Virtuelle Mauer rund um USA macht Fortschritte

--- Die Pläne der USA, sich mithilfe von Biometrie und Datenbankabgleichen virtuell gegen ihre Besucher abzuschotten und diese lange vor der Einreise zu durchleuchten, machen Fortschritte, berichtet die New York Times: The Department of Homeland Security is on the verge of awarding the biggest contract in its young history for an elaborate system that could cost as much as $15 billion and employ a network of databases to track visitors to the United States long before they arrive. ... The program, known as US-Visit and rooted partly in a Pentagon concept developed after the terrorist attacks of 2001, seeks to supplant the nation's physical borders with what officials call virtual borders. Such borders employ networks of computer databases and biometric sensors for identification at sites abroad where people seek visas to the United States. With a virtual border in place, the actual border guard will become the last point of defense, rather than the first, because each visitor will have already been screened using a global web of databases. Visitors arriving at checkpoints, including those at the Mexican and Canadian borders, will face "real-time identification" — instantaneous authentication to confirm that they are who they say they are. American officials will, at least in theory, be able to track them inside the United States and determine if they leave the country on time. Das kann ja heiter werden. Die psychologische Barriere, in die USA einzureisen, steigt bei den "Normalbesuchern" damit schon jetzt beträchtlich, während Terroristen sicher immer Wege finden werden, sich zunächst unverdächtig zu geben und dann loszuschlagen. Mehr auf Deutsch in Telepolis.