Fifteenth International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society

Abstract

Today 40.3 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide. Of those 40.3 million victims, 79% are sex trafficking victims which are 97% female. With advances in technology, human trafficking has become the fastest growing crime, collecting an annual revenue of over $150 billion dollars. To understand how society can combat this issue, we must understand what is being done to stop it, and what is being done to advance it. This project specifically investigates how technology is being utilized by traffickers and anti-traffickers in the stages of human trafficking, as well as how new technologies can assist activist groups and law enforcement and be developed to better identify, track, and locate sex traffickers. One common tactic used by sex traffickers is to prey on vulnerability using social media applications, such as Facebook and Instagram, and using internet sites, such as Craigslist, to stalk, choose, and lure victims between the ages of 12-16 years old. Traffickers are additionally aided by technologies such as bitcoin/crypto-currencies, which enable them to transfer money in an undetected manner. On the other hand, anti-trafficking organizations are also using system diagramming and data analysis to combat the advancement of human trafficking and to ultimately abolish this form of modern-day slavery. This presentation will provide an analysis of the ways in which technology is being deployed in trafficking and anti-trafficking contexts.