[gsc] From the "Know Your Enemy" Department

[Wavyhill]

All,

I ran across this study which I think is worthy of bookmarking for several
reasons:

  "INFORMAL VALUE TRANSFER SYSTEMS, TERRORISM AND MONEY LAUNDERING"

     www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/208301.pdf

It comes from the National Institute of Justice by way of The
National Criminal Justice Reference Service, funded by a DOJ grant,
eventually becoming a joint project of the Treasury and Justice departments.

It references "The Non-Traditional Methodologies Section" a newly created
part of FINCEN. There are hints that this may have been involved in 'recent
events'.

Though the main focus is on Hawala and related channels, there is some
treatement
of emerging "high tech Internet payment services", likely a reference to
us, though
DGCs are not ecplicitly mentioned (the study was commissioned in 2002 and
distributed, though never published, in 2003).

One of the most interesting aspects is that it is a veritable textbook of
ways to transfer value internationally outside of the regulated banking system.
You could teach a course from it.

It's remarkably even handed. Points out that criminals and terrorists actually
make much more use of regulated channels, that informal channels have their
legitimate uses, that zealous opposition to them only forces them further
underground and makes criminals of ordinary people, that such prosecution is
a waste of political capital and law enforcement resources, that it can
create more enemies that it is worth, and so on.

I think this merits study especially because I believe the roots of the
current anti-DGC actions are in the organizations and policies referenced
here and we should study the opposition at least as carefully as they are
studying us.

cheers,

wavyhill

--- end forwarded text


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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'