It’s documentary time!

It lasts 15 minutes in total, with the pacing apparently set up as to maximise the dramatic tension around the whole process.

The documentary opens with some covert-looking footage of a ‘traditional’ offline drug deal and cuts to a postie at work in what will be the key message of the documentary.

Unfortunately, despite my protestations, the popular but inaccurate ‘surface web’ / ‘deep web’ misconception was presented in an attempt to illustrate the Tor darknet. However when I had asked “Are there any non-misleading graphics illustrating the Tor network?” to the Tor community, we came up short. Still, it could have been worse — there were no icebergs or levels featured at least.

There’s an interview with someone who sounds like a typical geeky DNM consumer level buyer, and then all 2 glorious minutes of my segment, of which approximately 50% is comprised of me saying ‘yeah’ alas. #intervieweeskills

A large amount of time is spent building tension around ‘the drop’ at the post office, and whilst controlled deliveries are a thing, this was clearly manufactured to create a tone of anxiousness, presumably necessary to avoid the reality of an actual safe and easy drug purchase, a narrative you don’t want to be broadcasting to Radio 1 listening yoots.

At the drug lab, the products undergo testing and come out as completely pure and unadulterated as expected of course. Confusingly, the testing expert suggested they ‘might as well not have bothered’ with the stealth, because the drugs would easily be noticed if opened. Which of course misses the point of stealth, it’s designed to protect against x-rays, sniffer dogs and light damage — not active inspection. I wonder how many viewers will notice this bit of FUD?

Dr. Adam Winstock who runs the Global Drug Survey presented his latest drug use findings including his growth predictions. Jim’s suggestion that markets might ‘suggest’ other drugs to buyers in the way that Amazon does ‘you might also like’ was slightly misleading. It suggests an element of ‘pushing’ involved in the process which is not the case. However Dr. Winstock sidesteps the specific issue and responds to the fact people have voluntarily diversified their purchases through markets use.

The interview with the New Zealand customs official was interesting in how they combine law enforcement intelligence with postal interception, with their practices described as ‘leading the way’ in this kind of operation. However the unique geographical and trade situations of Australia and New Zealand are unlikely to be replicated around the world any time soon in my opinion.

Hilariously, the government refused to engage with the entire piece, presumably because they don’t want to reveal that the extent of their enforcement operations goes about as far as sending out these ‘love letters’ telling buyers that they’ve been very naughty boys:

Stop it, or we’ll say stop it again!

Newsbeat managed to pull in shadow home secretary and chair of the home office select committee Yvette Cooper — surely this is an easy opportunity to give the government a kicking on their lack-luster approach to the online drug trade? Apparently the government are:

spending 1.9 billion pounds for the next five years on cyber security

So, is the postal service cyber security now? Really?

I think this is serious and it’s a growing problem to have criminal gangs using new technology and the question is are the police or the authorities or the government able to keep up?

Well fair enough enough Yvette, you’re on-message so far, tell us how it’s done:

Collaboration, changes in technology, changes in capacity and also in training and skills and how do we make sure that people who’ve gotta do these jobs are able to keep up and get the best training as well, so all of those things need to be answered

I’m pretty sure this is what the average government minister knows about ‘the cyber’ these days.

I’m surprised that neither the government nor the police nor the postal services were prepared to give you and answer on [higher use of sniffer dogs and agency collaboration] because I think we need to know that there’s a proper approach to enforcement taking place but I do also think that the authorities need to be prepared to provide some answers to say what they are doing to take on these changing forms of dangerous crime

So basically the person who oversees government policy on this matter pretty much suggests they don’t even have the [technical] skills to investigate the online drug trade. This is patently untrue, for people familiar with the Met Police’s Operation FALCON and the remit of the NCA. What they won’t admit is that their specialists in this area are focused on combating terrorism, child exploitation and weapons dealing in this space. They have better things to do than stop drugs in the post!