Google Launches Global Hotline To Combat Human Trafficking

Google has been working diligently to fight human trafficking, drug smuggling, weapons smuggling, and organs harvesting. It states that all of these illegal activities bring in over $2.1 trillion in illicit profits every year. At the Illicit Networks, Forces in Opposition (INFO) summit last year, Google had decided that it would begin its fight by taking down human trafficking first.

Google states that human trafficking is the worst offender of the 4, and that there are over 21 million people who are enslaved and used to generate $32 billion in illicit profits every year. Google enlisted the help of Polaris Project, Liberty Asia, and La Strada International in order to develop anti-trafficking strategies. It awarded these organizations the $3 million Global Impact Award (an award that supports nonprofits who use technology to prevent these illegal activities) to aid in the cause.

The 3 organizations and Google came across the solution of developing a "Global Human Trafficking Hotline". The global hotline would connect local, national, and regional anti-trafficking helplines all to a data-driven network to improve their efficiency. The global hotline will provide practices and anti-trafficking strategies to help fight human trafficking and protect victims.

Two other organizations have joined in to aid in the protection. Palantir Technologies, who works with Polaris Project, will be "donating its data integration and analytics platform" to help it "share, analyze, and act upon their data in real time." Salesforce.com will also be helping Polaris Project's hotline center by "helping scale their call tracking infrastructure internationally." By making a wealth of information available in helping effectively fight human trafficking and discovering areas where its prevalent, Google, and these organizations, hope to stop human trafficking altogether.

[via Google]