2/2Border-control technology － The invisible boundary The Economist Feb. 16, 2019 国境管理、通関、出入国管理
That is largely the case at one of the most technically advanced land borders: that between Sweden, an EU member, and Norway, which is part of the EU’s single market but not a member of the EU’s customs union. The 1,600km border is largely open for travellers, although automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are used to monitor passing vehicles, and officials will pull over any suspicious ones. Electronic pre-arrival customs declarations have been introduced and, in some cases, Norway will let companies ship goods across unmanned crossings. Most lorries, however, still need to stop at specific manned crossings to have their details checked. If it is not too busy, this need take only a few minutes.
Lars Karlsson, a Swedish customs expert, looked at what technologies could be used to reduce or eliminate the need to stop and undergo border checks, with a particular reference to Ireland, in a report presented to the European Parliament in 2017. Mr Karlsson said any such system would, as a starting-point, require a fully electronic environment for documentation and payments.
It would work something like this. Pre-registered companies, sometimes called “trusted traders”, would have to submit additional information, such as details of the lorry being used and the person driving it. The driver might need an enhanced licence containing biometric data (facial scans, for example). As the lorry approach a border it would be identified by ANPR cameras. Other roadside sensors would detect a code placed on the driver’s mobile phone, which would identify him. The system would text a customs release note to the driver and alert authorities that the goods stated on an electronic manifest have just passed over. At a hard border, the release note might instead open a gate automatically for the lorry to drive through.
Trust. But verify
No country has yet put together all these elements to create an open border. The obstacles are not technical, though. For one thing, since it would need co-ordination between different customs authorities, the negotiations could be protracted. Some companies have also expressed concern that trusted-trader schemes might prove bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms.
Assuming such problems can be overcome, authorities would still want ways to catch smugglers. Again, technology can help. It is now reasonably straightforward to use mobile-phone networks and satellites to track people, goods and vehicles. This would let authorities check that cargo arrives at its intended destination. Fujitsu, a Japanese firm, says that cameras can be used to read not just number plates but also the identification markings on containers, and check that seals have not been tampered with. Using artificial-intelligence techniques, the company reckons cameras can be taught to recognize the faces of drivers as well.
At some point physical checks will be needed, although these do not have to be carried out at a border. Vehicles could be pulled over at other locations for random shakedowns or because the data flag something as suspicious. Mobile customs units could carry checks, even at delivery locations, using hand-held devices to scan, at a distance, smart tags attached to individual products or cartons. And other techniques are available, too. Container X-ray scanning is becoming faster, more powerful and capable of identifying not just outlines but also detail, including people hiding inside. Some of this scanning equipment is mobile.
As for keeping an eye on people crossing borders, systems being developed for use at airports might find wider use. One idea is a single digital travel “token” to speed people through airport terminals, even on multiple legs of a journey. A prototype of such system has been developed by SITA Lab, a Swiss technology group owned by the airline industry.
In SITA’s system the token resides on a traveller’s mobile phone and represents encrypted travel documents, passport details and other information. Whenever the traveller arrives at a checkpoint or is stopped by an official, the app is used to generate a QR code. That code is then scanned to confirm the traveller’s details. These are in a database secured, as might be expect, by blockchain. Regular commuters across land borders could carry similar tokens on their mobile devices.
For remote borders with little or no infrastructure, there are various techniques that can keep an eye, or rather an ear, out. QinetiQ, a British firm, has a system called OptaSense, which uses a fibre-optic cable laid in the ground. Sound from above creates vibrations in the cable. The equipment is sensitive enough to discriminate between the sounds made by different type of vehicle, such as a tractor or a lorry, and to detect people walking about.
Given enough money and determination, it should therefore be possible to make a hard border disappear. The difficult bit is the politics － especially whether the level of background surveillance required would be acceptable to people. In Ireland, with its long history of troubles, that is unlikely to be the case. Even a solitary ANPR camera at an Irish border crossing might be blown up. However, in other parts of the world, where hard borders now exist, travellers are likely to find that their passage will become easier.
