Examining The Impact Of Child Trafficking Through Online Communities - By: Chris Harmen

The growth of online communities and online classified advertisements have attracted a lot of attention from individuals looking to successfully advertise and profit from these new centralized networks. One type of advertising, however, is not what many people had expected to find on these networks, the promotion of child trafficking. Predators have found these venues to be profitable for both child exploitation and advertising illegal services. The offenders develop false information in order to protect themselves from being caught. This has placed these types of Internet sites in a tough position. Some advocates for these sites believe the problem could be harder to track if they were taken down. Opponents believe the sites only create a breeding ground for traffickers to further the enablement of child exploitation.

90,000 Removed From Myspace To Stop Child Trafficking

Myspace received a large amount of attention when it was discovered that thousands of child predators had profiles on the site that were being used for child exploitation. A reluctant Myspace decided to take action to stop the use of its social network for human trafficking. They hired a company called Sentinel, which has compiled a database of 700,000 registered sex offenders, in order to have them scour the profile database for suspected predator accounts. In the end, the company found and removed more than 90,000 accounts linked to sexual predators on the site. Myspace continues to use the service to screen the accounts that are created on its site.

Facebook's Child Exploitation Issue

There have been an overwhelming amount of reported cases in the U.S. and around the world where sexual predators have searched for child trafficking victims using Facebook. Many law enforcement officials are looking into the social media site and asking questions about what the company is doing to make the site safer for children.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo started investigating Facebook after finding a large amount of minors were being contacted by adult sexual predators on the site. The Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper are also investigating Facebook. The government organizations issued subpoenas to Facebook, requesting to see documented complaints about minors being solicited by users and other inappropriate content on the site.

Human Trafficking On Craigslist

The company that has most notably taken a lot of scrutiny for their site's involvement in human trafficking is Craigslist. Craigslist hosts three paid service categories: job listings for 19 major cities, real estate listings in New York, and the most controversial 'adult services' section. Craigslist attests that each post in the adult services section are reviewed by staff members before showing up on the site and every ad placed in the section costs $10. A study conducted by the Advanced Interactive Media (AIM) Group predicted that Craigslist’s projected earnings for 2010 will be around $36 million from the adult-oriented ads.

Some government officials and individuals opposed to Craigslist are trying to sway the site's owners to remove the 'adult services' section. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sent Craigslist a subpoena asking the site to supply proof that it is following through with its agreement to remove the ads for child trafficking and other illicit activity. Individuals are banding together by creating petitions to send to the site’s founder; contesting the intent of the site and boycotting Craigslist until the company removes the section.

Organizations Using Online Communities To Combat Human Trafficking And Child Exploitation

The same sites that provide the means to promote child exploitation and child trafficking also supply powerful opportunities to connect and educate those who want to stop the predators of this horrific, booming industry. Organizations use these sites to recruit new crowds of people interested and involved in this major issue and link them with partners and government officials to make an even deeper impact.

All of these websites are used by millions of people every day. As we move forward in the 21st century, more and more individuals – especially young people -- are becoming increasingly skilled in networking on the web which also makes them ideal petitioners to help end child trafficking. The very same group of people targeted is also the group that can make one of the biggest impacts. Lynette Lewis of SCTNow believes, “The next generation of activists and survivors will use their expertise of the Internet and powerful networking tools to counter their predators and fight back to bring hope and an end to child trafficking.”

About the Author

Chris Harmen is a writer for Stop Child Trafficking Now. SCTNow is a non-profit organization that is fighting the demand side of child trafficking and child exploitation by building a case against sexual predators.

Article Directory Source: http://www.articlerich.com/profile/Chris-Harmen/89665

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