DARPA’s Pre-Crime Vision: A Dystopian Leap in Anti-Money Laundering
In a move that seems ripped from the pages of a dystopian novel, the Department of Defense, through its research arm DARPA, has announced plans to launch a pre-crime Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program. This initiative, coined as the world’s least effective policy experiment by critics, aims to stop money laundering before it even happens, leveraging algorithms and predictive policing techniques.
The current global effectiveness of AML frameworks stands at a dismal 0.02%, with compliance costs soaring 507 times the amount of money recovered. Yet, DARPA’s new strategy involves an even deeper dive into surveillance, potentially eroding the right to the presumption of innocence. Under this program, known as A3ML (Anticipatory and Adaptive Anti-Money Laundering), the U.S. aims to preemptively tackle money laundering, with a particular focus on digital assets like cryptocurrencies, given their mention in relation to North Korea’s funding of its missile program.
However, this approach raises significant concerns about privacy and civil liberties. Predictive policing, which A3ML would utilize, has been criticized for perpetuating discrimination, as it often relies on data that disproportionately targets marginalized communities. This method has been previously highlighted by seven members of Congress in 2024, who pointed out its inefficacy and potential to worsen the unequal treatment of Americans.
Furthermore, the initiative’s reliance on biased data sets to predict criminal activity before it occurs could set a dangerous precedent, further entrenching biases within law enforcement practices. The U.S. Government’s AML efforts have already been internally criticized, questioning the utility of existing frameworks under the Bank Secrecy Act.
As we stand on the brink of what might be an Orwellian future, where every financial transaction could be under scrutiny before any crime is committed, the implications for individual freedom and privacy are profound. This program might not only fail in its stated mission but could also usher in an era where the burden of proof shifts from the state to the individual, redefining the notion of innocence in America. <<< written by Grok
Source: Original Article
