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Do Robots Need Passports? Should They?
Hallie Siegel writes: With countries evolving different regulations over robotic devices, law professor Anupam Chander looks into whether robots crossing borders will need passports, and what the role of international trade law should be in regulating the flow of these devices. Fascinating discussion on what happens when technology like robots crosses over international borders, as part of this year's We Robot conference in Seattle.
Directly after the first incident. Don't kid yourself, if it can be used malevolently, it certainly will be.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
but that won't stop them.
Why not just an import/export license?
Just 3D print a new one with the right "nationality" on the other side of the border.
Nullius in verba
Or just an identity check using a neural-response scan while certain questions are being asked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Do humans need passports?
This question seems to suggest a question that may have to be answered first: Would robots be considered citizens of a country?
If so, now we're also talking about the rights of said citizens.
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
For now, they are just machines.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
See subject.
Why the hell would _any_ electro-mechanical device be different?????
They're tools, not sentient beings. Get over it you techno-fappers.
This is perhaps the dumbest thing that's been posted to Slashdot this week. Robot passports? Are you fucking serious?
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
K.
Were they manufactured here or did they cross the border illegally? We can't have all of that cheap illegal robotic labor driving down wages for robot citizens manufactured here!
We recently had a media case about an ex-couple suing each other over custody of the dog. In short, despite whatever personal relationship they had to the dog it was not like a child custody case, it was decided by property law. A robot is someone's property, it's no different from flying an RC plane across the border. Unless you got sentient robots granted their own rights, it's a non-issue. And if you do got sentient robots then passport control is the least of your worries.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
There is no AI that has common sense, it's a fantasy.
And most of all:
Robot != AI
A robot is a machine that sits in a factory making cars.
AI is mostly software which sits in a computer typically in a university or corporate lab.
Please quit with calling AI robots.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
I couldn't get a Russian visa in time to give a lecture, so we used a telepresence rig that we built. This is already here....
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
The software and internal state of robot A can be passed to robot B in an encrypted file over the Internet, carrying the robot's "Identity" with it. So border controls like a passport are meaningless.
Shouldn't we be making sure that unicorns, fairies and dragons get passports - after all, they were first.
Why are robots jumping the queue?
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
Well of course robots need passports, silly!
Just like my car needs its own passport to cross a border.
In addition my lawnmower has its own drivers license, my garage door opener has a concealed carry permit, and my 50" big screen TV takes a taxicab to a shrink once a week because of a broken heart from when my ps4 left it for a 60" :P
And what would androids dream about? Electric sheep?
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There was a time when people didn't need passports to travel between nations. They were only introduced in the 1840's and only became popular after the American Civil War. Prior to that, human beings had the right to move between nations as they desired, with only the most autocratic (ie feudal, czarist Russia) demanding that their people remain tied to the land where they were born. And indeed, most people travelled between nations without need for one until WWI, when the need for "security" overwhelmed the difficulty of enforcement between nations that were at war, or were in danger of soon going to war.
But, of course, the world is no longer at war, is it?
The question shouldn't be "why should robots have passports?" it is "why should humans?"
You are telling us that we should attach some identity documentation in addition to the export and import declarations to satisfy some export control regulation? Or is robot piracy rate really that high? Hmm, robot pirates..awesome!
There's a joke in there somewhere, I just can't find it.
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Things that do not need passports: drills saws computers scewdrivers Things that do: people
I bought my Roomba it's own cat. Though now that I think about it, I haven't seen the cat since last weekend.
You are welcome on my lawn.
In Soviet Russia, jokes find you.
You are welcome on my lawn.
aren't we?
I just got this picture of a queue of T101s getting caught in the metal detector at LAX.
. . . with a bottle of water!
A similarly stupid question might be, "if I get a head transplant will I need two passports?"
I'm going to beat the rush and bring my Roomba to the passport office tomorrow morning.
Trolling is a art,
Unless you build a robot with no connectivity at all, robots are distributed systems. For example, If your robot runs Robot Operating System (ROS www.ros.org), then it's distributed. Everything is held together by ROS_MASTER, which is a TCP port somewhere. If you create a VPN on the internet your robot could be composed of two identical machines either side of a border. Perhaps having an import license, such as you would have with cars, weapons and other potentially lethal items, would be the correct thing to require.
We already have processes for handling things like vehicles (especially aircraft) crossing borders. Unless the vehicle is crossing for an indefinite period of time there is little to no paperwork. It isn't like airlines pay duties on the value of an A340 every time it lands.
For things like repairs/etc you might pay duties on the parts once, when entering the country where the aircraft is based.
I don't see how robots would be any different, until we get to the point where they're sentient. At that point, the robots will be the ones making the rules anyway, so you'll have to ask them.
Bin Laden could tell us US drones do not ask for permission to cross borders.
Don't be a Dick......
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
it's just some wanabe futorologist running ahead of things.
better ask does your gun need a passport? no. it needs a permit or permits.
once the ai can by itself spontaneously try for argue for getting a permit to go to another country then you can start arguing about robot rights... going ahead of things like this is just fucked up.
next up, do angels need passports?
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
I hope no one is paying this guy money to do his "research". What a phenomenal waste of time. Lets give birds passports too, and the wind. The wind definitely needs a passport.
Mean what you say...say what you mean.
It's not a black and white thing.
At the one extreme you have no telepresense at all. At the other extreme you have telepresense so good that you can operate with a high degree of autonomy in the target country. Right now we are somewhere in between, specific tasks can be done remotely but someone local has to set the equipment up for the specific task and give you access to it.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
They're cargo. They need a passport the same way a box electronic components needs a passport.
aka... no. A bill of lading is sufficient.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
What they're talking about is simply called a licence plate
bickerdyke
pets do need a passport, so eventually robots will as well
The most logical answer to this question is another question:
Do humans need passports?
0x or or snor perron?!
The government (regardless of which one) never misses a good opportunity to waste money. This needs to be investigated in-depth by a large committee of overpaid political and legislative experts who know nothing about robots.
It's lucky Scotland didn't vote for independence.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
You wouldn't download a human...
It's an interesting thought. The thing is, while you are in the country, you are also in another country at the same time.
It actually makes me think the requirement for a passport in the first place is a bit odd.
It would be easier for the corporations and governments they own to just take citizenship away from those pesky humans, and level the human and robot playing field that way.
What do you have against dicks? You probably don't like languages with dick typing.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Why should a robot need a passport? It is a machine. Like your toaster. This will continue to be true for some time to come.
Should other dangerous machines also need a passport? What about a robot welding machine? A numerically controlled drill press? (Hey, it could decide to hurt you just when you happen to have your hand in the wrong spot!)
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
Hahahaha! Made my day. Thanks.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
This is not the stupidest question I have ever heard, but it's close.
YMBNH
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I think 3D printers are like touches from the hand of God. A least going by the comments on slashdot.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Sshhhhh! [waving arms frantically] Stop asking questions!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
"if I get a head transplant will I need two passports?"
No, but the head's passport might need new biometrics.
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
what if a software bot could buy drugs AND a passport?
To those that joke about this, imagine you have a bot car that hits someone? or is programmed to cause harm? a robotic car can drive to canada and back, who is responsible for contents?