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Google Joining Fight Against Drug Cartels

Posted by Soulskill on from the who-gets-to-define-illicit dept.

Several readers sent word that Google has announced its intention to start fighting drug cartels and other 'illicit networks.' According to a post on the official blog, the company thinks modern technology plays a key role in helping to 'expose and dismantle global criminal networks, which depend on secrecy and discretion in order to function.' They're holding a summit in Los Angeles this week, which aims to 'bring together a full-range of stakeholders, from survivors of organ trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor to government officials, dozens of engineers, tech leaders and product managers from Google and beyond. Through the summit, which lasts until Wednesday, we hope to discover ways that technology can be used to expose and disrupt these networks as a whole—and to put some of these ideas into practice.'

10 of 253 comments (clear)

  1. Next? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    War on dissent and alternative information sources.

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
    1. Re:Next? by slick7 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      War on dissent and alternative information sources.

      The war on drugs, as well as all other wars, only profit the profiteers. The wars are a lost cause. The first casualties in any conflict are truth and innocence.

      --
      The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
    2. Re:Next? by Charliemopps · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "the war on drugs" that we have here in the US is just a simple catch phrase for the increase in arrests, incarceration and prison sentences that are supposed to target illegal drugs because they are though to be a root cause of violent crime.

      What's happening in Mexico however, is nearly a civil war. A REAL war. And Google should be commended for trying to help. The people of Mexico are suffering greatly due to our own greed, and addiction. It's a terrible thing.

    3. Re:Next? by oreaq · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree that chronic cocaine usage has some serious medical side effects; and cocaine is still relatively harmless compared to other synthetic drugs like methamphetamine. I don't believe that decriminalization would necessarily increase chronic usage of these though. You can buy heroine and cocaine with practically no risk from law enforcement in any major European city and our healthcare and prison systems seem to be able to handle the the burden quiet fine. From the outside the situation in America regarding prisons and healthcare looks worse.

      The number of users to me seems to be more correlated with certain social factors regarding the users than with the legal status of the drugs. If you want to decrease overall usage of cocaine, et al. decriminalization is essential to be able to tackle those factors effectively.

  2. Don't be evil by detritus. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One innocent person spied on, arrested or charged with the help of Google to advance this "don't be evil" agenda is one too many.
    You can't be evil to fight evil. You're passing ones and zeroes back and forth for crying out loud...

  3. Re:If we start filtering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Absolutely. Prohibition always works. Worked great for booze - works great for weed, heroin, cocaine and meth.

  4. Vacation plans by riverat1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google execs better change their plans if they were going to vacation in Mexico any time soon.

  5. Mixing up their criminals by billcopc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let's not lump drug trafficking in with sex and organ trafficking. The latter are heinous atrocities, the former is a contrived product of repressive government policy.

    Drug trafficking would never have become a problem if governments hadn't created the giant void in the market that allowed them to exist in the first place. People want to get high, they will do so whether the nanny statists like it or not.

    --
    -Billco, Fnarg.com
  6. End drug cartels by legalizing drugs by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    End drug cartels by legalizing drugs. When you prohibit something with a large, inelastic demand you create violence. There's a reason why (except in prisons where they are banned) you don't see people stabbing other people for cigarettes because they are available just about anywhere. When alcohol was banned in the US, there was a rise in organized crime selling booze. When prohibition ended, gang violence declined massively. Prohibition didn't work with alcohol and it doesn't work with drugs.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  7. Google sells people, more data more money by Stonefish · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a PR and marketing strategy. Google relies on selling people to companies however this hegemony is threatened by lawmakers whom may constrain what google collects. By saying that we might be able to win the war of drugs if you let us collect more data on people is a simple strategy and the government is so silly that they'll buy it.
    They want people to associate limitations on google's ability to collect data with crime.