There is a hundred-billion-dollar industry that is currently taking over the world, yet we only hear about it in tragic news headlines. This rapidly expanding enterprise is human trafficking, and it is running rampant through the United States.

That's right, this isn't another sad story that we see on the news and forget about a day later because it is halfway around the world and is not affecting our daily lives. If it takes having to see this issue hit our country for it to "matter," then so be it, but the attention it is receiving now has to bring out some actual change.

To clarify, the changes we need to see are to be a better-informed public about what common threats and tactics are of human traffickers, how to avoid them, how to get help, etc. Fortunately, there are already programs and companies forming technology and software that can bring much-needed aid to human trafficking victims and law enforcement officers trying to solve their cases, but they need support.

Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are co-founders of the non-profit THORN, which develops these types of technology and software programs. The THORN Foundation has identified 5,791 child victims of human trafficking. They have developed programs that can be used by social media and other image sharing platforms to screen for child abuse images more efficiently and be able to communicate with law enforcement faster.

Even though most platforms screen for these sensitive images, they rarely reported them until they were linked with this software. Thorn also runs a deterrence program online. This was developed to find the millions of people who anonymously search the internet for child sexual abuse material, contact them, and attempt to collect data from their searches as well as suggest resources to change their behavior.

Thorn has established Project Vic, which is a technology that allows for the sharing of data between international and domestic law enforcement regarding cases of child sexual exploitation and reduces the time the law enforcement agencies spend on sifting through data that has and has not been classified. It takes the agents to the 15% of the content that they have not reached yet, thus saving precious time in solving the cases. They have developed a texting hotline for children in danger that connects directly to the National Human Trafficking Hotline number.

Since abductions in these cases very rarely give children opportunities to make phone calls, they can text BEFREE to send a call for help to the National Hotline. Since 2016, Thorn's software and programs in total have been able to identify an average of 8 victimized children PER DAY. Thorn's Spotlight software has been used in 21,044 cases in the past two years. The implementation of this software in human trafficking cases have identified 12,328 adult victims, 5,791 child victims, and 6,553 traffickers since 2016.

Thorn is also partnered with Polaris, which is another non-profit working to end human trafficking. Polaris has established a running list of red-flags to help people identify if human-trafficking is happening to someone in their community.

Their list includes that the person's living conditions may have abnormal security measures, such as boarded up or barred windows, barbed wire, and extra security cameras. Many victims are young and appear malnourished, avoid eye contact, and seem submissive and anxious in public. They may have a lack of control in their life due to serious financial issues and may not even have control over their identification documents. The actual traffickers themselves are known to use force and abduction to get victims, while others may "recruit" victims by exploiting their potential weaknesses. For example, a trafficker may target poor people by promising a financial opportunity or a job.

Once a victim is obtained, the traffickers then take as much control as they possibly can, often through forced substance abuse, creating a dependency on the trafficker to survive, all forms of abuse, confiscation of money, etc.

It is incredibly alarming what can happen in the world today when we are not paying attention to who is going missing, and why. The problem of human trafficking is so widespread and has so many variables, that it may seem to be an impossible issue to tackle. However, implementation of technology from non-profits such as Thorn and Polaris are helping utilize all of the resources possible to make solving these issues more effectively. Being a more well-informed public, and being aware of the red flags and warning signs of human trafficking can make it much harder for human traffickers to continue their operations.

If you would like to assist more in this issue, you can donate to the non-profits of Thorn and Polaris, as well as donate your time through volunteering or call on your Congressional representatives and bring up the issue to legislation, such as in showing support for the Visa Transparency Anti-Trafficking Act of 2018.

If you are in need of immediate emergency assistance due to human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1(888)-373-7888 or text "BeFree" to 233733.