The crime trifecta, which is to say the three most profitable criminal enterprises, are Guns, Drugs, and Slaves (personally I think that corporate malfeasance should be there as well but it's not sexy as guns, drugs and slaves).
Now how do these three things interact with Fenspace, which is an essentially (because it's unenforcable [until Operation . . . uh something Justice presumably]) lawless area (libertarian, if you're feeling charitable and all-frontiery)?
Presumably this means that the import and export of pharmaceuticals (which includes alcoholic beverages, by the way) both to and within Fenspace would be unregulated and thus not technically illegal. If Chris Rock has taught us nothing, it's that people are geniuses when it comes to finding ways to f*ck themselves up.
So while the export from fenspace to Earth of controlled substances would be monitored, it's almost impossible to control the drug trafficking there.
However, it's also not likely that earth-side cartels would get much more than an initial foothold on the fenspace drug market because of two factors: local chemical manufacturing and distance. Fens would have access to their medical and chemical plants far closer than the poppy fields of afghanistan or the coca fields of columbia. Reverse-engineering the plants and recreating them at home or making new designer drugs shouldn't be all that difficult, particularly as the distance between earth-side supplier and fen customer would make the markup astronomical.
Guns, however, would be a large market for Fens. Because of the censor function of handwavium, weapons (other than their own ships, an argument i have made before) would be initially difficult to get and manufacture fenspace-side. So weapons from earth would be a large import.
Personally I think that the governments which allow handwavium launches would also be the ones which sells most of the guns to the fens in bulk. But I suppose enterprising criminals would also fit in there.
So if drugs, the traditional big-ticket item is out for "boskones" then guns would definately be a money maker.
Finally, slaves. This commodity is something that criminals already have a large infrastructure in place (as well as governments, by the way, cf. uzbekistan) and is something that fenspace does not have. Which is to say a very large pool of desperately poor people. A "surplus population" in the words of dickens.
The trafficking of people from Earth into Fenspace would probably also be a large money-maker for criminal elements in fenspace.
Though it must be stressed that because there is no enforcable law they are not strictly criminals. Except of the moral variety.
-murmur
also: fenspace as tax haven, tax shelter, data haven.
Now how do these three things interact with Fenspace, which is an essentially (because it's unenforcable [until Operation . . . uh something Justice presumably]) lawless area (libertarian, if you're feeling charitable and all-frontiery)?
Presumably this means that the import and export of pharmaceuticals (which includes alcoholic beverages, by the way) both to and within Fenspace would be unregulated and thus not technically illegal. If Chris Rock has taught us nothing, it's that people are geniuses when it comes to finding ways to f*ck themselves up.
So while the export from fenspace to Earth of controlled substances would be monitored, it's almost impossible to control the drug trafficking there.
However, it's also not likely that earth-side cartels would get much more than an initial foothold on the fenspace drug market because of two factors: local chemical manufacturing and distance. Fens would have access to their medical and chemical plants far closer than the poppy fields of afghanistan or the coca fields of columbia. Reverse-engineering the plants and recreating them at home or making new designer drugs shouldn't be all that difficult, particularly as the distance between earth-side supplier and fen customer would make the markup astronomical.
Guns, however, would be a large market for Fens. Because of the censor function of handwavium, weapons (other than their own ships, an argument i have made before) would be initially difficult to get and manufacture fenspace-side. So weapons from earth would be a large import.
Personally I think that the governments which allow handwavium launches would also be the ones which sells most of the guns to the fens in bulk. But I suppose enterprising criminals would also fit in there.
So if drugs, the traditional big-ticket item is out for "boskones" then guns would definately be a money maker.
Finally, slaves. This commodity is something that criminals already have a large infrastructure in place (as well as governments, by the way, cf. uzbekistan) and is something that fenspace does not have. Which is to say a very large pool of desperately poor people. A "surplus population" in the words of dickens.
The trafficking of people from Earth into Fenspace would probably also be a large money-maker for criminal elements in fenspace.
Though it must be stressed that because there is no enforcable law they are not strictly criminals. Except of the moral variety.
-murmur
also: fenspace as tax haven, tax shelter, data haven.