They do not always have large budgets. But for those agencies that do, why can't they invest in projects such as this?
I'm still trying to figure out why people are against practical applications of this project. It's datamining illegal online activities. Isn't law enforcement a no brainer here?
I apologize if I seem harsh in my comments regarding this subject.
The practical applications will be abused. There are already projects by the CIA and NSA to massively monitor various communications platforms. The datamining isn't of only illegal activities, it's datamining of everything.
It's just not as simple as "datamine illegal online activities". You're basically going to have to monitor everyone using bitcoin, and then monitor all of silkroad, but once the users catch wind of surveillance they'll abandon it and move elsewhere and now you might as well monitor freaking everything to catch them.
You should check out the idea of a panopticon and Michael Foucalt's writing on it. Helping to create this project furthers the idea of a panopticon and that's a scary thing. The panopticon is a building that forces people in it to behave by having complete transparency. If you're watched all the time, you're less likely to do something illegal or morally wrong. Maybe that's a bit too philosophical for this discussion... http://cartome.org/foucault.htm
Judging from past conversations HN has had about things like Silk Road, psilocybin experiments, SOPA/Protect IP, Wikileaks, surveillance, and censorship, the majority have expressed a vehement moral opposition to helping "oppressors" of any kind. They'd probably see writing software for law enforcement the same way you might see writing software for terrorists (though they'd be opposed to writing software for terrorists, too).
It does make them stupid when they don't consider how much harm has been caused by people helping the government or law enforcement to implement things that cross ethical and moral lines.
