Digital vaccination certification involves making many promises, few of which can realistically be kept. In this paper, we demonstrate how this phenomenon constitutes various forms of theatre – immunity theatre, border theatre, behavioural theatre and equality theatre – doing so by drawing on perspectives from technology regulation, migration studies and critical geopolitics. Technological theatre and political theatre often serve valid functions, but these forms are problematic for several reasons. First, they involve real-world infrastructures that, while unlikely to accomplish the task at hand, will nevertheless last a long time and be repurposed. They therefore constitute governance by data infrastructure, diverting action and control away from elected legislators to for-profit contractors. Second, vaccine certification effectively legitimises inequalities between countries and people by formalising ways to distinguish between the vaccinated and non-vaccinated and to exclude the latter, thus reinforcing both mobility and connectivity divides. It serves as a way to (further) close borders and to regulate, through code and infrastructure, access to public goods such as employment and public space. Finally, the project of certification displaces a more important action, namely addressing the radical inequality in countries’ ability to combat the pandemic.

中文翻译：

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承诺被打破：数字疫苗和免疫认证的性能和执行性

数字疫苗接种认证涉及做出许多承诺，但实际上很少能兑现。在本文中，我们通过借鉴技术监管、移民研究和批判地缘政治的观点，展示了这种现象如何构成各种形式的剧院——免疫剧院、边境剧院、行为剧院和平等剧院。技术戏剧和政治戏剧通常发挥着有效的作用，但由于几个原因，这些形式存在问题。首先，它们涉及现实世界的基础设施，虽然不太可能完成手头的任务，但仍会持续很长时间并被重新利用。因此，它们通过数据基础设施构成治理，将行动和控制从民选立法者转移到营利性承包商。第二，疫苗认证通过正式区分接种疫苗和未接种疫苗并排除后者的方式，有效地使国家和人民之间的不平等合法化，从而加强了流动性和连通性的鸿沟。它是（进一步）关闭边界的一种方式，并通过代码和基础设施来规范对就业和公共空间等公共产品的获取。最后，认证项目取代了一项更重要的行动，即解决各国抗击疫情能力的严重不平等。通过代码和基础设施，获得就业和公共空间等公共产品。最后，认证项目取代了一项更重要的行动，即解决各国抗击疫情能力方面的严重不平等。通过代码和基础设施，获得就业和公共空间等公共产品。最后，认证项目取代了一项更重要的行动，即解决各国抗击疫情能力的严重不平等。