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The Role of Technology in Human Trafficking

“Networked technologies—including the Internet, mobile phones, and social media—alter how information flows and how people communicate. There is little doubt that technology is increasingly playing a role in the practices and processes surrounding human trafficking: the illegal trade of people for commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and other forms of modern-day slavery. Yet, little is known about costs and benefits of technology’s role. We do not know if there are more human trafficking victims as a result of technology, nor do we know if law enforcement can identify perpetrators better as a result of the traces that they leave. One thing that we do know is that technology makes many aspects of human trafficking more visible and more traceable, for better and for worse. Focusing on whether technology is good or bad misses the point; it is here to stay and it is imperative that we understand the role that it plays. More importantly, we need to develop innovative ways of using technology to address the horrors of human trafficking. To do so, we must untangle technology’s role in different aspects of the human trafficking ecosystem.

To date, there is little empirical research into the role that technology plays in human trafficking. As a result, new interventions and policies are being driven by intuition, speculation, and extrapolation from highly publicized incidents. The goal of this RFP [Request for Proposals] is to help fund scholarly inquiry that generates important public knowledge that can help ground public policy discussions and drive the development of new interventions.” | Microsoft Research