From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 95 08:51:21 PDT
To: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: Software vs Money Laundering
Message-ID: <199509131549.LAA22502@panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 10:48 AM 9/13/95 -0400, John Young wrote:

>      Can artificial intelligence be used to combat crime by
>      ferreting out money laundering? Officials at law
>      enforcement, defense and intelligence agencies like to
>      think so. They have suggested creating a sophisticated
>      computer program to screen records of the more than
>      700,000 electronic money transfers involving U.S.
>      institutions each day and to flag suspicious ones for
>      further investigation. By using AI, they hope to stop
>      some of the $300 billion in profits from drug deals and
>      other illegal activities that they estimate is laundered
>      world-wide each year. But in a report issued yesterday,
>      the congressional Office of Technology Assessment says
>      any such plan would face considerable obstacles.
>      [Cyberian Joel Reidenberg, an OTA advisor, is quoted.]
>

Not the least of which is that money launderers can use "AI Software" to
generate a stream of real and dummy money transfers that emulates "normal"
money transfers.  Not to mention the fact that monopoly money transfer
networks that can be surveilled by the Feds (FEDWIRE and SWIFT) are not long
for this world.  They will be replaced by encrypted, open, net-based systems.

DCF

"Yes Virginia, one *can* have an encrypted, open system.  In fact, that's
the best way to have an open system."