The documentary “I am Jane Doe” was launched in 2017. It tells the story of the woman missing her 13 years old daughter. She was under search for 270 days and was finally found with assistance of a new computer program. Her picture was put on the website in the “sex” section and exactly this helped police track the pimps.

It is very difficult to figure out the traffickers from the huge number of ads if you go through them manually. The algorithm developed by Rebecca Portnoff from the University of California is looking for suspicious ads and their authors with a crypto-wallet used as a search reference point. And it helped the movie character find her daughter.

Very often military developments move forward the scientific progress. Let’s recollect the the internet creation and creation of many household appliances such as microwaves or wristwatches that we all got used to for a long time. The latest technological achievements, created for military purposes, are used by both intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

There is no wind in New Orlean, rainfall is unlikely

As it was recently known, CIA financed Palantir startup claiming it is a charity project. The system forecasting crimes was built on its base. The system was tested in New Orlean where the local police has traced several crimes with assistance of this development. Previously Palantir has tested its technologies during military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq while searching for explosive.

But the first real test of the crime prediction system was made not in the war, but in peaceful New Orleans, in 2012. Having concluded a contract with the City Hall, the company has obtained access to a huge amount of information. Judicial decisions, addresses, telephones, information from social networks, as well as data related to crime in New Orleans were in its hands. Based on the data collected Palantir software has created specific maps demonstrating almost all details of the life of any inhabitant.

It works this way. For instance, the policeman enter a car number and the system provides with all info available both on the vehicle and its owner, showing his friends, fines and routes. The system has also analyzed calls from prisons and all the registered police entries and visits. In this way the law enforcement officers tried to make a forecast, which of New Orleans residents can commit a crime, and who can become a victim.

The first results of using the software can really astonish: the crime level in New Orlean fell by a third in the first two years.

It was discovered lately that neither the city administration nor attorneys nor the locals had a clue about the system due to the fact that Palantir project was acting as a charity project and gained no attention.

And what about civil rights?

Human rights activists and experts condemn the introduction of systems like Palantir due to the secrecy of such experiments. Many are outraged by the fact that such careful monitoring of citizens and the collection of the most diverse information were kept secret. It is for this reason that the company has problems with attempts to sell the product, for example in Chicago.

The company managed to sell it to Denmark in 2016 but the Dutch policy was forced to apply for EU permission because the system does not comply with EU personal data safety standards. Israel was another country purchased the development.

It is possible that such software will be used by law enforcement agencies of many countries if the US experiment will be assumed as successful and all legal issues will be settled.

Bitcoin is leading the investigation…

The police is called to secure the order not only in the real world, but also in the virtual. Therefore, law enforcement agencies have to monitor all the new trends in the world of IT-technologies. So, in the American district Benton (Arkansas) a new program to combat Internet criminals using bitcoin was developed and adopted . Its main goal is to combat child pornography. The program can calculate customers and producers of prohibited content in the "Deep Web".

The policemen decided to search for criminals with assistance of BitCoin because the system is often used for payment for such services. Transactions with cryptocurrencies are not totally anonymous. They are blocks available for anyone. One of the project developers believes that a blockchain entry can be considered as a standard bank account. And it might help the police trace Internet criminals.

Policemen decided to learn mining in order to understand how blockchain works. It is also cheaper than buying bitcoins and the coins mined can be used for municipal needs.

The UK police is not far behind its american colleagues. A report prepared by law enforcement officials was recently published under the title "Police Bitcoin". It tells us how the police intend to confiscate cryptocurrency from criminals.

Extortion, purchase of weapons and many other "dark" Internet activities are made using cryptocurrencies. And as soon as the police officers master the new technologies, they will be able to uncover crypto crimes and find criminals.

Law enforcers have to study the books and brochures available on this topic, as well as use the experience of experts on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.