Panama paper trail goes online with massive searchable database

[bemildred]

You can now search one of the world's biggest troves of leaked documents, but with a web this complicated, it's little wonder the corporate underbelly stayed hidden for so long.

Much white collar crime relies on the same "security through obscurity" as was common online until recently, and financial rackets should be just as vulnerable to the right sort of "hacking" to expose them.

The Panama Papers contain more than 2.5 million files, analysed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 112 reporters across 58 countries. Today's data dump is just part of the picture, detailing the relationships between individuals, companies and offshore entities.

Think of it like a searchable corporate registry. But in this case, it's a network made up of hundreds of thousands of individuals and companies, with seemingly endless links criss-crossing from Australia to Zimbabwe. The question now is which of these links can be used to prove the companies involved were attempting to hide massive wealth overseas.

While there's no evidence that any of the entities have acted illegally, the "John Doe" behind the leak argues the data dump exposes the names behind growing income inequality, saying "it doesn't take much to connect the dots."

The papers, taken from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca's servers, first leaked in early April. They caused a swift backlash, leading to Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigning after his offshore dealings and usage of tax havens were revealed.

http://www.cnet.com/news/panama-papers-trail-goes-online-with-massive-searchable-database/

[silvershadow]

1. We had better start reading quickly. Time is literally of the essence. nt

[bemildred]

2. I expect it will get crowd-sourced, so to speak.

Lots of people with all sorts of axes to grind grovelling over it obsessively looking for ammunition for their personal vendettas.

[ish of the hammer]

3. "axes to grind"!

fair share of taxes for the fucking billionaires is "axes to grind"?!!
yep- that's my personal vendetta.

[ish of the hammer]

4. if the people who are hiding their money from the tax collectors are not paying their fair share

guess who winds up paying the difference.
personal vendetta???!!!!
jeebus. connect dots much?