Global Perspectives (0457) Individual research report Component 2 Topic: Law and Criminality Title: Should Search and Rescue (SAR) organizations collaborate with law enforcements to crowdsource and boost the success rate of locating missing persons? Name of centre: Bharati Vidyapeeth Rabindranath Tagore School of Excellence Centre code: IN568 Candidate name: Souroja Ghosh Candidate number: 019 Word count: 1503 Souroja Ghosh, Individual research report Issue Analysis: According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in India, precisely, 423,655 women and 246,343 men were reported missing in the year 2020. Furthermore, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) directed by the National Institute of Justice in Washington, DC, claims that at any given point of time, up to 100,000 individuals might be reported missing in the US, with approximately 600,000 reported missing per annum. The number of persons going missing across the world are staggering. There are several cases that have still not been solved up to date. There are very few extensive and reliable sources of information regarding the quantitative data points of missing persons throughout the world. People could be missing for several reasons. For example, it could be a result of trafficking, illicit drug violence, armed violence, migration, human right abuses. Consequently, missing cases take low significance to law enforcement agencies while cases of robbery, assaults, human trafficking, and crime prevention take more importance. This is usually because in missing person cases, police are in the dark end of what happened during the scene due to lack of information. According to Investigation Hotline, while investigating child missing cases, lack of information is caused since “it could assume to 2 hours to retrieve data from the parent due to panic and shock.” While armed conflicts and human right abuses are diligently monitored, it is still difficult to extract information, given the resistance put up by most states to engage effectively and work truthfully regarding the issue. Although, there are various organizations like International Commissions on Missing Persons (IMCP) or Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) that help analyse and collect data on missing individuals, we still have a limited workforce to oversee each case thoroughly. We require more human resource to ensure we address each case adequately and efficiently. Ever since then, various non-profit organizations across the world have emerged over the course of years to provide solutions to this global wide concern. Course of Action: People from diverse backgrounds collaborate to achieve solutions for this global problem. Professionals from various domain expertise like cybersecurity specialists, ethical hackers, private investigators, forensic experts, and law enforcement officers are often included in those collaborations. However, this course of action still does not effectively gather enough labour for a thorough investigation of every case. Another course of action that can be practiced is crowdsourcing. In this form of practice, the public could perform investigations as per their own capability but under lawful terms and conditions. The Chosen course of action: Practicing crowdsourcing. When the general public is involved, it is expected to see not only various backgrounds but also various age groups, difference in perspectives and understanding of the global issue. For example, there could be an experienced private investigator as well as an undergraduate enthusiast. The experienced private investigator is likely to have more understanding on this topic rather than a student. For the well-being of all the people interested to get involved, Organizations like Trace Labs explain what policies and procedures are required of the general public to follow while investigating. Few codes of conduct while operating are as follows: Souroja Ghosh, Individual research report They are prohibited from fieldwork which requires physical on-the-ground efforts to collect data. Instead, they gather Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT). As per the rules of engagement, “we do not theorize, speculate or actively get involved…” “we passively collect the data that is generated by a subject to provide this intelligence to the law enforcement agencies that we partner with…” Digital footprints plays a crucial role when practicing OSINT techniques regarding missing persons. For example, online behaviour tracking, wherein, one analyses social media platforms to understand their activity. According to Ritu Gill from Sans.org, OSINT sites include public documents, news media, libraries, social media platforms, websites, images, videos, and the dark web. Causes and Consequences: Locating missing persons is time sensitive. The longer the person is reported missing, the higher risk is the person exposed to. Crowdsourcing helps gather more leads and sightings. While enthusiasts performing OSINT techniques will not always lead to a guaranteed success, scouting public records decreases the time and efforts for law enforcement agencies to work and lead the on-the-ground investigation more effectively rather than conducting timeconsuming thorough research. To gather such large groups of human resource, it is crucial to build innovative platforms to attract and crowdsource similar minds. There are competitive contests like Capture the Flag (CTF) which gives badges to those teams who manage to share data and evidence regarding the missing persons, thus, gamifying the process of investigating real world cases. In an article named “Compete, Collaborate, Investigate,” a survey was conducted, which explores the reasonings behind the actions of the people involved. (All interviews were audio and video recorded with participants’ permission. Automated transcripts were generated by Zoom and rectified manually. Typed notes were also maintained. All participant and organization taking part have been anonymized.) Few participants express that many novices, at the very beginning, where attracted to the technological aspects. Some participants were encouraged by their craving to give back and contribute by working in these organisations and supporting vulnerable people. Some wanted to spread awareness on the topic on which they are enthusiastic. Some enjoy the adrenaline rush as if it is a "game, sort of trying to follow that chain of evidence and you get addicted to it.” Another participant described how the people competing were all sharing their opinions and take aways during the CTF. It encourages sharing various methods and approaches each took, thus, collaborating and ending up sharing a goal. Although perceptions on gamifying real-world cases may vary, many people shared positive feedback. Participants expressed that gamifying the process allowed less defined structure and increased collaborative models which allowed communication. Gamification motivates people to employ OSINT techniques who are otherwise not interested. Competitions like timesensitive contest may also create a sense of urgency which pushes participants to work more efficiently. According to trace labs, badges are created to honour every participant that takes their time to help submit data and possibly open up cold cases and help reuniting families. The collaboration between distinct levels of experience enhances their learning, thus, raising awareness on a global level. To increase the efficiency of the human resource, organizations partner with some of the industry’s experts to provide training and boosting the success rate of locating missing persons. Souroja Ghosh, Individual research report Lack of crowdsourcing decreases human resources, consequently, decreasing intel gathering within the time limit, therefore, decreasing chances of locating missing persons. Global Perspective: Transnational organized crime networks often include activities involving missing individuals. These criminal organizations exploit the interconnectedness between the nations. According to Global Initiative, illicit activities include forced disappearance, human trafficking, and abduction. Crowdsourcing is practiced throughout the globe. While each nation practices SAR operations differently, the complexity and urgency regarding locating missing persons cases is common in all countries. Communication through the digital world because of its nature of conduct, that is, OSINT techniques by general enthusiasts emphasizes on cooperation, standard procedures, and coordination among the nations. For example, the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) is a disturbing human rights violation that affects the Indigenous communities of Canada and the United States, particularly those in First Nations and Inuit. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) acknowledged approximately 1200 cases of missing people. However, the Indigenous women’s group documents claim it to be around four thousand cases. Families of the Indigenous women actively participate in crowdsourcing efforts. They used OSINT techniques to trace digital footprints, social media platforms, to gather information. This case proves that through crowdsourcing (since the families were the general public after all), it is possible to boost the success rate of locating missing people. National Perspective: Crowdsourcing increases collaborations internationally. Similarly, it also strengthens the bonds within the nation. It increases national security by increasing chances of locating missing persons while simultaneously decreasing overall crime rates of the nation. Crowdsourcing also enhances situational awareness during emergencies or criminal incidents. Reflection: There are both, advantages, and disadvantages to practicing crowdsourcing and the people using OSINT techniques. If used for a noble cause, this could definitely increase the chances of locating missing persons. However, if misused, it could cause harm, falsification, or even bad reputation for the organization, thus, not be able to raise the much-needed human resource. In my opinion, the advantages overweigh the disadvantages and with enough awareness, it will do good nationally as well as internationally by enhancing coordination among individuals around the world. Therefore, yes, search and Rescue (SAR) organizations should collaborate with law enforcement agencies to crowdsource and boost the chances of locating missing people. Souroja Ghosh, Individual research report Conclusion: Search and Rescue (SAR) organizations should collaborate with law enforcement agencies to crowdsource and boost the chances of locating missing people. The people involved should be trained to use OSINT techniques in an ethical way so as to not misuse information and as well as work under lawful terms and conditions. This way we can increase workforce to oversee each and every case adequately. Word Count: 1503 Reference List: https://www.tracelabs.org/ (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.tracelabs.org/supporters/partners (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.tracelabs.org/about/what-we-do (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.tracelabs.org/about/code-of-conduct (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.tracelabs.org/blog/b-sides-bloomington (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.tracelabs.org/blog/searchparty-ctf-2024-01 (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.sans.org/blog/what-is-open-source-intelligence/ Author: Ritu Gill (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://investigationhotline.org/25-facts-about-missing-persons/ (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://safeescape.org/research-and-scholarly-articles/ (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/OSINT-Research-Studios%3A-A-FlexibleCrowdsourcing-to-MukhopadhyayVenkatagiri/562ddfc6e064ad66368c30551613aad45de6623b (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) Souroja Ghosh, Individual research report https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/OSINT-Research-Studios%3A-A-FlexibleCrowdsourcing-to-MukhopadhyayVenkatagiri/562ddfc6e064ad66368c30551613aad45de6623b (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3491102.3517526 Yasmine Belghith byasmine@gatech.edu School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA, USA Sukrit Venkatagiri sukrit@vt.edu Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech Arlington, VA, USA Kurt Luther kluther@vt.edu Department of Computer Science, Virginia Tech Arlington, VA, USA (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) https://www.icmp.int/the-missing/ (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) Global report on missing persons 2021: key challenges and strategic opportunities | Missing Persons Platform (icrc.org) (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) OSINT Research Studios: A Flexible Crowdsourcing Framework to Scale Up Open Source Intelligence Investigations (arxiv.org) (Accessed 28 Dec 2024) The Global Organized Crime Index 2021 | Global Initiative (Accessed 28 Dec 2024)
