Citation[]
Office of Technology Assessment, Information Technologies for the Control of Money Laundering (OTA-ITC-630) (Sept. 1995) (full-text).
Overview[]
OTA was asked to assess the proposed use of techniques derived from artificial intelligence research to monitor wire transfer traffic and recognize suspicious transfers. Fully automated computer screening of wire transfers was found to be virtually impossible for technical reasons. However, OTA analysts developed and evaluated a number of alternative configurations of technology that, combined with certain legal and institutional innovations, could greatly enhance the capability of law enforcement agencies to detect and prosecute money launders seeking to exploit U.S. financial institutions and wire transfer systems. Although all of these proposed configurations entail some economic and social costs, including possible diminution of financial privacy, strategies are suggested for minimizing these costs while enhancing the potential usefulness of information technology in control of money laundering.