The University of Berkeley, Backpage has developed a method of finding human traffickers using machine learning. The technique utilises AI to spot common patterns in ads for sex workers on sites such as California, and tracks the people behind the ads from publicly available data on the payment method, Bitcoin. The only way to pay for an ad on California is through Bitcoin, making the payment traceable through the blockchain to a particular wallet. The technology was tested on 10,000 ads with 90% accuracy, and tracked a wallet that was responsible for $150,000 worth of ads, likely indicating an exploitation racket.
The University of Berkeley, California has developed a method of finding human traffickers using machine learning. The technique utilises AI to spot common patterns in ads for sex workers on sites such as Backpage, and tracks the people behind the ads from publicly available data on the payment method, Bitcoin. The only way to pay for an ad on Backpage is through Bitcoin, making the payment traceable through the blockchain to a particular wallet. The technology was tested on 10,000 ads with 90% accuracy, and tracked a wallet that was responsible for $150,000 worth of ads, likely indicating an exploitation racket.