Understanding surveillance capitalism from the viewpoint of migration
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Dr Emre Eren Korkmaz |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12985 |
256
|
International Migration. 2022;60:256–260.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 3 Febr uary 2022
|
Accepted: 4 Febru ary 2022
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12985
COMMENTARY
Understanding surveillance capitalism from the
viewpoint of migration
Dr Emre Eren Korkmaz
Universit y of Oxford, Oxfor d, UK
Correspondence
Emre Korkmaz, U niversity of Oxf ord, 3 Mansfield Ro ad Oxford OX1 3TN, UK .
Email: emre.korkmaz@qeh.ox.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
Surveillance capit alism has recently emerged as a key concept in interpretat ions of global technology companies’
business models as see n in Zuboff’s (2019) study anal ysing the tr ansition of some Silicon Valley companies into
global monopolies within jus t a f ew decades . In this paper, I argue that t his business model has turne d into a
structural element of modern- day capitalism with implications for migration and border management. Through an
analysis of the technological tools bein g developed and used for migration and border management, the article will
help to unders tand the power dynamic s underlying surveil lance capitalism.
The trag ic outputs of technological products for the managemen t of migration and border s ecurity have r e-
cently entered th e agenda of the academic community and a ctivist n etworks. Studies have shown companies
investing in border se curity and migration manag ement, examine their lobbyi ng activities and argue that ref ugees
are being used as subjects in the developme nt of surveil lance technologi es (Achiume, 2020; Akkerman n, 2021;
Latonero, 2019; Molnar, 2020). Anal ysing these, as a whole, withi n the scope of the surveillance capitalism pro -
vides clues of how enmeshed the interests of techn ology companies, military and security corpor ations, security
bureaucrac y and governments are, (Pr ivacy International, 2 021) and the oligarchic form of th ese interests.
Alth ough sur veillan ce capit alism di scussio ns mainly focus on th e commerc ial and po litica l aspect s to send pe r-
sonalized messages to users, this paper argues that the manifestation of surveillance capitalism in migration and
border manageme nt would allow us to understand the develop ment of new surveillance tools (lie detect ors, facial
recognition systems and sensor s) that would eventual ly affect all hu manity. Theref ore, this is not only rel ated
to migrant s and borde rs, such an analysis will illuminate which direction gl obal capitalism is gravitati ng through
cutting- edge technologies and envisage t he possible tech- oriented d ystopic future at the end of t he road.
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution- NonCommercial License , which permits
use, distri bution and reprod uction in any medium , provided the orig inal work is properl y cited and is not used fo r commercial
purposes.
© 2022 The Auth or. International Migration published by John Wiley & So ns Ltd on behalf of Intern ational Organiz ation for
Migration.
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeUnlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations
Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial
Transform your legal research with vLex
-
Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform
-
Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues
-
Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options
-
Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions
-
Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms
-
Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations