anseljh / bgaas

Slice and dice arms control lists for fun and profit

bgaas: Bad Guys As A Service

Bad Guys As A Service (bgaas) is software for querying export restrictions like the Denied Persons List.

Installation

Install dependencies:

$ pip install -r src/requirements.txt

Run:

$ python src/bgaas.py <options> <command> <parameters>

Usage

Note: Most of this is not yet implemented!

Update Lists

$ bgaas update

Query

$ bgaas query agnese

returns results for the query "agnese" from all included lists.

Map

$ bgaas map agnese

Pronunciation

The pronunciation of bgaas is user selectable: either "bee gas" or "big a**".

License

bgaas software and documentation are licensed under the Apache License. We make no claim to any data provided by governments. Some government sample data is included, for testing purposes.

Software

bgaas is written in Python.

Contributing

Pull requests, feature ideas, and bug reports are welcome. You must agree to license any submitted code under the Apache License or it will be rejected.

The repository is on GitHub at: https://github.com/anseljh/bgaas

To-Do List

• Improve repository structure (see Open Sourcing a Python Project the Right Way)
• Parse Consolidated Screening List data file (instructions)
• Document URLs of main raw list data
• Document update frequency of each main list
• Document command-line procedures for working with the main arms control lists (e.g., with grep, csvkit)
• Scrapers for debarment list
  • Parse Excel file
  • Parse HTML
• Scraper for other US lists
• Identify non-US lists
• Mapping engine for plotting results, perhaps using Kartograph and Natural Earth
• Write installation instructions

Further Reading

• New Media Solutions in Nonproliferation and Arms Control: Opportunities and Challenges by Bryan Lee and Margarita Zolotova, published by The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (February 14, 2014)