuring of EU external borders in the case of ABC was subject to more than just political arguments. Indeed, standardization here followed business case considerations, which led to a preference for facial recognition over technically more powerful alternative options.

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