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52 Judges J. 36 (2013)
Human Trafficking and the Internet (and Other Technologies, Too)

handle is hein.journals/judgej52 and id is 38 raw text is: TECHNOLOGY Human Trafficking and the Internet* (*AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES, TOO) By Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr. From the sublime and educational to the provocative and salacious, I am often amazed at the information and materials that can be found on the Inter- net. So it should not come as a surprise that the Internet, along with other tech- nologies, plays a role in both enabling and combating human trafficking. Use of the Internet to Ensnare Trafficking Victims Some trafficking cases start with the offender contacting the potential victims on social networking sites such as Face- book and MySpace. The techniques used by the offenders to gain trust vary widely, including expressing love and admiration of the victim, promising to make the vic- tim a star, and providing a ticket to a new location away from the victim's home. Another type of trafficking effort starts with an online employment search and results in an unsuspecting victim relocat- ing from her home on the promise of an unbelievably good job. After the victim has joined the offender, various tech- niques are used to restrict the victim's access to communication with home, such as imposing physical punishment unless the victim complies with the trafficker's demands and making threats of harm and even death to the victim and her family. Here are some examples of how vic- tims have been ensnared into human trafficking: m In Illinois, a 19-year-old female responded to an Internet ad promot- ing modeling opportunities. Instead of offering her a modeling job, the offender enticed the girl to wait in a hotel room where she was expected to have sex with an unknown person. The offender, who would become her pimp, intended to sell the young woman for sex at an hourly rate. In this case, the pimp's would-be client was an under- cover police officer who brought the young woman to safety.' In Denmark, law enforcement authori- ties noted suspicious advertisements for nannies, waitresses, and dancers on Web sites in Latvia and Lithuania. The traffickers used Internet sites to post advertisements for jobs in West- ern Europe. An anti-trafficking group in Poland reports that 30 percent of its clients (trafficked women) were recruited through the Internet.' Polish and Italian police jointly dis- mantled a network that trafficked men for the purpose of forced labor. An employment agency Web site was the primary means of recruitment.3 Testimony was presented to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at a hearing on Human Trafficking: Mail Order Bride Abuses that some entities in the mail order bride industry (or international matchmaking organizations) have been linked to trafficking organiza- tions that offer adults and girls as brides but sell them privately into sexual exploitation or domestic slavery. These incidents include occasions in which foreign organized crime groups used fianc6e and marriage visas to bring women into the United States for exploitation.' m A scheme demonstrating how tech- nology was used to circumvent both international borders and specific national laws involved trafficking of Japanese women from Japan to Hawaii for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The traffickers advertised in Japan for nude models to work in the United States. Upon their arrival in Hawaii, the models were used to perform live Internet sex shows and make porno- graphic videos that would be shown to Japanese audiences via the Inter- net. To avoid running afoul of Japanese pornography laws, the traffickers con- ducted their operation, which was 36 'Judges' Journal Vol. 52 No. I 36

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