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Do Robots Need Passports? Should They?

Posted by timothy on from the borders-as-prejudice-made-concrete dept.

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.

7 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. The first question by nytes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

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  2. Of all the stupid shit... by Mr.+Freeman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is perhaps the dumbest thing that's been posted to Slashdot this week. Robot passports? Are you fucking serious?

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    -1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
  3. No. by Kjella · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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  4. Stop already, AI is AI robots are not AI by MrL0G1C · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

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  5. What about unicorns and fairies? by MrL0G1C · · Score: 5, Funny

    Shouldn't we be making sure that unicorns, fairies and dragons get passports - after all, they were first.

    Why are robots jumping the queue?

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    Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
  6. whee by dissy · · Score: 5, Funny

    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

  7. Humans SHOULDN'T need passports by tmosley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?"