The algorithmic regulation of security: An infrastructural perspective

This article contributes to debates on algorithmic regulation by focusing on the domain of security. It develops aninfrastructuralperspective, by analyzing how algorithmic regulation is enacted through the custom-built transatlantic data infrastructures of the EU-U.S. Passenger Name Records and Terrorism Financing Tracking Program programs. Concerning regulationthroughalgorithms, this approach analyzes how specific, commercial data are rendered transferable and meaningful in a security context. Concerning the regulationofalgorithms, an infrastructural perspective examines how public values like privacy and accountability are built into international data infrastructures. The creation of data infrastructures affects existing modes of governance and fosters novel power relations among public and private actors. We highlightemergentmodes of standard setting, thus enriching Yeung's (2018) taxonomy, and question the practical effects of operationalizing public values through infrastructural choices. Ultimately, the article offers a critical reading of algorithmic security, and how it materially, legally, and politically supports specific ways of doing security.

Automated summary

This article contributes to the debates on algorithmic regulation in the context of security. It examines the implementation of algorithmic regulation through analyzing the transatlantic data infrastructures of the EU-U.S. Passenger Name Records and Terrorism Financing Tracking Program programs. The article explores how specific data are rendered transferable and meaningful in a security context and examines the integration of public values into international data infrastructures. Additionally, it highlights the emergence of new modes of standard setting and questions the practical effects of operationalizing public values through infrastructural choices.