Criminal activity: encrypted, intangible and untraceable
DAVID PAPROTA
Advancements in technology in recent years are posing difficulties for law enforcement that are not yet fully realized and understood. Many constitutional experts have touted the ironclad privacy created by the Apple Corporation through their encryption technology initially introduced in the iPhone 6. While commentators have consistently expressed and promoted the privacy advantages to the general populous, the reality is far more complex and disconcerting than is currently being recognized. The advanced technology available to newer generations of iPhone users provides the opportunity for each user to create a unique criminal network without fear of data recovery. When encryption technology is utilized, any communications data warrant is rendered useless absent possession of the specific password for the respective iPhone. Encryption technology through a handheld device combined with the“ dark web” and the encryption created through technology such as The Onion Router( TOR) has had and will have tremendous implications for law enforcement.
What is being lost in favorable discussions related to the encryption available in the latest models of the iPhone is the true meaning and application of the 4th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. What is known and relied upon in law enforcement is the basic understanding that many searches require the application for and issuance of a warrant based on a probable cause finding by a neutral
and detached magistrate.
The courts, through this fundamental and substantive requirement of the 4th Amendment, have recognized the need for law enforcement to have the ability to search“ persons, houses, papers and effects” which otherwise would be considered private. The encryption technology – and apparent inability of even the creator to breach the device – undermines this fundamental and longtime understanding and application of law.
The negative implications are seemingly endless. Imagine if the organized crime networks of the past had had the ability to communicate and coordinate via an encrypted iPhone. Murders for hire, extortion schemes, human trafficking, drug manufacturing and distribution are just some of the crimes likely to be committed secretly with the use of encryption technology.
The dark web is mysterious and little understood in law enforcement today, yet it is the medium through which undetected crimes are being committed on a daily basis. When considering the internet as compared to the dark web, one should look at the internet as the portion of the iceberg that is visible above the waterline. The dark web is the unseen mass underneath the waterline that poses the real danger.
The dark web exists through sophisticated technology, such as TOR, which provides for encryption that funnels a communication through a system involving as many as 6,000 relays. The technology made headlines through the Silk Roads website and the 2013 arrest and subsequent prosecution of Silk Roads creator Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 and received a highly publicized life sentence. While the DEA did an exceptional job bringing Ulbricht to justice, the reality is that he created a highly profitable criminal network through the use of advanced technology that quickly has become widespread and is growing every day. This is technology being utilized effectively by career criminals all the way down to techsavvy teens in middle-class neighborhoods.
The dark web is being used by teens to obtain illegal drugs through a rather basic process leaving very little risk for detection. The encryption available through TOC and the assistance of untraceable green dot cash cards or bit coin, along with the use of the to-the-minute tracking available with most commercial delivery services, have allowed for a basic scheme being widely used to obtain illegal contraband. While I won’ t lay out the full scope and detailed components of the scheme, it is very basic in construct and currently being widely used. The increasing use of synthetic drugs often can be attributed to dark web transactions, and is facilitating an emerging market that will pose increasing difficulties for law enforcement investigators in the not-so-distant future.
Lost in the discussion of encryption and the increasing use of encryption technology is the stark reality that we are traveling down a very dark road that likely will take us to places most people simply are not ready to acknowledge we are headed. Today’ s law enforcement professionals would be well advised to learn as much as possible about the dark web, TOR and the use of encryption technology to facilitate criminal activity. Unbeknown to many is the fact that the technology is being openly utilized with little consequence or concern regarding detection.
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NEW JERSEY COPS ■ JUNE 2016
Dr. David Paprota is the Chief of Police in Lacey Township, a member of the PBA Local 238 and the Executive Director of Critical Concepts and Strategies( CCS), an entry-level exam preparation company. Further information can be obtained through his website at www. ccstest. com or email questions to info @ ccstest. com.