ABSTRACT
This chapter makes a preliminary attempt to test the capacity of open-source research to generate evidence of cultural property crime in South-East Asia. Most evidence relates to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand; complementary evidence comes from Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Myanmar/Burma, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
Using online forums and social networks, it attempts to gauge the scale of activity and to collect netnographic evidence of illicit metal-detecting and other activities in the illicit trade, from looting and smuggling through to illicit sale/purchase. For example, it documents networked knowledge production for the manufacture of home-made, hand-built metal-detectors and for the identification of archaeological sites to be subjected to metal-detecting.
Notably, the chapter identifies evidence of an apparent yet seemingly shifting tendency towards online social organisation in transnational, rather than national, communities; hubs of activity within the region; and the key role of international actors in local activity. It is hoped that such empirical evidence may be useful in understanding and policing illicit flows of cultural goods.
