How does Technology Facilitate Human Trafficking?

Dixon explains that technology is used for the benefit of the human traffickers. He explains how social networks are used as a way of finding more victims. The trafficker contacts a person by using social networks such as Facebook or Myspace. Once the potential victim has responded to his initial contact the trafficker either offers her a career opportunity, job, or manipulates their emotions to his or her favor. Sometimes the traffickers lure girls with promises of making them starts while other times traffickers established “relationship” with the potential victims. Once the traffickers establish the relationship and gains trust, he starts suggesting locations away from home. After the victims fall prey to the traffickers they limit their communication with the outside world. Often these victims are beaten and threatened by the traffickers if they do not do what they tell them to do (Dixon 16). For instance in Rose's case, a fifteen year old who was contacted by an older man on social media. Rose was lonely and had a very low self-esteem when a much older man approached her through Myspace. He told her exactly what she wanted to hear, bought her designer items, took her out to eat, and took her to salons. Rose coming from a broken home later left her house to move in with him. Then he moved her out of her hometown and isolated her from her friends and family. He later forced her to have sex with men and would beat her if she did not comply. Rose lived that life until she found a church that helped her leave her pimp (Callahan). 

This picture shows how a typical ad for prostitution would look online.
It demonstrates how phones are used to see these ads.
Image from Inquisitir.com

The technological revolution has facilitated our lives in a variety of ways. We can now talk to people from around the world at the touch of a button. Sharing pictures and videos can be done instantly now. Also, let’s not forget the ability to use video chat unlimitedly. This technological innovation has made the world smaller and our reach much larger.  or any of us it is the most amazing thing that can happen to us. If we are far away we can connect instantly with our family back home. Technology has huge benefits, but what are other of its uses? Unfortunately, being able to connect to more people from all over the world is not always a good thing. Human traffickers use every aspect of technology to their advantage for commercial sex. Internet use enables traffickers to sell people around the world. As of 2010 over two billion people use the internet 79% of which use social networks (Latonero 12).             
 “The Internet spreads across the globe and consists of countless networks and computers, allowing millions of people to share information. Data that travels long distances on the Internet” (Tech Terms). The internet gives almost everyone the opportunity to be anonymous in one way or the other. You can be anyone on the internet and it would be very difficult to prove otherwise. The immensity of the internet and the amount of users makes it really impossible for officials to track every single cybercrime. A cybercrime is any crime that happens via the internet (Skykiotou).  Cybercrime is very difficult to catch since there are millions of users on the internet and many ways the criminals can hide in the web. Also, if the criminals are connecting to the internet in a country that does not have the advanced technology to track them or does not corporate with other countries to help them track the criminals, then it would be nearly impossible to catch them (Skykiotou).   

Sites such as craigslist are used to advertise women. Under its section ‘Adult Services’ or 

This image is an example of how a
prostitution ad would look like on
craigslist.
Image from skyvalleychronicle.com

‘Erotic Services’ women were sold in various cities across the globe. Anyone can post on craigslist using pseudonyms or no names at all. What is posted is not monitored as extensively either. Although this is the case officials manage to catch criminals from time to time. For instance, the FBI arrested a man in Las Vegas who was advertising underage girls as escorts on the website Craigslist. Two women in Chicago were also arrested for selling young girls of the age of fourteen on Craigslist. The girls were advertised via ads on websites such as Craigslist; sometimes the girls themselves are forced to advertise themselves. Like in the case of Jennings where she was convicted of prostituting five minors. She forced them to advertise themselves on Craigslist by posting ads then she would drive them to hotels to meet with their buyers or “johns” (Latonero 13). Just as the internet is used to advertise, sell, and buy, it is also used to lure in victims. The most common method is through social networks. The increasing use of social network has opened a plethora of opportunities for traffickers to reach more victims, specifically the younger population. For instance, in a Texas case a girl of the age of fourteen who was recruited through the use of Myspace. She was then forced into prostitution for six months until she was rescued in Arizona (Latonero 13).

This image shows how some prostitution ads may look like varying by website.
Image from gizmodo.com

Donna Hughes an American trafficking of women and children researcher states that the global trafficking market has been facilitated since 1997 by the internet. She also states how the violation of the human rights of women and children specifically has been aided by the creation of new technologies. Unites states as one of the most advanced countries has to fight cybercrime more than other countries. Technology is being used more in the United States to trafficking humans than other countries. The reason for this is because people in the United States have more access to computers and the internet. In the United States using the internet is part of daily life (Latonero 14).

Works Cited:
"Internet." .Tech Terms. Web. 25 July 2015. 
Skykiotou, Athanassia. "Cybercrime and Human Trafficking." Vienna Institute for International                  Dialogue and Cooperation. Web.25 July 2015. 

Dixon, Herbert B., Jr. "Human trafficking and the Internet: (and other technologies, too)." Judges Journal Winter 2013:  36+. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 July 2015.

Callahan, Marion. "How Teen Was Lured into Sex Trafficking World." NBC 10 Philadelphia. Web.         1 Aug. 2015. 

Latonero, Mark. "Human Trafficking Online: The Role of Social Networking Sites and Online Classifieds." USC Annenberg School of Communication; Data & Society Research Institute (2011): 1-56. Print.