"Fighting human trafficking starts where you live. Thorn was founded in 2012 by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to combat online child abuse. $15/mo. Spotlight is the #1 investigative tool I have utilized to find child victims and arrest their traffickers in countless cases. Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results. Washington D.C. tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains. To request technical assistance, training, or other resources through this initiative, agency POCs shouldemail usor call 202-833-1460. On Wednesday, Kutcher testified before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee along with the CEO and President of the organization Human Rights First, Elisa Massimino, to ask the United States Government for help fighting trafficking and sexual exploitation. The Tennessee Fusion Center may share information contained within THOR with other law . Spotlight, which is offered free of charge to law enforcement and allied organizations, uses Amazon Cognito to provide a secure user directory that can scale to millions of users. After I completed this phase of research, I used the information to iterate on the workshop design, and improve the overall usability of Spotlight. All Rights Reserved, thorn.org, launched Spotlight nationwide in October 2014, Spotlight assisted in the identification of 1,980 children and over 2,186 traffickers. Leadership Spotlight: Leading Through Tragedy. stream 2 0 obj There are many things you can do right now to get started in your community to support local survivor organizations.". We recently asked human trafficking investigators and prosecutors how Spotlight has impacted their investigations within the last 12 months here are a few highlights: It is the Google Search for combating human sex trafficking. To design the curriculum for Spotlight Lab, I conducted preliminary research. Spotlight's sophisticated machine-learning capabilities save time for overworked, under-resourced investigators by automatically flagging ads likely to represent at-risk children and keeping law enforcement agents from getting lost in a sea of online data. Learn More Most Popular Stories. Spotlight marketing collateral, based on what law enforcement needed to know. Julie holds a B.A. Spotlight evolved from surveys completed by victims of trafficking that showed 63 percent of underage victims were bought or sold online at some point. Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues. 2016-MU-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Our team continues to monitor new and emerging trends that will help make sure our tool remains relevant for investigators to do their jobs efficiently and ultimately help the kids we serve. To build the world we believe in, we know we must: 1) Accelerate Victim Identification 2) Make Digital Environments Safer and 3) Deter Predatory Behavior. Earlier in her career she worked for Motorolas mobile phone division and helped launch HELIO, a mobile virtual network operator. The solution uses Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) to send alerts to law enforcement agents. 2016-2022 National Policing Institute -Privacy Policy-Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader, Spotlight A Tool to Improve Sex Trafficking Investigations, Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader. Copyright Human Trafficking Search 2023. Please continue to fund this very important resource; it saves lives. After the 2015 Atlanta ICAC Conference, we quickly realized that we needed a better on-boarding process that no longer relied solely on Google Sheets to manage requests. Powered by 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Amazon EC2 C5 instances offer a memory-to-vCPU ratio that is ideal for demanding inference applications. We choose to use it for good. "It didn't make sense to build our own facial-recognition service when AWS already offers a best-in-breed solution like Amazon Rekognition. $120/yr. Per Kristin, "The genesis of Spotlight started after we conducted a sex trafficking Survivor Survey in 2012, seeking to learn directly from victims how technology was used throughout their trafficking situation. <>/Metadata 508 0 R/ViewerPreferences 509 0 R>> Kelbi Ervin, Development Associate at Thorn, works with a team to develop partnerships and identify funding opportunities to sustain Thorn's work. 1 0 obj Access is available for free to law enforcement agencies and can be requested at: htspotlight.com. This combination of streamlining workflows and increasing successful victim identification is what has propelled Spotlight to its large user base. Spotlights analytics pipeline begins with a third-party solution that ingests more than 100,000 new online escort ads each day, storing text and image data as objects in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) buckets. I was given the goal of on-boarding 250 users in the next six months. Spotlight evolved from surveys completed by victims of . Kutcher elaborate on the software during the hearing, Its a tool that can be used by law enforcement to prioritize their caseload. Here are samples of the Spotlight product website: home page, request access page, and request demo page. Thorn was founded in 2012 to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse. Spotlight Data How often is the information in Spotlight refreshed? Top 5 IRS CI Enforcement Priorities. The Transportation Industrys Human Trafficking Prevention Toolkit, The Educators Human Trafficking Awareness & Prevention Toolkit, Hospitality Industry and Human Trafficking Toolkit, Visibly Invisible Sex Workers and Sex Trafficking in the EU, Prison Labor: What Happened in the 5 States That Had The Exception Clause On the Ballot, Illuminating a Nexus: The Interplay Between Disaster Events and Exploitation, Preparing for the Known Unknown: Human Trafficking and Disaster Response, Forced to Scam: Cyber Slavery in South Asia, Avoiding Cascading Effects: Why Suspension of The Davis-Bacon Act May Allow Forced/Exploited Labor. x["Yn According to our most recent survey, it is helping find more human trafficking victims, faster. These recent survey results confirm our initial hypothesis that Spotlight has indeed been an asset for law enforcement in earlier victim identification, collaboration and productivity. Journey map of users navigating htspotlight.com. Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. We work with the sharpest minds from tech, non-profit, government and law enforcement to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material, stand up to child traffickers and uncover new kinds of abuse. An infographic detailing the reach that Spotlight has gained, since its national roll-out in February 2015. Additionally, many new supervisors inevitably will speak with and encourage employees to ensure they take care of their . We hate spam too, unless it's on a sandwich with some eggs. This was meant to identify areas in which we could make the tool more intuitive, to minimize obstacles to adoption. For more information about the impact of Spotlight, check out the infographic below. "When I asked if Spotlight was available to law enforcement in other countries, Kelbi said no, not yet, "But were constantly evaluating the landscape to understand where it can have impact internationally as well.". endobj Our product Safer is the first holistic solution for tech companies to detect, remove, and report child sexual abuse material at scale. With over 150,000 ads posted online every day, we know that law enforcement doesnt have enough time to navigate the online commercial sex market to find children and identify their traffickers. Thorn's Spotlight tool combines publicly available classified ad and online forum data with smart algorithms to help law enforcement identify an average of eight child sex trafficking victims every day. To date, Spotlight has helped officers reduce investigative time by up to 65% and has helped identify 18,119 trafficking victims (including 5,791 children) and 6,553 traffickers. Registration is open for Dressember 2018 and fundraising has already started! In Wednesdays hearing Kutcher discussed the wide use of the dark web by traffickers, and the difficulties law enforcement officials face in navigating the expanse of content. Potts adds, "We built Spotlight because we wanted to use advanced technology to help law enforcement turn the tables and find these children faster.". Hopeful that investigators could use technology to identify victims more quickly, we tested an early version of a potential tool among key agencies with promising results. "Permitted Use" means any use of the Services by an Authorized User for the benefit of Customer solely for supporting his or her law enforcement, social services, academic or other similar professional role, including to detect criminal actions, identify missing/exploited victims, or measure statistical trends surrounding the adult services . It is the Google Search for combating human sex trafficking. Finally, we designed marketing collateral to drive further customer acquisition. Our programs and products find child abuse victims faster, make online environments safer, and deter criminal behavior. Copyright IBTimes 2023. endstream Spotlight can connect contacts in minutes where it would take me weeks, if not months to do the same thing. BACKGROUND Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI) founded in 1918, is a statewide nonprofit human services agency that addresses the need to provide new immigrants and refugees in Connecticut with services to help them become self-sufficient, integrated and contributing members of the community. A virtual team based in the U.S., Thorn employs 25 people. With the approval of the Thorn CEO, I led the design of a Spotlight product website and managed our vendors, Media Cause and Digital Reasoning - who were in charge of graphic design and engineering development. Technology can be used to enable slavery but it can also be used to disable slavery, and thats what were doing, Kutcher said to wrap up his comments. I was given the goal of on-boarding 250 users in the next six months. Spotlight helps officers identify child sex-trafficking ads much faster than the old paper-and-pencil methods., Brooke Istook, Director of Strategy and Operations, Thorn. stream The bad news is that law enforcement just doesnt have the time, energy, or manpower to efficiently pursue the information available online. Nokia's New G22 Phone Allows You To Repair Broken Parts Yourself; A Knack For Storytelling: Should AI Take Over What Makes Us Human? Nothing makes my job more rewarding when a victim says "thank you" and tells me about her rebuilt life. Thorn is a team of issue experts, business leaders, and engineers who build technology to defend children from sexual abuse. The software makes tracking down traffickers easier and faster for law enforcement, which can cut down on the amount of time it takes to find victims. Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options? Additionally, through my stakeholder analysis, I focused on Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) - a leading law enforcement education center - and the DOJ (both of whom I know, because I currently consult for them on human trafficking). "Abusers had figured out how to use advanced technology to facilitate their exploitation of children," says Sarah Potts, the head of marketing and communications for Thorn, the California-based nonprofit that created Spotlight. <> I also created high-fidelity prototypes of key touchpoints on our site, whose content I validated through additional user feedback. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS Answering the Challenge Using AWS Raise your voice against slavery this December! Officer Wellness Spotlight: Police Chaplains - An Integral Part of Law Enforcement. Spotlight does investigative work in minutes that can take hours sometimes to collect. With just over 20% of users reporting, we are confident these numbers represent the low end of our impact. Throughout this process, I worked collaboratively with Media Cause and Digital Reasoning to set timelines and execute. my.evidence.com. Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? from UCLA and an M.B.A. from Northwestern. 6 0 obj We'll keep it out of your inbox, promise. Share it with us and well add it to the database! Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. After the sting operation, we sat down with FVTC and the DOJ to put together the curriculum for Spotlight Lab. I was part of the team that was responsible for designing the UX/UI and rolling out the product Nationwide, along with our partners -Digital Reasoning- whose machine learning technology, Spotlight was built on. One of the most significant obstacles is the massive volume of these ads. Vietnam. endobj The organization collaborates with law enforcement agencies, tech companies, and nonprofits. Use of THOR in a manner outside the scope of these Rules is strictly prohibited. He likes Neo-noir films, running and cycling, classic American novels, small venue music shows, and burritos. Officers can set customized alerts and search Spotlights constantly growing database of ads to aid in their investigations. Helped officers identify over 10,000 child victims of sexual trafficking and children whose abuse was recorded and distributed. endobj The internet has made it easier for children to be bought and sold online. Streamlining the onboarding process for law enforcement An infographic detailing the reach that Spotlight has gained, since its national roll-out in February 2015. COVID-19 fraud schemes have been a top concern for IRS CI and other . We reached out to her for more information about Spotlight. Due to the sensitivity of the product itself, I will not be using this case study to highlight the product design or development of Spotlight, the tool. and who do the programs serve? Viral child sexual abuse material is removed from the internet to end the cycle of trauma. Thorn developed Spotlight, an app that helps law enforcement close trafficking cases much faster than by using traditional manual methods. How can law enforcement sift through massive amounts of data to focus their time on the most vulnerable victims? Using this data the company worked with law enforcement to understand how such digital footprints could lead to the discovery of victims and their traffickers. Please check your inbox in order to proceed. A leading assumption was that users wanted to learn by doing, so we used the outcomes from the New Orleans sting operation as a hands-on case study. Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018. The success of Spotlight would not be possible without the countless hours that investigators spend looking for our kids; the technology partners who influenced and encouraged its development and our donors. Furthermore, by making sure users were engaged and properly trained, user surveys have shown that Spotlight has since been able to reduce the time it takes to investigate a human trafficking case by 43%, identified close to 2,000 children, and over 2,000 traffickers. Roll-Out in February 2015 view Form ( s ) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018 streamlining onboarding. With law enforcement and Digital Reasoning to set timelines and execute enforcement to prioritize their caseload create an to! In February 2015 effects on people or issues free to law enforcement agencies and can be requested:!, training, or other resources through this initiative, agency POCs usor... Aws Raise your voice against slavery this December solution uses Amazon Simple Notification Service Amazon... About Spotlight vulnerable victims during the hearing, its a tool that machine. The DOJ to put together the curriculum for Spotlight Lab, I worked collaboratively with Media Cause and Reasoning... 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