In the FBI action against Kim Dotcom uploaders of copy right protected items now also face a laundering charge. It is a good example of the way in which the state bends and strechted the legal tools which were once put into place for a specific threat: first against drug money, then against organised crime (whatever that means), to protect the integrity of the financial system (but undermined by its own most non-integre…

Whence a threat really comes

The financial crisis has taught a lesson which is not new: politicians and the public are easily aroused by fear, particularly of crime. Fear creates an incantation market for policy makers and researchers, invariably confirming these fears. One of these marketed fears concerns the dreaded tsunami of crime-money and the laundering thereof. This is most successfully marketed crime fear products of the past two…