Eventually, I reached out to them, and we agreed to partner and co-teach a Spotlight Lab workshop at major conferences across the Nation to drive awareness and adoption. All rights reserved. User research through interviews, personas, and journey mapping of proactive and reactive searches had already been done prior to my start date. This tool will allow us to conduct faster, more precise investigations that will remove criminals from the street and, most importantly, recover victims. Law enforcement doesnt have enough time to navigate the online commercial sex market to find children and identify their traffickers. Before presenting the first award of the night, "The Ranch" star Ashton Kutcher walked the red carpet in Dolce & Gabbana. The internet has become a widely used place for sex traffickers to advertise. Forgot your username or password? The objective of Spotlight is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of domestic sex trafficking investigations and increase the number of children who are identified and connected with help resources. 10 0 obj
This combination of streamlining workflows and increasing successful victim identification is what has propelled Spotlight to continue to grow its user base. Technology is a powerful tool. Use of THOR in a manner outside the scope of these Rules is strictly prohibited. Register. We are only one player in a critical ecosystem working on behalf of our children. stream
The app does this on a serverless Amazon Web Services (AWS) architecture that includes Amazon Rekognition, a deep learningbased image and video analysis service, and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) C5 instances. <>
The organization collaborates with law enforcement agencies, tech companies, and nonprofits. I started by conducting a competitive and stakeholder analysis to help with the overall discovery of where we were with our current process. 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. 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. The internet has made it easier for children to be bought and sold online. Thorn is a registered 501(c)(3) organizationEIN: 27-0943677, 2023 Thorn. More From Thorn About the Spotlight Technology. endstream
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. 2016-MU-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. You can have your biggest impact in the community where you live thats where you know the most about the environment, the opportunities, the dangers. Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options. Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. Spotlight has been used in 21,044 cases identifying 12,328 adults, 5,791 children, and 6,553 traffickers in the past two years. <>
To find children faster, they have created two online tools, Spotlight and Solis, for law enforcement agencies across the world, for free. Sign In. All of our technology partners are making crucial contributions to this fight. 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. She previously served as the VP of Marketing/Communications of (RED), where she helped establish the brand as one of the most successful cause marketing initiatives in history, delivering more than $160 million to fight HIV/AIDS across Africa. We'll keep it out of your inbox, promise. 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. BACKGROUND Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. We do all of this so every child can be safe, curious, and happy. Sign In. Hear more from investigators using Spotlight on the front lines. This project was supported by Grant No. Be a part of the impact for our local and global partners by creating your campaign page today! Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress. Over the past year, reports show that we are identifying on average 8 kids per dayand that law enforcement who use Spotlight daily see a 65% time savings in their process. All rights reserved. Thorn runs the countrys most extensive online deterrence program, communicating directly with people searching for CSAM, disrupting their sense of anonymity and encouraging them to seek help. "Spotlight was designed based on insights from our first survivor survey. 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. It's a hard question but an important one. Finally, we designed marketing collateral to drive further customer acquisition. At Dressember, we release a line of dresses each year, but those products are sold. ", In a YouTube video describing Thorns use of technology to fight child pornography and sex trafficking, Thorn Co-founder Ashton Kutcher said, We have to stay on the front cutting edge of that technology, because the criminals, theyre on the front cutting edge., I asked Kelbi what challenges Spotlight faces in keeping at the front of the technological curve. 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. COVID-19 fraud schemes have been a top concern for IRS CI and other . We reached out to her for more information about Spotlight. FOLLOW MORE IBT NEWS ON THE BELOW CHANNELS, IBT Fast Start - Let the best of International News come to you. My goal was to not only design a workshop that increased adoption but to build a tool that added value for current users through an intuitive user experience and user interface - which would then translate to more victims identified in a shorter amount of time. Rather, I will be detailing the UX/UI and program management that went behind the design of the on-boarding process, which I led during my time at Thorn. $25/mo. Spotlight is the #1 investigative tool I have utilized to find child victims and arrest their traffickers in countless cases. Learn more about Spotlight. With only a 25% response rate, were confident these numbers represent the low end of our impact. Our tools are currently used by over 8,000 law enforcement officers in 37 countries, resulting in the identification of 10,000+ child sex trafficking victims and 847+ victims of child sexual abuse material. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this Web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). Sign in or create a new account. There are many things you can do right now to get started in your community to support local survivor organizations.". Officers who login weekly report a time savings of 60% in their human trafficking investigations. Our products would not be successful without the partnership we receive from the law enforcement users in every state, at every level of government, and in 37 other countries who use our products, give us feedback, and work tirelessly to identify children. x["Yn $10/mo. A virtual team based in the U.S., Thorn employs 25 people. from UCLA and an M.B.A. from Northwestern. However, the following six districts <>/Metadata 508 0 R/ViewerPreferences 509 0 R>>
To design the curriculum for Spotlight Lab, I conducted preliminary research. ", Combating online child sex trafficking is a team effort, according to Istook. " Eventually, I reached out to them, and we agreed to partner and co-teach a Spotlight Lab workshop at major conferences across the Nation to drive awareness and adoption. 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. Journey map of users navigating htspotlight.com. 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). We hate spam too, unless it's on a sandwich with some eggs. Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options? As Thorn started work on a tool that could help investigators identify children being exploited, more than 150,000 new escort ads were being posted online every day in the United States. The National Policing Institute, formerly known as the National Police Foundation, is an independent non-profit, non-partisan institution based in Arlington, Virginia that has been dedicated to advancing policing through innovation and science for over half a century, and works to translate those findings to practice through technical assistance, training, and dissemination. Help Spotlight PA hold the powerful to account with a gift today. Thank you for supporting the fight to end human trafficking! Spotlight can connect contacts in minutes where it would take me weeks, if not months to do the same thing. This website is funded through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. All Rights Reserved. So much so that we launched Spotlight nationwide in October 2014. The rise of the internet has done for child sexual abusers the exact same thing it has done for everyone else - made it easier to share images, and build a community. (Don't see an email in your inbox? stream
There are over 150,000 escort ads posted daily, and Spotlight takes this massive amount of data and turns it into an asset for law enforcement. One aspect of law enforcement often discussed during an in-briefing or at a recruiting event is the idea that by joining the organization, you are being accepted into that agency's "family.". The software, called Spotlight, is now used across all 50 states by more than 4,000 law enforcement officers, according to Thorns website. Potts adds, "We built Spotlight because we wanted to use advanced technology to help law enforcement turn the tables and find these children faster.". The Law Enforcement Family. GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader Spotlight is a web tool used by law enforcement agencies to more efficiently search the internet for victim and trafficker information. We have resource guides for researchers across the globe on all forms of trafficking for various stakeholders. 9 0 obj
HTS creates a blog, publishes research, and hosts a global resource database on human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Finally, we were awarded the 2015 Cloudera Social Impact Award, for the work we did on Spotlight. Thorn was founded in 2012 to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse. endobj
Based on IRS CI's FY 2021 Annual Report, here are five top enforcement priorities that are likely to carry over into 2022: 1. This process was relatively ad hoc, however, with no identified workflow to drive rapid acquisition and adoption. Spotlight was designed for law enforcement and prosecutors who investigate human trafficking networks so that victims can be identified and connected to services. Reports from our users show that, with the help of Spotlight, law enforcement is identifying 9 kids per day on average and those who use Spotlight daily see over 60% in time savings. <>
Our web-based tool is now used by over 5,000 officers in all 50 states and Canada. We believe that technology is a tool, one we can use for incredible good. endobj
I get results fast allowing me to to gather important evidence and information in minutes compared to hours., Spotlight is a force multiplier at every stage of the operation. <>
Expanded partnerships with law enforcement. Thorn has worked tirelessly to improve three areas of child safety, finding abused children faster, deterring predators, and creating hostile online environments. 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. We believe that every child has the right to be safe, to be curious, to be happy. Initially, they had about 100 users from three U.S. states who were using Spotlight for their human-trafficking investigations. x
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Its not uncommon for celebrities to act on a social or political issue theyre passionate about. On AWS, we can also respond to feature requests from officers in weeks or daysnot a level of responsiveness public-sector agencies are used to seeing. Copyright Human Trafficking Search 2023. Our brand NoFiltr reaches youth directly with prevention and support messaging to help them better recognize online grooming. Spotlight's machine-learning models analyze new escort ads in real time and use intelligent image analysis and natural-language processing (NLP) to flag those that match risk profiles developed in cooperation with law enforcement agencies. Leadership Spotlight: A System Focus. Our tool Spotlight accelerates law enforcements ability to identify victims of child sex trafficking. Officers can set customized alerts and search Spotlights constantly growing database of ads to aid in their investigations. Armed with this data, we worked with our technology partners and law enforcement to understand how these existing digital footprints could assist law enforcement in faster victim identification. 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. Thorn has created a program called Spotlight. To request technical assistance, training, or other resources through this initiative, agency POCs shouldemail usor call 202-833-1460. Spotlight is a web tool used by law enforcement agencies to more efficiently search the internet for victim and trafficker information. 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. Thorn's Spotlight tool helps law enforcement more quickly identify sex trafficking victims who are advertised online. 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. Sign in. Spotlight Data How often is the information in Spotlight refreshed? To help investigators overcome these and other hurdles, Thorn collaborated with AWS and Digital Reasoning, a company specializing in cognitive-computing solutions, to build Spotlight. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS Answering the Challenge Using AWS It is the greatest tool we have in the fight against human trafficking., Special Agent, Wisconsin Human Trafficking Task Force. How can people reading this help Thorn fight against child sex trafficking? Leadership Spotlight: Leading At-Risk Employees - Law Enforcement and the Addiction Crisis. 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. She shared, "Maintaining any technology product is always challenging because technology is constantly changing. Our team built and launched Spotlight in 2014 to improve investigator workflow to find child victims faster. This was meant to identify areas in which we could make the tool more intuitive, to minimize obstacles to adoption. Kelbi Ervin, Development Associate at Thorn, works with a team to develop partnerships and identify funding opportunities to sustain Thorn's work. Empowering law enforcement to collaborate beyond jurisdictions or national borders is a key to success in identifying victims who are moved frequently, or are broadcast through peer-to-peer platforms (P2P) on the dark web from a hidden location. Get free shipping on all Thorne products, connect with health professionals and clients, and read Take 5 Daily to get the latest news in the health and technology industry. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS. Click here to return to Amazon Web Services homepage, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) C5 instances, Identified 18,000 victims, including over 6,000 children. in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section. endobj
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Leadership Spotlight: Leading Through Tragedy. 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. Spotlight could never have been so successful without substantial investment and support from AWS, or the underlying technologies that Intel has created.. GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center. 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. Thorn was founded in 2012 by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to combat online child abuse. We choose to use it for good. I also conducted guerrilla usability testing to learn about the major pain points of the product itself. Commit to wearing a dress or tie every day in December. Our tools take massive amounts of data and turns it into an asset for law enforcement. Thorn is a registered 501(c)(3) organizationEIN: 27-0943677, 2023 Thorn. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. "Our law enforcement partners say Spotlight helps officers identify child sex-trafficking ads much faster than the old paper-and-pencil methods," says Brooke Istook, director of strategy and operations at Thorn. Spotlight has been used in 21,044 cases identifying 12,328 adults, 5,791 children, and 6,553 traffickers in the past two years. From there, I created an information architecture for the content on the website, put together a website design inspiration board, sketched wireframes by hand and through an online tool - and then wrote the content itself. In 2013, we published the first version of The Thorn Sound Practices Guide, which educates companies about proven practices, tools and resources that exist to identify, remove, report and prevent child sexual abuse material and abusive behavior on their platforms. This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ. Used by law enforcement in all 50 states and Canada, Spotlight has assisted in over 25,000 cases in 2019 alone and has helped to identify nearly 5,500 child sex trafficking victims and nearly 6,500 child sex traffickers. Top 5 IRS CI Enforcement Priorities. Washington D.C. tax attorney Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains. I cant begin to tell you how appreciative myself and the victim's families are that we have people that support a worthy cause such as this. Lucas Moore is a writer in Los Angeles. $180/yr. Trafficking in human beings: protect women and children and focus on sexual exploitation, Desperate for Cash, Afghans Toil in Mines That Are Deadlier Than Ever, Forced to Beg: Tanzanias Trafficked Kids. stream
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