Decoding hidden darknet networks: What we learned about the illicit fentanyl trade on AlphaBay

The opioid epidemic, impacted from the proliferation of fentanyl, has added impetus to the need to detect fentanyl, sources of fentanyl, and places where fentanyl and drugs adulterated with fentanyl are available. Many darknet marketplaces (DNMs) have rules that ban fentanyl. However, it is unclear how these affect the fentanyl market. Using the AlphaBay DNM as a case study, we conducted mixed methods qualitative research. We scraped and analyzed data from the AlphaBay I2P website using, among other methods, content and social network analysis, to uncover hidden fentanyl networks. Our research highlights the next evolution of darknet marketplaces – the migration of DNMs from Tor to I2P and the methods that can be used identify fentanyl networks, irrespective of where sites are: I2P, Tor, or multihomed on I2P and Tor. Despite its ban in the Global AlphaBay Rules, our research revealed the sale of fentanyl on the AlphaBay DNM. Unlike previous studies, our findings predominantly revealed the covert sale of fentanyl on AlphaBay and predatory vendors selling illicit drugs, which unbeknownst to buyers, contained fentanyl. To a lesser extent, our findings identified the overt sale of fentanyl patches on AlphaBay. Although we examined only one DNM, the prevalence of the covert sale of fentanyl and the presence of predatory vendors underscores the importance of research that decodes the language of vendors who surreptitiously sell fentanyl or drugs adulterated with fentanyl or other illicit substances. The results of our research can inform strategies aimed at disrupting and dismantling DNM fentanyl networks.     

当代知识产权制度发展的形势和特点

知识产权已成为一个全球性问题和世界热点问题。当代知识产权制度发展的形势和特点主要表现在以下几方面:知识产权与贸易直接相关并成为贸易本身的标的、知识产权成为发达国家跨国公司垄断技术和市场的重要手段、知识产权与国际政治经济紧密相连并出现全球保护主义和独占主义思想、发展中国家和发达国家在知识产权保护方面存在激烈冲突、知识产权国际化趋势进一步增强。     

上海自由贸易试验区对我国涉外经济法制转型的影响

上海自贸区正式获准成立,这是中国法治转型中的重大创新。上海自贸区内通过临时性的授权调整,逐步推进行政审批体制改革,实行准入前国民待遇和"负面清单"管理模式,以此推进政府职能转变;在投资领域努力扩大服务业的投资开放、促进外商投资准入制的转轨、构筑对外投资服务促进法律体系;在贸易领域积极推动贸易结构的转型升级、提升国际航运服务能级;在金融领域应加快金融制度创新,增强金融服务能力,实现"在岸金融"与"离岸金融"的互动;并在争议解决机制构建方面也进行了卓有成效的探索。     

我国绿色贸易壁垒法律制度的性能评价体系研究

随着世界进入"环保时代",绿色贸易壁垒法律制度对一国的经济贸易的影响越来越突出和重要,面对我国绿色贸易壁垒法律制度立法、执法、司法绩效不容乐观的情况,以新制度经济学的制度绩效为主要的理论基础,设立我国绿色贸易壁垒法律制度的性能评价体系,能够为我国绿色贸易壁垒法律的制度设计和实践操作开创定量评判的崭新标准。     

亚太经合组织中区域利益和成员利益的冲突与协调——APEC成立十周年回顾与展望

亚太经合组织（ＡＰＥＣ） 是区域利益的代表。作为成员利益的集中体现,ＡＰＥＣ 的区域利益主要由贸易投资自由化和经济技术合作两大部分组成。由于发达成员和发展中成员在以上两个方面有不同的利益追求,ＡＰＥＣ 中区域利益和成员利益一直存在着冲突。在过去的十年中,贸易投资自由化和经济技术合作的不平衡发展使这种冲突逐渐表面化。展望未来,ＡＰＥＣ 的持续发展有赖于成员经济体享有充分灵活性的基础上,通过协商一致,处理好发达成员和发展中成员的利益分歧     

Meeting the challenges of the handicraft industry in Africa: Evidence from Nairobi

This article presents findings on observed productivity constraints of handicraft firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal is to help NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, and national governments in their efforts to foster local handicraft industries in Africa and beyond. One-hundred and two respondents were interviewed about their business, cost structure, hiring practices, and other intra-industry relationships. This article points out a number of practical problems hindering productivity and limiting livelihoods, including problematic labour practices, conditions of adverse selection, the context of proprietary information in small scale manufacturing, and the tendency of the industry toward hypercompetition.     

The Demand for Protectionism: Democracy,Import Elasticity,and Trade Barriers

Numerous studies suggest that democracies employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. In this article, we examine the conditioning role that the elasticity of import demand at the commodity level plays on the relationship between democracy and import barriers. Beginning with the assumption that democracies are more responsive than nondemocracies to the preferences of mass publics, we demonstrate that the value of free trade as a public good depends on the elasticity of import demand. When import demand for a given commodity is inelastic, trade barriers are more harmful to consumers; as such, democracies will employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. However, as import demand becomes more elastic, publics find it easier to adjust to higher prices; as a result, the difference in imposed trade barriers by regime type decreases. We find support for this argument in statistical analyses of crosssectional data covering 4,656 commodities imported by 73 countries Furthermore, we find that democracies raise higher trade barriers than nondemocracies on commodities for which import demand is very elastic.     

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Inflows on Economic Growth in Barbados: An Engle-Granger Approach

The purpose of this article is to look at the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on economic growth in Barbados in the long and short run from 1979 to 2008 with the use of the Engle-Granger two-step procedure. The study shows that in the long run, a 1 percent increase in FDI inflows will expand economic growth by 0.10 percent while in the short run, the relationship between FDI and economic growth will be positive but almost flat. These results imply that any policy by Government aimed at boosting economic growth using FDI inflows will have to be considered for the long run since Government could not rely on FDI inflows in the short run.     

Pan-Africanism and communism: the Comintern,the ‘Negro Question’ and the First International Conference of Negro Workers,Hamburg 1930

Abstract

This article charts the history of a now largely forgotten Pan-African gathering, the historic First International Conference of Negro Workers, organised by the Communist International (CI) and held in Hamburg in 1930. The CI had taken an interest in organising Africans and those of African descent in the colonies, and in Europe and the US, from its foundation, but the key factor in developing political work concerned with the ‘Negro Question’ was the founding of the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers in 1928 and the activities of black communists. The difficulties experienced in organising the conference in Hamburg suggest that these activists were key to holding this historic event. The Hamburg Conference linked the communist movement with important black trade union and anti-colonial activists in Africa, the Caribbean, the US and Europe and subsequently had a significant influence on the future development of the Pan-African movement.     

European‐Atlantic Security Institutions: Current state and future prospects

Since the turn of the millennium, scholars and pundits have been musing over the decline of the West. The disappointing US military invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq, together with the subprime mortgage crisis, seem to be evidence of an abrupt end to America's ‘unipolar’ moment. In Europe, the sovereign debt crisis has amplified Europe's long-term structural economic problems and laid bare the fragile institutional foundation on which the Economic and Monetary Union was built. At the same time, the BRICs and other emerging economies have been growing at unprecedented rates. Those same analysts see a ‘decoupling’ in the world economy: the developing economies pulling the world out of recession, while the advanced industrial economies are unable to solve their domestic difficulties. So to them, the events of the past five years signify the beginning of the end of Western influence, eventually leading to a more complete rebalancing of the world economy's current ‘Western’ system of governance. This article argues instead that the West still has a significant edge when it comes to most critical factors that determine long-term economic growth potential, including technology, innovative capacity, research and development, investment climate and education. Furthermore, the transatlantic economy is less vulnerable than the rest of the world to outside economic shocks and might eventually prove more capable of reform than many expect. The current malaise in the transatlantic community might therefore prove once again to be more cyclical than structural. Relying on linear projections, many are ‘crying wolf’ again, too loud and too soon.