Project spear: Reporting human trafficking using crowdsourcing

Abstract

Human trafficking is a severe crime which is prevailing in the society. It is hard to track and report incidents of human trafficking to the concerned authorities, due to the complex nature of this crime. This paper introduces a crowdsourcing approach to report incidents of human trafficking, using a mobile application. Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining information from a large number of people. Information about human trafficking incidents reported using this mobile application is forwarded to the concerned authorities of the country where the crime has been reported. A user can also upload crime scene photos and provide details of the crime location using Global Positioning System. The mobile application introduced in this paper currently focuses on top ten countries which have the highest rates of human trafficking in the world, while very basic support for the rest of the countries. Since the process of reporting human trafficking incidents to the authorities can be complex, time consuming and dangerous, the mobile application allows users to stay anonymous. The aim of this mobile application is to create huge impact in the fight against human trafficking, by using the collective power of the crowd to report incidents of human trafficking. Also, a section of the mobile application is dedicated to educating the user about basic knowledge of human trafficking, its types and measures taken by various governments to fight against it. © 2017 IEEE.