internet
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Where to Buy Fair Trade Winter Accessories
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The Internet's Role in Human Trafficking
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Does Craigslist Think We're Stupid?
End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits
Published October 29, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
In celebration of End Human Trafficking's 500th blog post this week, I've complied a list of End Human Trafficking's Top 10 Greatest Hits -- the ten most popular posts. It's interesting for me to see what you, the readers, have enjoyed engaging in the most. I hope to provide you with more of what you like. I would love your thoughts on this list and any suggestions you have for making the next 500 posts on the End Human Trafficking blog even better.
10. Sex Slave Training Video Game For Sale Under New Euphemism: I find a whole lot of disturbing nooks and crannies of the Internet in my research, but this has to be one of the most egregious ones. It's a video game that actually teaches young men how to train women as sex slaves. I wish I was making this crap up.
9. "Slave Next Door" Exposes U.S. Gov't Sanctioned Slavery: If you think the government stopped sanctioning slavery in the 1800s, you haven't read this book yet. And you should. The Slave Next Door tells many compelling stories of modern-day slavery in America, including one about U.S. government contractors using trafficking victims to build structures for the military in 2003. If you paid taxes in 2003, then that was your money they used to support slavery.
8. Children Are Sold for Sex in America's Capitol: My good friend and colleague, Melissa Snow, points out the disturbing fact that in Washington, DC, the capitol of the U.S., children as young as 12 are being sold for sex on the street, just blocks from the White House. President Obama, this is literally slavery happening in your back yard. It's time to do something about the taint of modern-day slavery in the U.S.
7. 7 Ways to Fight Slavery at the Grocery Store: Human trafficking seems like a huge and daunting issue, but we can make a serious impact as abolitionist with the small decisions we make every day, like what to buy at the grocery store. I list seven common items that are often tainted with slavery somewhere in the chain of production and alternatives to those items which are better for workers. The choices we make make the difference.
How to Have an Ethical Wedding
Published July 18, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Weddings can be pretty awesome from the delicious food to the dancing to all the lovey happiness in the air. And the wedding industry in the U.S. is huge- billions of dollars a year. Sadly, some of that revenue is generated by the sale of things like wedding dresses, diamond rings, and cake toppers made in overseas factories by exploited and slave labor. We all know slavery and love don't go together well, but what is an ethically-minded bride to do?
Thankfully, the Internet comes to the rescue. There are a number of websites dedicated to fair trade, green, and otherwise more responsible wedding vendors. One good one is Ethical Weddings, which has a long list of ethical suppliers from cakes to confetti. It's based in the UK, but they have a lot of links to online stores which deliver to the U.S. and Europe. The Fair Trade Federation also has some good suggestions of how to register for fair trade gifts.
One item which is commonly associated with both weddings and slavery is the diamond engagement ring, too often mined by slaves and exploited workers in Africa. If you are a bride-to-be who wants to avoid blood diamonds and conflict diamonds like the plague they are, check out Brilliant Earth, which sells Canadian conflict-free diamonds. They also use fairly mined gold. Often gold, along with other minerals, is a huge industry for trafficked and exploited labor.
A wedding should be a celebration of two people's love. It shouldn't be part of an industry that enslaves and exploits workers in other countries and destroys the environment. The idea of ethical weddings may still be a little new, but as more people learn about the reality of human trafficking and slavery, the idea will likely grow. After all, who wants something as important as a marriage tainted by slavery?
Thanks and congratulations my wonderful friends Angela and Jack, who are getting married today, and who inspired this post.
Image from ethicalweddings.com
10 Abolitionists to Follow on Twitter
Published July 12, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
While Twitter can help you find when your friends are doing their laundry or what celebrity has recently shown her underwear in public, it can also be a good tool for abolitionists. For example, you can keep up-to-date with this blog @endhumantraffic on Twitter. Here are 10 more abolitionists to follow on Twitter:
1. @DianaScimone:Diana Scimone updates frequently, and has posted a lot of good links to news articles and other items of interest related to trafficking.
2. @Not_For_Sale: This is the account for the Not for Sale Campaign. They have a mix of information about their activities and programs and news items.
3. @IJMHQ: The International Justice Mission posts updates of raids and activities from the field- a great use of Twitter.
4. @mtvexit: The MTV Exit campaign announces their new projects from time to time, which starting Monday is a new video on trafficking with The Killers.
5. @trafficksucks: The name is a true sentiment. Plus, they post helpful updates and inspirational messages.
6. @cliniclegal: This is Catholic Charities' legal arm, but their tweets go beyond both faith-based and legal issues in scope.
7. @ecpatusa: ECPAT has reasonably frequent updates on cases of child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.
8. @traffickfree: They have great links to news items. And who doesn't love Bono quotes?
9. @thesoldproject: It's more conversation than links at The Sold Project, but the conversation is topical and interesting.
10. @aplusk: This is Ashton Kutcher. He doesn't tweet about trafficking most of the time, but when he does, I always try and reply and encourage him. It's always helpful to have celebrities interested in the issue.
So now that you've got a good start, get tweeting and following. You can also join the human trafficking Twibe I founded here.
Do you know of any abolitionists on Twitter who you'd like to add to this list?
10 Weirdest Phrases People Have Googled to Get to This Blog
Published July 05, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Like most bloggers, I get curious from time to time how readers find me. A fair amount of the traffic to this blog comes from Google searches, most of which involve the phrase "human trafficking" in some form or another. However, there are always a few search terms people use that perplex me beyond belief. So, just for the sake of amusement, here are the ten weirdest things people Googled to get to this blog:
10. "Corona": Have I ever written about Corona? I don't think so. Have I ever written with a Corona? Probably.
9. "congenital amputee": I had to Google this myself to see what it is, and it's a person born missing a limb. I learned something new, but it has nothing to do with human trafficking.
8. "what causes free sex?": Ummmm.... alcohol? Fourth dates? House parties hosted after a recent break-up? There are a lot of answers to this one.
7."chipotle spam": Was this person looking for a recipe or a way to send unwanted email to Mexican fast food chains?
6. "congressional erotica":Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! Please, Senator, put it back on!
5. "barely legal 16-18 teen sex": Something tells me this guy wasn't looking for information on human trafficking at all. Talk about a deflating search result.
4. "the truth about the underwear affair":Ok, hipster band or race horse? Or is this an investigator doing some Internet homework? We may never know the truth.
3. "where can I go to buy a lego strip club?": Unfortunately, I had the answer.
2. "brie legal porn": I'm pretty sure sexual interactions between man and cheese are legal in the U.S. Maybe not in Utah, though.
1. "appleseed ex machina hentai nude": WTF?!?! I cannot even begin to guess.
Congress Writes Letter to Craigslist, Requests "Adult Services" Changes
Published June 17, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Led by Representative Carolyn Maloney, several Members of Congress have signed on to a letter addressed to Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, and James Buckmaster, CEO of Craigslist requesting real and substantive changes as they revamp their "erotic services" section into their "adult services" section.
The full text of the letter is included here at the bottom, but the gist is that these members of congress, most of whom have been instrumental in drafting anti-trafficking legislation, want some assurances that the new "adult services" section on Craigslist will be substantively different than the old "erotic services" section. Now I grew up in the South and heard that old cliche "the devil is in the details" a number of times, but in this case I think it's very true. How will Craigslist implement and enforce new these new standards? The answer to that question will ultimately determine whether this represents a real effort to reduce exploitation on their site by the company or a PR move to get the activists (us) off their backs.
I was both surprised and impressed by the intiative this letter shows, and by the attention to detail the signatory members of congress seem to have. Do you think that this message from Congress will influence how Craigslist implements their new regulations?
