Date sent: Mon, 05 May 2003 14:47:50 -0400
From: "David Liston" ListonD@OPP.SI.EDU
Subject: Modest Electronic Proposal
Dear Readers,
I offer a Modest Electronic Proposal:
Given, that Internet, computerization, satellite links and cellphone
communication have developed so far and in so many ways beyond what we used
to think of them, for good and poor purposes. And, given, that these
sophisticated tools are used in cultural crime and now terrorism, from the
Gardner Museum in Boston, USA, to the Dutch thefts to the National Iraqi
Museum losses--nationally, internationally, by insiders, outsiders and
organized professionals.
Then, how could we develop an effective electronic countermeasure tools to
detect or track cultural losses, their fencing and their laundering back
into established cultural systems--nationally and internationally?
- cultural property transport/transit global positioning system tracking,
similar to 'low-jack' used to track stolen automobiles
- international cultural object electronic database online registration
(Getty Institute) for precise, instant identification
- electronic eavesdropping of all museum/shop staff numbers, local cultural
auctions, local galleries or markets and local organized crime after a major
loss
- electronic cellphone and E-mail monitoring in the institution and area
where major cultural objects were lost
- ability of a museum curator or library director to ask on Internet, from
a hotel in a strange city on Saturday night, to check if an object is a
registered cultural object or if it is reported stolen, and a law
enforcement means to track any E-mail checks for validation that appear
unusual
- more comprehensive use of Internet to post losses and safely deliver
instant loss and recovery information, with police links for citizens and
police themselves
- establish international cultural thief modus operandi (M.O.) databases
which can be immediately linked to their current electronic communications
systems
- object identification (Object ID-Getty Institute) numbers with signaling
or tracking devices
- cellphone, E-mail monitoring from the specific area of a major loss
Let this be a professional speculation how new technology and applications,
even legal electronic eavesdropping, can be used positively to safeguard our
cultural legacy, such as after the loss of your greatest symbols of cultural
identity and heritage -- NOT a debate on privacy, national law and
individual rights. Moderator, please note.
What could we do to limit and then recover our losses, from an electronic
point of view? Your thoughts are requested in this forum, and these could
very well direct us towards the 22nd Century. Shouldn't we also 'think
big'?