Illegal Trade in Antiquities: The Legal and Practical Impact of Social Media and Cryptocurrency

提出的这项研究旨在解决技术进步如何影响文物在古董市场上的非法流动。该项目将专注于因区块链技术支持的社交媒体发展而改变的销售链。这项研究将查明国际和国内立法中防止执法机构跨国合作的监管差距和缺陷。管辖范围将涵盖伊拉克和意大利作为两个来源地市场，体现出不同的监管水平，并将联合王国和美国作为目的地市场。从技术进步的角度审视非法销售，将提供确定适当威慑措施以防止此类交易的可能性，并从长远来看，允许有效保护文化遗产。问题和重要性考虑到实地贩运的现有预防措施不适用于通过使用社交媒体和区块链而改变的销售链。监管机构倾向于建立扰乱三阶段市场链的措施，为文化商品的流动留出数字空间(Fedotov，2017)。由于个人隐私要求，私人社交媒体平台阻止任何相关用户数据被收集。因此，由于缺乏公共透明度，人们无法承担责任，也无法进行适当的政府干预。此外，通过促进大众传播，潜在买家的范围以及因此对古董的需求大幅增长。这种状况让社交网站获得了对艺术品市场的自由裁量权。信息流和随后增加的广告能力促进了使用区块链和加密货币进行无踪迹的销售。由于数字货币被设计为不受政府监管，现有的立法措施不足以防止文化商品的非法流动。艺术市场的社会法律结果已经发生了变化，将一个联网的世界变成了一个成熟的虚拟社会。因此，需要重新识别后果，而不是使用泛化和过时的数据，以支持解决围绕非法文物移动的悬而未决的法律问题。方法：经验研究应包括历史提纲、案例研究、观察和访谈等定量和定性的方法。历史研究将试图通过回顾过去的事件来了解非法贸易的动态，以确定文化商品消费者的既定行为模式。实际上，找出法规的缺陷将揭示适当的案例以供审查。随后，案例研究将调查从伊拉克和意大利非法转移到美国和联合王国的个别情况，以审查这些现象的原因和对这一问题采取整体办法。通过收集在这些网站上建立联系的用户的数据，与社交媒体平台接触，将能够确定传播分散的方法。将通过直接采访参与这些公司自律的专业人士的方式，对一组具有代表性的社交媒体和区块链公司进行实证研究。此外，询问从事文化遗产保护的执法机构，然后进行数据分析，将有助于揭示个人或组织与卖家之间的关系。

The research proposed aims to tackle how technological advancements influence the illegal movement of cultural artefacts on the market for antiquities. The project shall concentrate on the chain of sale as altered by the development of social media supported by blockchain technology. The research will identify regulatory gaps and shortcomings within international and domestic legislation preventing transnational cooperation of enforcement bodies. The jurisdictional spectrum will cover Iraq and Italy as two source markets exemplifying contrasting regulatory levels and the United Kingdom and the United States as destination markets. Examining illegal sale from the perspective of technological advancements will offer the possibility of identifying appropriate deterrent measures to prevent such transactions and, in the long term, allow to protect cultural heritage effectively.Problem and ImportanceThe existent preventive measures created with the on-ground trafficking in mind are not applicable to the chain of sale as altered by the usage of social media and blockchain. The regulatory bodies tend to focus on establishing measures disrupting the three-stage market chain, leaving the digital space open for the flow of cultural commodities (Fedotov, 2017). Private social media platforms prevent any relevant users data from being collected due to the personal privacy requirements. As a result, lack of public transparency averts assumption of responsibility and adequate governmental intervention. Moreover, by facilitating mass communication, the extent of potential buyers and, consequently, demand for antiquitieshas grown considerably. Such a state of matters has allowed social networking sites to acquire a discretionary power over the art market. The information flow and subsequent increased advertising capabilities has promoted engaging blockchain and cryptocurrencies to conduct sales tracelessly. As digital currencies have been designed to remain outside the governmental regulations, the existent legislative measures are insufficient to prevent illegal movement of cultural commodities. Socio-legal outcomes for the art market have shifted by turning a wired world into a mature virtualized society. Hence, re-identifying the consequences, not using generalised and outmoded data, is needed to support resolvingpending legal issues around illegal antiquities movement.MethodologyEmpirical research shall be undertaken comprising quantitative and qualitative methods such as historical outline, case study, observation and interview. Historical research will attempt to understand the dynamics of illegal trade by looking into past events in order to determine established patterns of behaviour among consumers of cultural commodities. In effect, identifying shortcomings of regulations will reveal appropriate cases to examine. Subsequently, case study shall look into individual instances of illicit movements from Iraq and Italy to the United States and UnitedKingdom, in order to examine causes for the phenomena and holistic approach to the issue. Engagement with social media platforms by collecting data on users establishing contact on these sites will enable identification of communication dispersion methods. Empirical research will be conducted on a representative group of social media and blockchain companies by means of direct interviews with professionals involved in self-regulation of these firms. Moreover, questioning law enforcement bodies engaged in the protection of cultural heritage, followed by the data analysis, will enable uncovering relationships between individuals, or organisations, and sellers.