Slashdot Mirror


Google Joining Fight Against Drug Cartels

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.'

9 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. 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. Oh shit... this is their excuse? by erroneus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    So now they are siding with the "war on drugs" in order to push their means and methods which are considered by many as questionable of not simply creepy and discomforting? What's next? "Think of the children" and "fighting terror"?

    Google. You're a commercial interest whose product lies in the information you collect so you can sell more advertising and marketing services. I will not forget that. You have not forgotten that. Why do you want everyone else to forget that?

  6. Who are the real "Drug Cartel" ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When people read "drug cartel" they think of "illicit drugs", such as cocaine, meth, ice, and so on

    But who _are_ the real drug cartel ?

    Ever been to hospital lately ?

    Ever wonder why the hell everything there is so expensive ?

    Doctors of course wants to get their fair share and over-charge the patients, but, if we dig deep enough, we see a culture of vulture in the medical industry - and the "LEGAL DRUG" industry is a very essential part of the Culture of Vulture

    They always paint the picture of "It takes so and so billions to carry out the research" so "we need to charge so much and so much for the drugs to recover our cost"

    Really?

    The legal drug industry is a MULTI-TRILLION DOLLAR industry, dominated by several oligopolies, and because of it, drugs that would have cost mere cents to produce are being sold for hundreds and hundreds of dollars

    No matter how big Google is, Google still can't take on the true "Drug Cartel". They are just too powerful !
     

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  7. 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.
  8. 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.