Extremist NFTs Across Blockchains
Of the many potential threats, Handle and Jarvers focus on three relevant types of crimes and the impact of Web3 on their execution: Terrorism and organized crime; harmful content and child sexual abuse material; and money laundering and scams. Here is what they write about terrorism and organized crime:
More versatility of cryptocurrencies, such as Monero, Zcash, or Dash, in a Web3 world will boost their current uses as a source of income through donations, drug trafficking, or money laundering. Web3 technology is also expected to enable extremist groups to target their propaganda more precisely to possible recruits. Moreover, new crimes and challenges will arise: Content regulation on existing social media platforms is already tough, and identifying distributors and deleting content on Web3 will become nearly impossible. This makes Web3 a potential safe haven for the distribution of propaganda. As a new threat, Web3 developments foster the integration of virtual reality in social platforms. Metaverses allow for the creation of a virtual world that can serve as an immersive breeding ground for radicalization and recruitment. Not only can a virtual “Caliphate” or white supremacist state be created, reflecting the extremists’ beliefs and rules, but the extremists can also facilitate training in that world, such as recreating certain attacks or inspecting possible targets. The future web also creates potential new revenue streams: Selling extremist NFTs opens a new market for extremist memorabilia, tokenized certificates, or digital “souvenirs” with buyers among both like-minded extremists and curious passers-by.
Handle and Jarvers conclude:
Ultimately, Web3 research should leverage the transparency of blockchains to quantify pending security questions, reduce the uncertainty of this technological development, and anticipate future needs for law enforcement and intelligence agencies. To fight extremism in new technological fields, open-source intelligence (OSINT) and cybercrime capabilities of law enforcement agencies will require drastic growth.And their adjacent competencies must be brought closer together: The future internet requires a combination of OSINT and cybercrime-oriented data analytics that does not care whether the data comes from “classic” websites (Web1), social media platforms (Web2), or blockchains (Web3). This future of “internet intelligence” (INTINT) seamlessly combines classical OSINT with social media intelligence (SOCMINT) and blockchain intelligence (BLOCKINT).
The high uncertainty around technological development, such as Web3, burdens swift decision-making and foresightful acting. Anticipatory analytics, as shown here with regard to extremism on NFTs, pave the way for going from the unknown unknowns to the known unknowns. And even if Web3 technologies do not become core challenges for law enforcement agencies in the second half of the 2020s, the call for more and better internet intelligence is fail-safe: Current demands for better internet investigation already exceed current law enforcement capabilities by far. Therefore, better skills and more staff not only serve future challenges but also address current problems in countering security threats on the internet.
