ABSTRACT
Governments affirm that the underlying idea is to modernize the cumbersome bureaucracy by making it easy to obtain personal information through nationwide databases. This chapter analyzes the appetite for identification and identity in the context of a post-bipolar, post-Westphalian and globalized world. It examines how it is intrinsically related to the transformations of security preoccupations and to the perceptions of the enemy in the new context as well as to the fear of the unknown and uncertainty. Schengen Information System (SIS) is a computerized information system on persons, stolen vehicles, and objects for the use of border control authorities, customs, and national police. It relies on increased policing behind borders and extensive cross-border police cooperation between Schengen members. The chapter asserts that the enhanced development of identification and surveillance technologies leads to the creation of what Laudon calls a "dossier society". It concludes by stressing the shift to a new form of surveillance generated by these transformations.
