Illicit Purposes Research Articles

Postmortem redistribution of lidocaine after illegal use

Lidocaine is the most common local anesthetics used for para cervical block to reduce pain associated with surgical abortion. Topical form of lidocaine and its contents have been used for illicit purposes and suicidal intentions. Analysis of lidocaine in different body organs is important for us as a toxicologist to help determine the postmortem redistribution of lidocaine and to avoid misleading of the high lidocaine concentrations. We present two case reports of lidocaine related death. All samples were extracted using solid phase extraction and lidocaine was identified and quantified by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GCMS). First case (Case 1) was 25-year-old pregnant women who was undergoing criminal abortion during the first trimester and she died before reaching hospital. Second case (Case 2) was 30-year-old man who ingested of solution contain 10% lidocaine from Avocaine spray 50 ml bottle resulting in seizures and subsequently died. Post-mortem investigations and autopsy show no clear finding. Lidocaine concentrations were detected all analyzed samples with lethal levels. The concentrations of lidocaine were as follows: Case 1 blood 17 mg/l, brain 19 mg/kg, liver 7 mg/kg, kidney 14 mg/kg, and stomach 3 mg/kg. Case 2 blood 63.05 mg/l, urine 21 mg/l, oral swap 9.6 mg/l, brain 29.5 mg/kg, liver 67 mg/kg, kidney 19.2 mg/kg, and stomach 110.2 mg/kg. Our results represent that blood and tissues lidocaine levels were above the lower level of lethal range, therefore, the possibility of lidocaine overdose is expected and considering lidocaine as the cause of death in both cases cannot rule out. Distribution of lidocaine was different in both cases, suggesting, the effect of route of administration. Toxicological findings and factors affecting lidocaine postmortem redistribution and results interpretation are discussed.

CRYPTOCURRENCY: AN INSIGHT INTO THE MALAYSIAN REGULATORY APPROACH

Cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum and many others are closely affiliated with the financial technology (fintech) industry. These digital or virtual currencies are encrypted using cryptography and distributed on public ledger (blockchain) across decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Since cryptocurrencies are issued by private entities and technically beyond the controls of any states, they may be exploited by criminals for illicit purposes such as money laundering, terrorism financing and many others. Thus, this article will examine whether cryptocurrency amounts to a new form of money under the existing rules on financial services and analyse how it should be regulated. This study is a qualitative research that adopts pure legal research methodology by analysing existing laws on national currency and digital currency. Further, the study analysed other secondary sources including academic books, journal articles, conference papers, and other materials in newspapers or reputable websites. The output of the research is expected to provide an overview on the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in Malaysia. In conclusion, the government has favoured a minimalist approach so as not to stiffen the innovation and future development of cryptocurrency in the country.

Generation of Synthetic Data for Handwritten Word Alteration Detection

Fraudsters often alter handwritten contents in a document in order to achieve illicit purposes. At times, this may result in financial and mental loss to an individual or an organization. Hence, ink analysis is necessary to identify such an alteration. Convolution Neural Network (CNN) can be used to identify such cases of alteration, as CNN has emerged as a monumental success in the field of computer vision for varieties of classification tasks. But, CNN requires large amount of labeled data for training. Hence, there is a need to generate a large dataset for the experiments relating to handwritten word alteration detection. Collection, digitization, and cropping of a large number of altered and unaltered handwritten words are tedious and time consuming. To overcome such an issue, an approach for synthetic word data generation is presented in this paper for handwritten word alteration detection experiments. This scheme is designed in such a way that the synthetically generated words are very similar to the original ones. In order to achieve this, handwritten character data set is prepared using 10 blue and 10 black pens. These handwritten characters are used for creating synthetic word alteration data set. The presented approach uses relatively less number of handwritten character images to create a huge word alteration data set. Further, deep learning models are trained on the synthetically generated data set for word alteration detection.

The potential harms of the Tor anonymity network cluster disproportionately in free countries

The Tor anonymity network allows users to protect their privacy and circumvent censorship restrictions but also shields those distributing child abuse content, selling or buying illicit drugs, or sharing malware online. Using data collected from Tor entry nodes, we provide an estimation of the proportion of Tor network users that likely employ the network in putatively good or bad ways. Overall, on an average country/day, ∼6.7% of Tor network users connect to Onion/Hidden Services that are disproportionately used for illicit purposes. We also show that the likely balance of beneficial and malicious use of Tor is unevenly spread globally and systematically varies based upon a country's political conditions. In particular, using Freedom House's coding and terminological classifications, the proportion of often illicit Onion/Hidden Services use is more prevalent (∼7.8%) in "free" countries than in either "partially free" (∼6.7%) or "not free" regimes (∼4.8%).

The Utilization of Cryptocurrencies by the Terrorist Group as an Alternative Way of Hawala for Illicit Purposes

Kemajuan bidang teknologi dan komunikasi pada kenyataannya banyak disalahgunakan oleh kelompok teroris. Kelompok teroris menggunakan salah satu teknologi transaksi keuangan daring berupa cryptocurrency untuk tujuan ilegal. Hal ini dikarenakan tradisi hawala yang sudah tidak memungkinkan lagi untuk dilakukan dan terdapat beberapa prinsip cryptocurrency yang memberikan peluang lebih besar bagi kelompok teroris untuk bertransaksi serta mencari dana untuk kegiatan operasional mereka. Makalah ini ingin menjawab bagaimana kelompok teroris menggunakan kecanggihan teknologi saat ini berupa cryptocurrency sebagai jalan alternatif dari tradisi hawala untuk tujuan ilegal, dan apa bentuk tindakan penanganan yang baik bagi masalah ini. Makalah ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi cryptocurrency dari sisi sistem, cara penggunaan, tradisi transaksi tradisional hawala, dan bentuk konkret penggunaan cryptocurrency oleh kelompok teroris. Makalah ini juga akan membahas tentang peluang aktor non negara lainnya seperti perusahaan teknologi swasta dalam membantu menangani penyalahgunaan cryptocurrency. Makalah ini menggunakan organizational approach terorisme dan konsep digital counterterrorism.

Integrating Chemical Security into Chemistry Degree Programs in Argentina through an Interactive One-Day Course Addressing Illicit or Harmful Applications of Chemistry Knowledge

The commitment and responsibility of new chemists is key for a world free of chemical weapons and illicit drugs, and for the development of ecofriendly technologies and a healthy environment. However, with a tight academic schedule for undergraduate and postgraduate students, it is difficult to find room for an appropriate discussion and debate about the dual use of the chemical sciences. Encouraged by the initiatives of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on education about the prevention of illicit purposes of chemistry, we have developed a one-day workshop, called the Itinerant Lecture, that covers theoretical aspects combined with activities to promote critical thinking among students. The main topics are presented in an engaging way that is open to discussion and includes activities such as fictional case analyses and role-playing, which allow students to consider the problematic aspects of their roles as scientists. This workshop has been running for the last 5 years, with apparently very high acceptance by students and teachers in the chemistry field. The use of videos, role-playing, and an active-learning strategy for the topics becomes an excellent approach to introduce chemistry students and teachers to concepts such as professional responsibility and dual use of knowledge in the sciences and their implications in the production of chemical weapons and other illegal uses.

Blockchain Investigations - Beyond the 'Money'

Cryptocurrency investigations have centered almost entirely around the transfer of value “money” or a cryptocurrency asset. The use of cryptocurrency for illicit purposes, especially Bitcoin, is well documented both in academic writing, media reporting and even film documentaries. The infamous SilkRoad market place in addition to the millions of dollars spent within dark markets on drugs, guns and assassinations have grabbed the headlines. This paper looks at how blockchain is creating new areas of investigation that are yet to be explored in detail. This scenario-based research examines the hosting of stolen data (P.I.I) personal identifiable information on a distributed blockchain host where the data is also accessible. The platform used is based on Ethereum infrastructure but demonstrates just one available platform that poses the paradigm. The paper examines the considerations through the lens of an incident responder /cyber investigator, forensics examiner and data controller. The scenario highlights distinct differences in considerations from a traditional response compared to dealing with the immutable and unstoppable distributed technology. The paper concludes that more is needed to be done to understand digital forensics in the blockchain era and the need to develop beyond track and trace in the cryptocurrency investigative tool box. The discussion also brings forth how data retention and GDPR requires consideration when applying it blockchain systems.

Analysis and Reflections on the Right to Privacy and Intimity, Your Need Inclusion and Definition in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States

A fundamental point that occupies us in the present analysis is that contents are framed within the dimensions of the right to intimacy, and to privacy since in this respect there is no clear definition in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation does not clarify both terms either. The improvements in the quality of life that have been reported and the new ways of promoting the dignity of people have found in communication technologies new ways of attacking personal rights by those who use these new media for illicit purposes. They are more difficult attacks to investigate, prosecute and punish given the current technological characteristics and that have generated new phenomena that disrupt the intimacy and privacy of people. Therefore, one of the central themes of this discussion is in the proper definition and limits of intimacy and privacy. Both are fundamental and indispensable rights in the development of the people embodied in the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States. Consequently, it is necessary that these two rights are clearly recognized and defined in the Mexican Constitution and a secondary legislation is created that regulates its limits in a timely manner, considering that intimacy is the reserved or more particular part of the thoughts, affections or issues the interior of a person, which appears in a restrictive sphere that belongs to the most personal nucleus of the individual, while privacy is the right that people have to maintain and confidentially reserve files; records, personal or public databases, but also, privacy would depend on the cultural, political and social context in which one lives, that is, there are countries that are characterized by authoritarian governments with strong restrictions in many personal areas, such as free access to the Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, free formation of social organizations and freedom of worship.

A Differential Game Approach to Decentralized Virus-Resistant Weight Adaptation Policy Over Complex Networks

Increasing connectivity of communication networks enables large-scale distributed processing over networks and improves the efficiency for information exchange. However, malware and virus can take advantage of the high connectivity to spread over the network and take control of devices and servers for illicit purposes. In this paper, we use an SIS epidemic model to capture the virus spreading process and develop a virus-resistant weight adaptation scheme to mitigate the spreading over the network. We propose a differential game framework to provide a theoretic underpinning for decentralized mitigation in which nodes of the network cannot fully coordinate, and each node determines its own control policy based on local interactions with neighboring nodes. We characterize and examine the structure of the Nash equilibrium, and discuss the inefficiency of the Nash equilibrium in terms of minimizing the total cost of the whole network. A mechanism design through a penalty scheme is proposed to reduce the inefficiency of the Nash equilibrium and allow the decentralized policy to achieve social welfare for the whole network. We corroborate our results using numerical experiments and show that virus-resistance can be achieved by a distributed weight adaptation scheme.

'Gatekeepers' Are Vital Participants in Anti-Money-Laundering Laws and Enforcement Regimes As Permission-less Blockchain-Based Transactions Pose Challenges to Current Means to 'Follow the Money'

Two phenomena dominate reports about blockchain-based transactions—that they will disrupt and displace legacy banking, securities, and trade intermediaries, and that they present new or greater opportunities for hiding proceeds of crimes or corruption. This essay does not deal with the former topic. Rather, the organizers of the symposium at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia School of Law asks me to consider the latter question. It proved to be a tough assignment. This essay looks at the separate questions of (1) the degree to which permission-less blockchain transactions will disrupt current anti-money laundering (AML) regimes and enforcement efforts, and (2) what efforts governments that have agreed to pursue goals of deterrence and detection of money laundering may need to initiate as blockchain-based transactions become more common. My thought process has moved through stages and, finally, has focused on three silos of potential concerns about blockchain technologies. In the first silo are blockchain technologies as technologies. I assign to this first silo the lowest level of concerns because of their potential for inclusion, security and integrity. I do not favor regulating technologies; such regulation will be outdated too fast. The second silo contains cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets or products and services related to them that are offered in compliance with applicable domestic laws where the user of the product or services is domiciled. I assign a low-to-low-middle level of concern to these crypto assets but recognize and discuss below that this “grade” could change. In the third silo, I have bad actors whose products and services are designed for illicit purposes, and opportunists that offer products and services they do not have and that have no intention of delivering products or services or allowing redemption of value delivered to them. This third silo gets a big red flag from me – and this silo will require continued attention from domestic and global law enforcement agencies. Part of the reason that I see a low or low-to-low-middle level of concern for the first two silos is that, for the immediate future at least, that traditional financial services “gatekeepers” in payments, securities, and commodities will continue to play vital roles in deterring and detecting money laundering and terrorism finance efforts here and abroad. The presence of regulated “gatekeepers” may not forestall the need for new legal requirements or enforcement systems forever, but their presence in the marketplaces of today reduce the need for immediate action and allow legislatures and regulators more time to observe crypto innovations and determine their next steps. As a subset of the third silo, for the time being at least, are the new brands of government-backed cryptocurrencies, such as the Petro from Venezuela and those that Russia, China, and other governments, and the special challenges they may pose to AML legal regimes and, separately, to the United States Dollar as the global reserve currency that it has represented since World War II. These government-backed cryptocurrencies also challenge longstanding concepts of sovereigns’ control over “legal tender” inside their own borders and their potential sponsors are designing them to avoid economic sanctions imposed by other governments. The balance of this essay proceeds as follows: Part II provides background on permission-less blockchains and, separately, recent interest by governments in issuing cryptocurrencies themselves. Part III provides background on the three stages of value laundering – (1) initial “placement” of illicit proceeds, (2) “layering” through multiple forms of property or banks or banking systems to obscure its source or ownership, and (3) “integration” or emergence of assets that look legitimate to the outsider. Part IV reviews different challenges to traditional means of detecting value laundering that non-government-issued cryptocurrencies, permission-less blockchains, and government-sponsored cryptocurrencies pose. This Part looks at the vital roles that “gatekeepers” play in AML enforcement in the United States. Part IV also explains how (1) regulators and law enforcement authorities are already using new tools to trace and identify blockchain-based transactions that are in furtherance of illicit activities, and (2) government-issued cryptocurrencies and more private and opaque cryptocurrencies may make detection of money laundering more difficult. Part V explains my view that permission-less blockchains are not our major problem in the global campaigns against money laundering (regardless of the purposes for which money laundering is attempted) but finding someone to regulate in future may be. Part VI briefly evaluates efforts by global authorities, such as the G-20’s Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) regarding the regulation of cryptocurrencies and the European Parliament’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (“AMLD5”), some of which goes into effect on January 10, 2020, to re-frame the AML and market-protection regulatory recommendations to cover issues relating to cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets. Part VII states some conclusions and identifies questions for additional research.

The suitability of cryptocurrency in the structure of Islamic banking and finance

This paper tends to examine cryptocurrency and its permissibility in the structure of Islamic banking finance. It identifies the major types of cryptocurrencies and also revealed its benefits. Despite these benefits and relating it to Islamic finance it was viewed from two angle; cryptocurrency and money in Islam and also cryptocurrency and the principles of Islamic finance. The study revealed it is compatible to structure of Islamic banking and finance when compared side by side to the features of fiat money which is currently in use. More so, the study clears some of the key issues like its legal tender, issuer unknown, money laundering & illicit purpose etc usually raised against cryptocurrency. The study concluded that cryptocurrency as an economic innovation has secured a pass mark to fit into the structure of Islamic banking and finance. The study further recommends that there is need to create standards guiding its operations, further ensure full disclosure on its transactions etc.

Detecting Heritage Crime(s): What We Know about Illicit Metal Detecting in England and Wales

Abstract:Metal detecting is a popular hobby in England and Wales, and, since 1997, over 1.3 million finds have been recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), a scheme to encourage the voluntary recording of artifacts found by the public. The metal detector can be a useful archaeological tool when used lawfully and responsibly; however, it is also a tool that is used for illicit purposes by individuals and groups wishing to obtain artifacts from archaeological sites on which they have no permission to detect. Information on the number and nature of incidents of illicit metal detecting, however, is difficult to collate owing both to the nature of the crime and to the way it is recorded (or not) by law enforcement authorities. In this article, we examine the strengths and limitations of the available official and unofficial sources on illicit metal detecting in England and Wales and explore the potential they have to tell us about current trends in this form of heritage crime. The first unofficial source is a list of incidents reported to Historic England, which contains basic information on 276 incidents recorded between 2010 and 2017. The second source is the result of a survey of the PAS’s finds liaison officers regarding the extent to which they assisted law enforcement authorities for the years from 2015 to 2017. Both sources were then contrasted with a freedom of information request that was sent to all 49 police forces in the United Kingdom. Although there are some synergies between the unofficial and official sources, the lack of detail in any one dataset makes them of limited use in demonstrating trends in the macro- and micro-scales of time and place. Accordingly, many of the issues highlighted in this article could be resolved by devising a better system for police record keeping of metal detecting offences.

Cacao breeding in Colombia, past, present and future.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is considered a key crop in Colombian social programs aiming at alleviating rural poverty, promoting peace in post-conflict regions and, replacing crops used for illicit purposes. Colombia is thought to be part of the center of origin of cacao; several germplasm collecting expeditions have been implemented, dating back to the 1940s. Despite that history, the first breeding program based on creating, selecting, and releasing full-sib progenies made extensive use of accessions introduced from other countries as parents. A new breeding strategy was adopted in the 1990s, based on mass selection of promising trees (high-yield and disease-resistant) in farmers’ fields, resulting in the selection of clones released to farmers as planting material. In 2012, a new strategy, Recurrent Selection, was adopted by the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research, Agrosavia, based on the development of improved populations and allowing the selection of clones at the end of each cycle of recombination. The use of molecular markers is being integrated into this program in order to assist breeders in selecting material. This review provides details about the history and perspectives of the cacao breeding program in Colombia.

Shell companies – Identification of an instrument used for illicit purposes: A Pitch

Shell companies – Identification of an instrument used for illicit purposes: A Pitch

Shell companies – Identification of an instrument used for illicit purposes: A Pitch

This pitch letter describes the personal application of the pitching tool developed by Faff (2015, 2018) to a potentially academic topic related to money laundering and corruption in the early stages of research. The pitch template aids in the identification of core elements that form the framework for research. The author provides a brief overview of the experience of using the pitch template and its potential applications.

Hidden Beneficial Ownership and Control: Canada as a Pawn in the Global Game of Money Laundering

Official estimates of money laundering in Canada range from $5 billion to $100 billion. Offences such as drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, smuggling and corruption are fuelling the laundering of dirty money. While many methods and techniques may be used to hide ill-gotten gains from tax authorities and police, launderers often use corporations and trusts to co-mingle dirty money with legitimate funds to flow them through these entities’ bank accounts or brazenly use the entity to exclusively conduct illegal activities. The “secret sauce” in this recipe is the creation of legal arrangements that hide the beneficial owner of the corporation, partnership or trust that exercises significant control over the entity. Indeed, with professional knowhow, complex structures can be created in Canada, or offshore, that will slow down or stop any intrepid investigator trying to connect the dirty money to the beneficial owner. The focus of this Commentary is to show how the lack of beneficial ownership transparency facilitates the use of corporations and trusts for illicit purposes. At present, there are no requirements to disclose beneficial ownership when creating a corporation. Nominee shareholders and directors can be appointed without disclosing the ultimate beneficial owner or the nominator. For trusts, there are also no requirements to identify the parties when registering. As a result, Canada fares poorly on international standards for disclosing beneficial ownership. Lack of beneficial ownership transparency is not only a structural flaw in Canada’s corporate registration system (federally, provincially and territorially) and, consequently, in its anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing measures, but it paints Canada as an international laggard and as a financial-secrecy jurisdiction. However, there now is a global momentum, led by the Europeans, to make beneficial ownership registries accessible to the public, and trusts under certain conditions, to more effectively address the threats posed by money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption and tax evasion. This Commentary’s recommendations are for the federal government, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, to establish a central publicly accessible beneficial ownership registry of corporations and certain trusts; require all reporting entities under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act to identify beneficial ownership information; place the onus on corporations and trusts to truthfully and fully disclose beneficial ownership information; and follow the European example by keeping Canada current with the international standards, commitments and trends on beneficial ownership transparency.

Hegemonic power networks and institutional configuration for illicit purposes

ABSTRACTSome Mexican scholars, like Salvador Maldonado-Aranda or Alfredo Zavaleta-Betancourt, have adopted the concept of ‘margins of the state’ to analyse different aspects of illegality and organised crime. By using this concept, they distance themselves from other theoretical approaches that consider illegality and organised crime as ‘dysfunctional’ features or shortcomings of the state. I argue that extending these approaches to their logical conclusion is useful in showing how they do not result from (nor are they placed in) the so-called ‘margins of the state’. I argue that, instead, they may reflect those states’ very core. I propose two new concepts to understand this core: on the one hand, hegemonic power network, which refers to the people who command the state institutions and their formal and informal regulation. On the other hand, institutional configuration for illicit purposes, which refers to the nomination of public officials and their operation within institutions to protect illicit practices of interest to the hegemonic power network. Although these categories are built upon the Mexican case, I argue that they provide insight into other cases where a mixture of predatory rulers, authoritarianism, illegality, organised crime, and high levels of impunity lead to a heterogeneous and arbitrary enforcement of the rule of law.

Detección de filtraciones de privacidad: una visión del estado del arte

Cuando se habla de redes sociales, se expresan todas las ventajas que estas brindan al usuario en cuanto a la comunicación e interacción con el mundo, además se reconoce que son una fuente de extracción y uso de datos con diversos fines, aunque algunos con objetivos ilícitos. Las redes sociales se han popularizado y las personas les dedican diariamente tiempo para revisar las principales notificaciones recibidas, así como comunicarse, publicar, realizar comentarios o colocar etiquetas. La necesidad de controlar la privacidad es fundamental, pero no son suficientes las configuraciones que se puedan realizar para evitarlo. El usuario coloca en sus publicaciones mensajes que contienen elementos propios del lenguaje natural, pero que resultan difíciles de interpretar por un software. Para realizar una búsqueda de elementos considerados privados que se encuentren en los textos publicados o que puedan inferirse por la revisión total de la información visible publicada en el perfil del usuario, es necesario procesar el texto para limpiarlo, normalizarlo y clasificarlo. La información privada puede ser fácilmente inferida, con solo asociar las diferentes publicaciones textuales que se compartieron por el usuario u otra persona. Resulta oportuno hacer uso de las técnicas de la minería de texto para evitar la publicación de información privada en el perfil que se comparte con el grupo de amigos de la red social.

Chromatographic Separation of Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine and Phenyl Propanolamine on Silica Gel-G Layers Using Different Solvent Systems

Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine and Phenylpropanolamine are available in combination with antihistamines, Guaifenesin, Dextromethorphan and paracetamol. These drugs have been widely used for illicit purpose and sometimes multiple doses of these drugs are taken by athletes for quick relief as therapeutic medicine that crosses the maximum recommended dose and gives positive test results in dope test analysis. Clandestine laboratories use these medicines as a precursor to manufacture numerous illicit drugs. Such cases pose a challenge to forensic scientists due to their quick elimination from human body, lack of suitable detection protocol, complicated and similar chemical structures. The present paper presents Chromatographic separation of Ephedrine, Pseudoephedrine and Phenylpropanolamine using 27 solvent systems. The drugs were best separated and detected in n-butyl acetate: Acetone: 1-Butanol: 5 M Ammonia: Methanol (hRf 80, 91, 54) and Ethyl Acetate: Butanone: Formic Acid: Water (hRf 37, 30, 45)

A worldwide consensus on nudging? Not quite, but almost

AbstractNudges are choice‐preserving interventions that steer people's behavior in specific directions while still allowing them to go their own way. Some nudges have been controversial, because they are seen as objectionably paternalistic. This study reports on nationally representative surveys in eight diverse countries, investigating what people actually think about nudges and nudging. The study covers Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Russia, South Africa, and South Korea. Generally, we find strong majority support for nudges in all countries, with the important exception of Japan, and with spectacularly high approval rates in China and South Korea. We connect the findings here to earlier studies involving Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Our primary conclusion is that while citizens generally approve of health and safety nudges, the nations of the world appear to fall into three distinct categories: (i) a group of nations, mostly liberal democracies, where strong majorities approve of nudges whenever they (a) are seen to fit with the interests and values of most citizens and (b) do not have illicit purposes; (ii) a group of nations where overwhelming majorities approve of nearly all nudges; and (iii) a group of nations that usually show majority approval, but markedly reduced approval rates. We offer some speculations about the relationship between approval rates and trust.