Drug Trafficking on the Dark Web

Drug Trafficking on the Dark Web

The dark web exists as an internet veil where bad acts and good acts coexist. On the positive side, the dark web offers anonymity and secure communication platforms to shield secret government processes and protect journalists, activists, and reform agents threatened by foreign governments. On the negative side, due to anonymity, the dark web acts as a marketplace for criminals where buyers and sellers can anonymously do business. Criminals such as drug traffickers use the dark web since it is easily accessible, and they can deliver products or have them delivered, avoiding in-person transactions. The dark web also uses cryptocurrency, which is difficult to trace or link to customers. Dark web marketplaces also employ security features to protect customer information. As such, it is difficult for law enforcement to investigate crime on the dark web due to the anonymity and the fact that criminals scatter evidence among various virtual and physical locations.

How Drug Trafficking On the Dark Web Affects the Face of Investigations in The United States

Drug trafficking on the dark web relies on anonymity and cryptocurrency. Despite the rapid growth of the dark web, the platform is still mysterious to most people and law enforcement. The media often sensationalizes the dark web with scare tactics, and as a result, law enforcement barely understands the dark web. Moreover, drug traffickers on the dark web use encrypted messages to discuss their trade. Due to encryption, law enforcement cannot quickly gather evidence.  Law enforcement agencies lack the technical expertise and resources to investigate the dark web, and criminals recognize the issue and the law enforcement’s reluctance to delve into the dark web. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies do not have the expertise to decrypt messages from seized electronic devices. The situation allows the emergence of crime that law enforcement is not prepared to combat or monitor.

Investigating drug trafficking on the dark web in the United States involves technical companies and technical experts to address the problem. Tech experts and companies decrypt messages and unlock devices. Tech companies also provide data from Internet Service Providers to help in the investigations. However, tech experts and tech companies delay and are reluctant to help or inform suspects, making it difficult for investigators (Police Executive Research Forum, 2018). Prosecutors, judges, and other officials of criminal investigation also play a significant role since a judge must approve a request for digital evidence. However, most judges do not understand the technology linked to digital proof and are reluctant to issue search warrants for digital evidence (Police Executive Research Forum, 2018). Most judges argue that digital devices contain personal information which may not concern the investigation.

For effective investigation of drug trafficking on the dark web, investigators in the United States pose as offenders and join the chat rooms on the dark web. The method has yielded results since, in 2013, the FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, after an undercover agent located different posts on the forums on the dark web (Lacson & Jones, 2016). The secret agent identified a post in which Ulbricht highlighted his Gmail account that the FBI used to get him. However, despite the success, currently, criminals are aware of the investigators’ presence on the dark web and are more careful. Law enforcement in the United States also uses honeypot traps on the dark web to lure criminals. The traps are websites that appear to support criminal activity, but investigators establish them to capture the web users’ IP addresses. Law enforcement also uses hacking to pursue criminals on the dark web. The hacking techniques use surveillance software to access and take control of the criminals’ devices.

Technological Tools That Law Enforcement Could Use to Investigate Drug Trafficking On the Dark Web

Since the manual collection of data is time-consuming, dark web monitoring tools, including Website and Open Source Intelligence (Osint) tools, can investigate drug trafficking on the dark web. The devices can effectively and efficiently collect data on the Dark Web and monitor all platforms, including dark web forums, messaging boards, marketplaces, social media, and blogs. Open Source Intelligence identifies and locates relationships between criminals and other people in their circles (Akhgar, Bayerl, & Sampson, (Eds.) 2017). Experts can also use the tools to track information such as insider threats and potential hacks and disrupt them in time. Website tool enables investigators to look into the dark web by collecting, assessing, and monitoring information within a set time frame. The technological tools employ smart algorithms to decrypt language since most dark web forums and message boards use different languages, including Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and English. The dark web scanning tools overcome the language barriers when collecting and analyzing information.

Website and Osint tools allow investigators to unveil a criminal’s name, location, image, and IP address, which is vital evidence for court. Webint and Osint help investigators build a case against criminals since they follow the cryptocurrency trail and reveal connections between criminals, their affiliates, and group members. The technological tools can scan the dark web for direct mentions of certain assets such as confidential memos or organizations such as banks that could highlight a potential breach.

Challenges in the Investigation of Drug Trafficking On the Dark Web

Investigation on the dark web is quite challenging since criminals are aware of police presence in the dark web and are more cautious. As a result, the investigation takes too long, and in most cases, criminals move on before law enforcement catches up with them. Moreover, dark web markets disappear, and new ones emerge when owners note police presence or scrutiny.  The markets also use multi-signature systems to authorize cryptocurrency transactions and use complex encryption programs and two-factor authentication systems to protect customers. Criminals also change their identity on the dark web often, making it difficult for investigators.

The use of honeypot traps to capture the criminals’ IP addresses attracts ethical concerns. For instance, the FBI created ‘Playpen’ to attract internet criminals. The website featured over 20,000 sexually explicit videos and images of children, including over 8,000 files that users could directly download (Brown, 2020). The justice department opposed this act, arguing that the FBI violated the children’s rights and could not prevent users from copying the images to other sites on the internet. Moreover, many view honey pot traps as forms of entrapment and violations of civil freedoms. By using honey pot traps, law enforcement participates in illegal activities to create uncertainty in the offenders’ minds and reduce their sense of freedom and anonymity (Mitchell, 2018). Although law enforcement uses honeypot traps to discourage criminals from using the internet due to the possibility of encountering honey, pot traps, the moral implications accompanying such tactics are dire. Furthermore, no evidence highlights honey pot traps as the most effective tactics for investigating illegal activity on the dark web.

Law enforcement agencies also use hacking and web monitoring tools to collect data on the dark web attracting extraterritorial jurisdiction issues. Although the technique effectively provides evidence against dark web criminals, its usage attracts significant concern. In this case, a judge must issue a search warrant to locate a device if the user conceals the location using technology. The issue expands extraterritorial enforcement jurisdiction since most of the digital devices on the dark web are out of the United States. As such, most law enforcement targets are likely to be abroad, posing different national sovereignty issues that law enforcement agencies must address to pursue the dark web criminals. However, despite the legal barriers to law enforcement through hacking, the use of web monitoring tools to investigate drug trafficking on the dark web yields better results.

Drug traffickers on the dark web rely on the anonymity that the browser grants users. Drug traffickers can buy and sell drugs anonymously and deliver the drugs on dark web forums and marketplaces. The process gives drug traffickers the confidence to operate. Although law enforcement employs different methods to pursue traffickers on the ark web, each method poses various challenges. According to legal theorists, the best solution to eliminate drug trafficking on the dark web is erasing the entire dark web. Nonetheless, erasing the dark web is not possible since there is high demand for the services and goods offered on the ark web, and people will always take risks to fulfil the demand. Law enforcement should acknowledge that it cannot eliminate crime on the dark web, but it can reduce the impact of drug trafficking on the world by using the existing methods to pursue drug traffickers on the dark web.

References

Akhgar, B., Bayerl, P. S., & Sampson, F. (Eds.). (2017). Open-source intelligence investigation: from strategy to implementation. Springer.

Brown, S. D. (2020, February). Hacking for evidence: the risks and rewards of deploying malware in pursuit of justice. In ERA Forum (Vol. 20, No. 3, pp. 423-438). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Lacson, W., & Jones, B. (2016).

The 21st Century DarkNet Market: Lessons from the Fall of Silk Road. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 10(1).

Mitchell, A. (2018). An intelligent honeypot. Cork Institute of Technology.

Police Executive Research Forum. (2018). NEW NATIONAL COMMITMENT REQUIRED: The Changing Nature of Crime And Criminal Investigations. CRITICAL ISSUES IN POLICING SERIES.

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Directions: Follow this link choose a crime and then answer the questions https://perf.memberclicks.net/assets/ChangingNatureofCrime.pdf

Discuss two ways in which this type of crime has or will change the face of investigations in the United States.
Identify and discuss two technological tools that could be used to investigate the crime and why these tools would be an asset in helping to put together and take the case to court.

Discuss two challenges that you believe would be faced in the course of the investigation for this type of crime, and offer two suggestions on how the challenges may be minimized or overcome.
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