Networked trafficking: reflections on technology and the anti-trafficking movement

Mitali Thakor,Danah Boyd

doi:10.1007/s10624-012-9286-6

Abstract

In this essay, we offer field notes from our ongoing ethnographic research on sex trafficking in the United States. Recent efforts to regulate websites such as Craigslist and Backpage have illuminated activist concerns regarding the role of networked technologies in the trafficking of persons and images for the purposes of sexual exploitation. We frame our understanding of trafficking and technology through a network studies approach, by describing anti-trafficking as a counter-network to the sex trafficking it seeks to address. Drawing from the work of Annelise Riles and other scholars of feminist science and technology studies, we read the anti-trafficking network through the production of expert knowledge and the crafting of anti-trafficking techniques. By exploring anti-trafficking activists’ understandings of technology, we situate the activities of anti-trafficking experts and law enforcement as efforts toward network stabilization.

Highlights

In this essay, we offer field notes from our ongoing ethnographic research on sex trafficking in the United States
We frame our understanding of trafficking and technology through a network studies approach, by describing anti-trafficking as a counter-network to the sex trafficking it seeks to address
The Women’s Funding Network, one of the key anti-trafficking organizations behind the campaign to shut down Craigslist, commissioned research from The Schapiro Group, which suggested that the commercial sexual exploitation of children in three states was on the rise (Schapiro Group 2011)

Summary

Introduction

We offer field notes from our ongoing ethnographic research on sex trafficking in the United States. In the months leading up to September 4, 2010, the battle over whether or not to shut down Craigslist became deeply political and acutely polarizing On both sides of the debate, research was employed to justify means and defend positions. The Women’s Funding Network, one of the key anti-trafficking organizations behind the campaign to shut down Craigslist, commissioned research from The Schapiro Group, which suggested that the commercial sexual exploitation of children in three states was on the rise (Schapiro Group 2011). To provide data showing that shutting down Craigslist was effective, the AIM Group released data in 2012 indicating that prostitution ad revenue (see footnote 1) had declined and had shifted to other sites (The AIM Group 2012) These data made no distinction between sex work and sex trafficking, the data were celebrated as proof that anti-trafficking crusades against websites were effective

Objectives

Methods