Google Ideas exploring how technology can address global troubles

Google is taking up the fight against global criminal networks.

That might seem an unlikely pursuit, even for a company that has experimented with self-driving cars and alternative energy. But the two-day "Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition" summit, which began July 17 in Los Angeles and aims to shine a light on the shadowy world of drug cartels, opium smugglers, money launderers, organ harvesters and human traffickers, is part of an ongoing effort to explore how technology can be used to address humanity's most intractable problems. Last year, Google gathered more than 80 former gang members, right-wing extremists, jihadists and militants to huddle with survivors of terrorism and violence, academics and other experts to brainstorm solutions to fight violent extremism. One outcome of that effort is an online social network for perpetrators of terrorist attacks and their victims.