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U.S. Department of Justice May 2021

Tools for proactively investigating human trafficking cases in a post-Backpage world

Screenshot of the cover of the DOJ Journal of Federal Law and Practice from May 2021
Department of Justice Journal of Federal Law and Practice, May 2021, Pages 110–112

Various organizations offer digital tools and databases that law enforcement can use to analyze advertisements and hobbyist reviews related to commercial sex. These databases often provide information about website users, including the location of the poster, email addresses, and telephone numbers.

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In the Media

TellFinder has attracted the attention of numerous media outlets, including 60 Minutes, Popular Science, Scientific American, The Wall Street Journal, and WIRED.

Screenshot of a USAO - EDNC press release about a man convicted of human trafficking
USAO - EDNC Mar 1, 2021
Man Convicted of Human Trafficking by Federal Jury After Five-Day Trial
Outline of the TellFinder logo on a green background
Manhattan DA Jun 5, 2020
TellFinder Alliance Automates Identification of Child Sexual Abuse Material
Two men sitting at a large wooden table with a shelf of books and knick knacks behind them.
Wired Jun 10, 2019
Inside Backpage.Com's Vicious Battle with the Feds
Man in a suit in front of a presentation slide on artificial intelligence tools for analyzing surface, deep, and dark-web data.
MIT News May 13, 2019
Artificial intelligence shines light on the dark web
Stylized image of a person at a keyboard with many pop-up windows in front displaying sex trafficking indicators such as phone messages, money, motels, and trafficked individuals. Behind the person is a large green eye with an orange pupil.
Medium: OneZero Mar 8, 2019
How Artificial Intelligence Is Tracking Sex Traffickers
Notice that a visited website has been seized by the DOJ and FBI with seals of both agencies
Dept of Justice Jan 6, 2019
Nationwide Sting Operation Targets Illegal Asian Brothels, Six Indicted for Racketeering
Line graph showing the impact of FOSTA-SESTA on sex-related ads per day from March 21 to August 11, 2018. Volume dropped from ~105K ads to ~20K one month after the law, then gradually recovered to ~73K five months later.
Washington Post Aug 20, 2018
Has the Sex-trafficking Law Eliminated 90 Percent of Sex-trafficking Ads?
Screenshot of the Tellfinder Personas view revealing activity and behaviour of and relationships between entities that sex ads. Extracted images are blurred, and a panel of filters list common attributes of the depicted ads.
Queensland Times Feb 28, 2018
Seedy Sex Trafficking Underbelly Hiding in Plain Sight
A black computer keyboard covered in other black computer devices, wires, and a black metallic liquid.
Popular Science Aug 30, 2016
The Man Who Lit the Dark Web
Still from a BBC video showing a dark web ad for MDMA with an overlay defining the DARPA Memex program
BBC News Mar 18, 2015
DARPA Creates Dark Web Search Engine
Outline of the TellFinder logo on a green background
Wall Street Journal Feb 11, 2015
Sleuthing Search Engine: Even Better Than Google
Outline of the TellFinder logo on a green background
Wired Feb 10, 2015
DARPA Is Developing a Search Engine for the Dark Web
Still of a 60 Minutes video on the DARPA Memex program depicting a directed social network graph in a web browser on a computer screen
60 Minutes Feb 8, 2015
New Search Engine Exposes the "Dark Web"
Outline of the TellFinder logo on a green background
Scientific American Feb 8, 2015
Human Traffickers Caught on Hidden Internet