Can Google take down illicit criminal networks?

Can Google take down illicit criminal networks? That's the hope behind this week's Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition summit (INFO), taking place in Los Angeles in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations and the Tribeca Film Festival.

The belief is that focused use of technology could enable stakeholders to map and expose said crimnal networks—which include drug and human trafficking rings, organ harvesting, and arms dealing groups.

"A connected world is a free world," @ericschmidt #infosummit2012

— jane rosenthal (@janetribeca) July 17, 2012

In a piece for the Washington Post, Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen examine the current limitations of technology in combatting crime, and how the Internet, with its non-hierarchical structure and packet-based delivery methods, can be used to expose organized criminal organizations and provide anonimity to those too fearful of retribution to speak directly to potentially corrupt central authorities.

Check out a preview of the summit below.

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