Africa: Panama Papers - Soon Searchable By Everyone Thanks to the Cloud

analysis

The Panama Papers have become a worldwide phenomenon. Contents aside, the technical aspects of the related investigations, involving 2.6 terabytes of data -- 11.5 million documents! -- are intriguing. How did journalists manage, organize and analyze this huge amount of data?

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) over the past year established the technical foundations for the worldwide mass media investigation. The ICIJ also laid the technical grass roots of the "offshore leaks" involving international tax-shelter accounts in 2013, the "Lux Leaks" of Luxembourg's tax rulings in 2014 and the "Swiss Leaks" of cash shelters in Switzerland in 2015, and so has a lot of experience in data analytics for journalistic purposes. Mar Cabra works at the data and research unit at the ICIJ and knows the Panama Papers' technical challenges better than anyone else. I had the possibility to talk with the Spanish journalist a few days ago.

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