Money, Privacy, and Power

 
How should we react to Snowden’s revelations about NSA surveillance? There were immediate demands for explanation, accountability, and privacy protection, but so far we have seen little reasoned discussion of the risks and benefits of modern surveillance techniques. The conference “Money, Privacy, and Power” changes that on September 10, 2013 at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The conference focuses on money laundering and financial crime. This is a critical nexus at which concerns about terrorism, organized crime, and domestic crime combine in ways that call for international cooperation. Approximately thirty European regulators, policy makers, financial experts, and surveillance experts will attend. The aim is to point the way to facilitate international cooperation in ways that balance effective crime prevention with effective privacy protection.


A key participant and sponsor is the European Commission funded project, HEMOLIA (Hybrid Enhanced Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence, Investigation, Incrimination and Alerts). HEMOLIA “is a new generation Anti-Money Laundering . . . investigation system which in addition to the traditional financial data makes extensive use of modern society’s huge telecom data source, thereby opening up a new dimension of capabilities to all Money Laundering fighters . . . and Financial Institutes.” (http://www.hemolia.eu). In a post-Snowden era, “extensive use” of telecommunications data raises acute privacy concerns. The HEMOLIA system incorporates privacy protective technology, and the description of that technology will initiate the discussion of privacy.
US and European experts will discuss the pros and cons of such surveillance efforts. The concluding multi-national panel focuses exclusively on the privacy concerns to find ways promote international cooperation for effective crime prevention and effective privacy protection.