<> % GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader Spotlight could never have been so successful without substantial investment and support from AWS, or the underlying technologies that Intel has created.. We choose to use it for good. Spotlight's machine-learning models are trained and run on Amazon EC2 C5 instances. and who do the programs serve? from UCLA and an M.B.A. from Northwestern. 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. Law enforcement doesnt have enough time to navigate the online commercial sex market to find children and identify their traffickers. That's where Thorn comes in. Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics, Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools, Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations, Revenue and expense data for the current fiscal year, CEO, Board Chair, and Board of Directors information, *with the ability to download the data for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. We believe that technology is a tool, one we can use for incredible good. Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? 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. 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). Founded in 2012, Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. 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. Other Amount: Donate now Yes, accountability matters. I gathered additional information through phone call interviews with customers who were familiar with Spotlight and the other two products to get a sense of what features and design they liked. endobj Viral child sexual abuse material is removed from the internet to end the cycle of trauma. After the 2015 Atlanta ICAC Conference, we quickly realized that we needed a better on-boarding process that no longer relied solely on Google Sheets to manage requests. 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. Click here to resend it.). The organization's co-leader identifies as: Already have a GuideStar Account? Register now. <> All Rights Reserved. about GuideStar Pro. Abused children are identified and removed from harm and their abusers are held accountable. Commit to wearing a dress or tie every day in December. Sign in. 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. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 612 792] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>> After the 2015 Atlanta ICAC Conference, we quickly realized that we needed a better on-boarding process that no longer relied solely on Google Sheets to manage requests. Our product Safer is the first holistic solution for tech companies to detect, remove, and report child sexual abuse material at scale. For more information about the impact of Spotlight, check out the infographic below. Hear more from investigators using Spotlight on the front lines. Nokia's New G22 Phone Allows You To Repair Broken Parts Yourself; A Knack For Storytelling: Should AI Take Over What Makes Us Human? Kelbi writes, "We are philanthropically funded, which means that donations and grants like yours directly fund our products that we provide to law enforcement for free. 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. Finally, we were awarded the 2015 Cloudera Social Impact Award, for the work we did on Spotlight. Based on IRS CI's FY 2021 Annual Report, here are five top enforcement priorities that are likely to carry over into 2022: 1. x["Yn We are dedicated to ending child sex trafficking and eliminating child sexual abuse from the internet, and we wont stop until every child can simply be a kid. An infographic detailing the reach that Spotlight has gained, since its national roll-out in February 2015. It went from beta in Summer 2014, to extended beta in Fall 2014, to a national roll-out in Winter 2015. Spotlight is like a investigative partner in human trafficking investigations. We can use this tool to gather intelligence and plot trends prior to conducting an operation, during the operation we can allocate resources effectively and tighten our investigative vision to have the greatest immediate impact, and following this operation we can couple Spotlight with information gathered in interviews to develop a more complete picture of the scope of Human Trafficking in our area.. Thorn was founded in 2012 by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore to combat online child abuse. 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. She shared, "Maintaining any technology product is always challenging because technology is constantly changing. 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 in P2P onthe dark web from a hidden location. 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. The internet has become a widely used place for sex traffickers to advertise. 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. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. The Amazon Rekognition team has been very responsive in helping us address any challenges we encounter.". 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. This tool will allow us to conduct faster, more precise investigations that will remove criminals from the street and, most importantly, recover victims. Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants (CIRI) founded in 1918, is a statewide nonprofit human services agency that addresses the need to provide new immigrants and refugees in Connecticut with services to help them become self-sufficient, integrated and contributing members of the community. <> Potts adds, "We built Spotlight because we wanted to use advanced technology to help law enforcement turn the tables and find these children faster.". "Day to day, we strive to balance hard work with care for ourselves and each other so that we have the resiliency we need to keep fighting," Kelbi writes, "At Thorn, we are invested in a team wellness plan where we carve out time to discuss how were feeling and how were approaching our work. Problems of scale like this cry out for automated processes, but another big obstacle is the fact that escort ad data is anything but consistent: traffickers use code words, slang, and reused content to complicate detection by machines. Our team continues to monitor new and emerging trends that will help make sure our tool remains relevant for investigators to do their jobs efficiently and ultimately help the kids we serve. AWS support for Internet Explorer ends on 07/31/2022. The organization collaborates with law enforcement agencies, tech companies, and nonprofits. Thorn builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. Learn more This combination of streamlining workflows and increasing successful victim identification is what has propelled Spotlight to its large user base. Click on the link in that email Copyright IBTimes 2023. Monthly Yearly One time only. Please check your inbox in order to proceed. To design the curriculum for Spotlight Lab, I conducted preliminary research. The solution uses Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) to send alerts to law enforcement agents. Activation of the tech industry helps eliminate abuse content from their platforms. Our brand NoFiltr reaches youth directly with prevention and support messaging to help them better recognize online grooming. endstream endstream We are only one player in a critical ecosystem working on behalf of our children. We do all of this so every child can be safe, curious, and happy. Half of our 26 person staff are engineers and product managers focused on technology innovation and deployment. Our work has three pillars and one guiding vision. With just over 20% of users reporting, we are confident these numbers represent the low end of our impact. Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options. Both products had been around longer than Spotlight and had a few hundred more users than us at the time. THOR Usernames and Passwords must be maintained as confidential by the User and may not be shared. Learn more about Amazon EC2 C5 Instances. All rights reserved. I was given the goal of on-boarding 250 users in the next six months. One of the most significant obstacles is the massive volume of these ads. Have you recently published a useful resource? 2016-MU-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. I also conducted guerrilla usability testing to learn about the major pain points of the product itself. Per Kristin, "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. Raise your voice against slavery this December! With over 150,000 ads posted online every day, we know that law enforcement doesnt have enough time to navigate the online commercial sex market to find children and identify their traffickers. With only a 25% average response rate, were confident these numbers represent the low end of our impact. Somewhere in that pile of data are children who are bought and sold online for sex. BACKGROUND Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. 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. 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. Thank you for supporting the fight to end human trafficking! Identifying the best product and UX design to onboard users, so that Spotlight could become the leading machine learning tool for human trafficking investigators. Try a low commitment monthly plan today. 8 0 obj Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress. Thorn was founded in 2012 to build technology to defend children from sexual abuse. 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. 2 0 obj stream Through my competitive analysis, I identified two major competing products, Traffic Jam and Rescue Forensics. x Om7 ' Streamlining the onboarding process for law enforcement An infographic detailing the reach that Spotlight has gained, since its national roll-out in February 2015. According to our most recent survey, it is helping find more human trafficking victims, faster. Lucas Moore is a writer in Los Angeles. Thorn developed Spotlight, an app that helps law enforcement close trafficking cases much faster than by using traditional manual methods. We work with the sharpest minds from tech, non-profit, government and law enforcement to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material, stand up to child traffickers and uncover new kinds of abuse . 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. | Photos Copyright Kay Chernush, ArtWorks for Freedom. Leadership Spotlight: Leading with the Pen - The Handwritten Note. The internet has made it easier for children to be bought and sold online. After I completed this phase of research, I used the information to iterate on the workshop design, and improve the overall usability of Spotlight. All rights reserved. 4 0 obj My background in law enforcement and anti-human trafficking was well suited for the needs of Spotlight when I first joined the team. Hi-fidelity prototypes of key touch points on the Spotlight website. <> How does this organization measure their results? Matt Damon wants clean water for all, Shailene Woodley was arrested protesting the Dakota Access pipeline, and Ashton Kutcher is the co-founder of a tech company fighting human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Expanded partnerships with law enforcement. 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. All of our technology partners are making crucial contributions to this fight. stream Learn More Our web-based tool is now used by over 5,000 officers in all 50 states and Canada. Need the ability to download nonprofit data and more advanced search options? I also created high-fidelity prototypes of key touchpoints on our site, whose content I validated through additional user feedback. 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. 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. to get more GuideStar Nonprofit Profile data today! 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.". 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. The software, called Spotlight, is now used across all 50 states by more than 4,000 law enforcement officers, according to Thorns website. 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). Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues. Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? A virtual team based in the U.S., Thorn employs 25 people. Telehealth Startup Cerebral To Cut 15% Of Staff, PlayStation's New Game To Feature Shiba Inu As 'Savior' Of 'Humanity', China Aims To Reach 'World-Leading Levels' Of Tech By 2035: CCP. Forgot your username or password? Please continue to fund this very important resource; it saves lives. Dont see a resource that you know exists? "Fighting human trafficking starts where you live. Sign in or create an account to view Form(s) 990 for 2020, 2019 and 2018. It's a hard question but an important one. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS. Spotlight is a web tool used by law enforcement agencies to more efficiently search the internet for victim and trafficker information. GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center. It is the Google Search for combating human sex trafficking. Thorn Helps Law Enforcement Identify Child Sex-Trafficking Victims Faster on AWS Answering the Challenge Using AWS Officers who login weekly report a time savings of 60% in their human trafficking investigations. Julie was raised in Lindsay, California, a small farming community in Californias Central Valley. Use of THOR in a manner outside the scope of these Rules is strictly prohibited. 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. 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. Spotlight is used by more than 6,000 law enforcement officers in all 50 3 0 obj Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Thorn is a registered 501(c)(3) organizationEIN: 27-0943677, 2023 Thorn. An improved product and UX journey delivers a seamless onboarding and training process for our users and admin staff, Streamlining the onboarding process for law enforcement, Designing a user experience for human trafficking investigators to help them solve cases faster than ever. COVID-19 fraud schemes have been a top concern for IRS CI and other . endobj While learning the ins and outs of Spotlight, and shipping features from our product backlog, I began to focus on ways to improve our on-boarding process for increased acquisition and adoption. "Abusers had figured out how to use advanced technology to facilitate their exploitation of children," says Sarah Potts, the head of marketing and communications for Thorn, the California-based nonprofit that created Spotlight. Hear more from investigators using Spotlight on the front lines. Used by officers in all 50 states and Canada, our web-based tool has helped in identifying 17,092 child victims of human trafficking in the past four years. Supported browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. But Thorn stays positive in the midst of engaging directly with such data. Sign In. endobj COVID-19 Fraud. %PDF-1.7 Numbers are to date since the launch of our tool in 2014. SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 6/9/2021. The exact details of how the software works have been protected by Thorn, in the hearing Kutcher was careful to not go in depth in the interest of making it harder for traffickers to potentially evade the software. "We tested multiple facial-recognition services and found Amazon Rekognition was extremely accurate," says Kristin Boorse, the director of product management for Thorn. A virtual team based in the U.S., Thorn employs 25 people. 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. Officer Wellness Spotlight: Police Chaplains - An Integral Part of Law Enforcement. Don't recognize this agency? Sign in or create a new account. country every day, law enforcement cannot manually keep up with the volume of ads as they work to identify and track potential victims. When we surveyed underage sex trafficking victims, 3 out of 4 who entered the life in the past decade said they had been advertised online at some point in their trafficking situation. Spotlight takes this massive amount of data and turns it into an asset for law enforcement. Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Spotlight evolved from surveys completed by victims of trafficking that showed 63 percent of underage victims were bought or sold online at some point. We work with the sharpest minds from tech, non-profit, government and law enforcement to stop the spread of child sexual abuse material, stand up to child traffickers and uncover new kinds of abuse. This year, Dressember is proud to partner with Thorn, an organization that uses technology to combat child sex trafficking. One way for law enforcement agents to catch traffickers and rescue kids would be to identify and investigate escort ads that seem to feature minors, but there are many obstacles to doing this. ", In addition to the task of staying technologically relevant, Thorn faces another significant challenge: fundraising. 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. $25/mo. We believe that every child has the right to be safe, to be curious, to be happy. Key results from our multi-channel strategy led to 19x the projected customer acquisition goal from all 50 states, by the end of 2015 (easily surpassing the initial goal of 250 users in six months). For this phase of the project, I used the data I already gathered from Spotlight users to create a journey for those seeking to learn more about Spotlight, request a demo, request access, and to log in. Earlier in her career she worked for Motorolas mobile phone division and helped launch HELIO, a mobile virtual network operator. From what I gathered, Spotlight was by far the most intuitive and robust, providing a better user experience, despite having a ways to go itself. I get results fast allowing me to to gather important evidence and information in minutes compared to hours. Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? I started by conducting a competitive and stakeholder analysis to help with the overall discovery of where we were with our current process. Most locations in the United States are updated every six hours. 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. stream 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. Output - describing our activities and reach. Spotlight is a robust search tool that uses machine learning to help law enforcement identify victims of trafficking online. Equipped more than 8,500 law enforcement officers across 2,000 law enforcement agencies in 35 countries with its tools, Tools speed investigation time by up to 65 percent, 2022 Skoll Foundation. Spotlight Data How often is the information in Spotlight refreshed? Similarly, The Tote Project, sells their bags, which helps them pay expenses. And its working. He also noted that Spotlight is reducing investigation times by 60 percent. Thorn has created a program called Spotlight. We recently asked human trafficking investigators and prosecutors how Spotlight has impacted their investigations within the last 12 months here are a few highlights: It is the Google Search for combating human sex trafficking. (Don't see an email in your inbox? Spotlight has been used in 21,044 cases identifying 12,328 adults, 5,791 children, and 6,553 traffickers in the past two years. "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. $180/yr. I was part of the team that was responsible for designing the UX/UI and rolling out the product Nationwide, along with our partners -Digital Reasoning- whose machine learning technology, Spotlight was built on. Nothing makes my job more rewarding when a victim says "thank you" and tells me about her rebuilt life. Vietnam. After the sting operation, we sat down with FVTC and the DOJ to put together the curriculum for Spotlight Lab. Top 5 IRS CI Enforcement Priorities. Due to the sensitivity of the product itself, I will not be using this case study to highlight the product design or development of Spotlight, the tool. about GuideStar Pro. Leadership Spotlight: Leading Through Tragedy. To request technical assistance, training, or other resources through this initiative, agency POCs shouldemail usor call 202-833-1460. Our tools take massive amounts of data and turns it into an asset for law enforcement. my.evidence.com. "Permitted Use" means any use of the Services by an Authorized User for the benefit of Customer solely for supporting his or her law enforcement, social services, academic or other similar professional role, including to detect criminal actions, identify missing/exploited victims, or measure statistical trends surrounding the adult services . Julie holds a B.A. Most Popular Stories. Education and engagement with the public change risky and abusive behaviors. 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. ", Combating online child sex trafficking is a team effort, according to Istook. " HTS creates a blog, publishes research, and hosts a global resource database on human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
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