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Dirk Vande Ryse, Head of the Frontex Situation Centre (FSC), on the left, giving explanations to Dimitris Avramopoulos, next to the screen of the FSC

Space: The Final Frontier of Europe’s Migrant Surveillance

26th July 2021

A new industry is offering border agencies around the world access to advanced space-based surveillance capabilities once reserved for the most advanced intelligence agencies. Using satellites able to track signals from satellite phones and other emitters, these companies are then selling access to the data obtained to anyone willing to pay, including UK and EU border agencies. While such surveillance can and is being used to save lives, it can also be used for illegal ‘pull backs’ in…