The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

The Walls Have Eyes is a chilling exposé of the inhumane and lucrative sharpening of borders around the globe through experimental surveillance technology, finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for Nonfiction. It reveals how technology is being deployed by governments on the world's most vulnerable with little regulation, and how borders are now big business, with defense contractors and tech start-ups scrambling to capture this highly profitable market.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 04 July 2024
Publisher: The New Press

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in 2022 that it was training "robot dogs" to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against migrants. These four-legged machines, equipped with cameras and sensors, would join a network of drones and automated surveillance towers, known as the "smart wall." This trend is not unique to the U.S.-Mexico border; it is a global phenomenon driven by the displacement of people due to war, economic instability, and climate change. As more people are forced to leave their homes, governments are turning to AI-driven technology to "manage" the influx. Based on years of researching borderlands across the world, lawyer and anthropologist Petra Molnar's book, The Walls Have Eyes, is a truly global story. It is a dystopian vision turned reality, where your body is your passport and matters of life and death are determined by algorithm. Molnar examines how technology is being deployed by governments on the world's most vulnerable, with little regulation. She also shows us how borders are now big business, with defense contractors and tech start-ups alike scrambling to capture this highly profitable market. With a foreword by former UN Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume, The Walls Have Eyes reveals the profound human stakes of the sharpening of borders around the globe, foregrounding the stories of people on the move and the daring forms of resistance that have emerged against the hubris and cruelty of those seeking to use technology to turn human beings into problems to be solved.

Weight: 470g
Dimension: 223 x 149 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781620978368