Thomson Reuters and ICMEC release report outlining opportunities for digital economy
A late winter storm may have shut down Washington, D.C. yesterday, but the National Press Club was abuzz this morning when Thomson Reuters and the International Centre for
Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) released a new report from the Digital Economy Task Force (DETF) outlining opportunities and risks around the emerging digital economy.
DETF co-chairs Steve Rubley, managing director of the Government segment of Thomson Reuters, and Ernie Allen, president and CEO of ICMEC, were joined by DETF members to announce its report and a regulatory framework that fosters the growth of the digital economy, including digital currencies and alternative payment systems, while addressing anonymizing technology and the growth of “deep web” marketplaces that allow illegal commerce, including money laundering, narcotics, weapons, stolen goods, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children.
“After consulting with law enforcement leaders and financial experts around the world, and with our friends at Thomson Reuters who have been doing the same thing on a parallel track, a clear consensus emerged…a migration of child pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and other criminal enterprises into this new, unregulated, unbanked digital economy,” Allen said.
The full report is available on thomsonreuters.com.
“From the beginning, our approach was to take a balanced view of both the advantages and disadvantages surrounding the digital economy – a place where people can enjoy the convenience of digital currencies, but where there are controls in place to regulate them like any other form of money,” Rubley said.
Representatives from ICMEC, Thomson Reuters, The Brookings Institution and the Department of Homeland Security were on hand for the event.
Rubley, Allen and attendees discuss the regulatory recommendations
Rubley, Allen and other DETF members will bring the report before representatives of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs tomorrow.
Check-in with Legal Current over the weeks to come for more on the DETF and Thomson Reuters perspectives on this important initiative.
The full press release can be found on thomsonreuters.com.
