For those kidnapped and sold into the sex slave trade, hotel rooms become a second home. Grainy pictures online show victims huddled in dark hotel rooms, their price and description below like toys in a toy store. The anonymity of hotel accommodation has for many years protected the kidnappers, but that might all be about to change thanks to one clever app. TraffickCam is a smartphone app created by anti-slavery organisation Exchange Initiative, and Washington University. Simply put, TraffickCam crowdsources imagery of hotels around America by encouraging users to take a photo of their hotel room, and upload to their database.
Professor Jennifer Burn, Director of Anti-Slavery Australia, says that the best we can help out is to educate ourselves about what slavery and trafficking can actually look like. Rather than the stereotype of hotel rooms and hidden locations, a lot of slavery and trafficking in Australia is right under our noses.
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