Policy Paper (Facial Recognition)

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Marinus Analytics, a startup out of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, has created an

innovative new facial recognition technology that helps authorities combat human tra�cking.

FaceSearch is the �rst face-recognition software to turn its hand to combating human tra�cking,

and the software is available for all police, local, state and federal. It uses the latest

advancements in AI, machine learning, computer vision, predictive modelling and geospatial

intelligence to trawl through big data and turn it into actionable information.

Co-founder of Marinus Technology Emily Kennedy came up with the idea of creating new tech to

�ght back against human tra�cking when she was an undergraduate at Carnegie Mellon

University. Broadly magazine explained that she spent hours trawling through escort and

prostitute adverts, and realised that there were patterns and templates that could be followed

and used to �nd and identify pimps.

“I would literally just spend hours on these websites, looking at ads, getting a sense for what was

the norm,” she told Broadly.

Kennedy then created Tra�c Jam in 2011, which used her research to create technology to track

down people within the human tra�cking network. In 2014 FaceSearch was created as an extra

tool at the disposal of those �ghting against these crimes.

“Tra�c Jam is the beginning of applied arti�cial intelligence to �nd victims of sex tra�cking

online. Our mission at Marinus has always been to innovate for social good, and FaceSearch is a

giant leap forward towards that goal,” Kennedy said on the Marinus Analytics website. “We are

proud to assist the important work done by investigators across the world.”

P O P U L A R P O S T S

FaceSearch is the new facial recognition tool used to fight human trafficking

STARTUPS TECH TECHNOLOGY

Frances Jenner  1 Posted On July 10, 2018

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Detectives only need a picture of the individual they’re looking for to implement FaceSearch.

Missing children, foster kids and runaways are the most vulnerable population to being picked up

by tra�cking rings, and with just inputting a picture FaceSearch can �nd out if that person has

been advertised online for commercial sex. The system saves huge amounts of time and energy

and even reaches the places that many don’t dare think about.

The internet, full as it may be of cat videos, hides a murky ominous side. The deep web is an area

of the internet which is not normally indexed by Google or other search engines, and it is

exploited by criminals. They carry out their illicit deeds here, as well as on the dark web, which is

an area of the deep web only accessible through anonymous encrypted networks, where users

can hide their identities using special software that conceals their Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Medium stated that 57% of all activity within the deep web is illegal, with people selling anything

from sex and drugs to weapons and guns.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Matt Trosan was reported in Triblive saying that as the deep

web is so hidden, added to the fact that many criminals disguise themselves under aliases, facial

recognition technology will aid in matching data that couldn’t be done with the naked eye.

Also reported on Marinus Analytics website, Tim Hoppock, a Detective at Austin Police

Department explained how much this new technology will change the face of policing in the

sector.

“When I began working with Marinus Analytics several years ago, I explained the need for

FaceSearch technology, so I am very excited to see this software roll out,” he said. “Marinus

Analytics has the most advanced software available for human tra�cking detectives, and I

believe this technology will be a game changer for investigators of human tra�cking.”

Kennedy told Forensic Mag that o�cers had informed her that using FaceSearch reduced the

investigation time by 50% and even replaced the work of a full-time analyst, showing the e�cacy

of the technology on a practical level.

The International Labour Organisation has estimated that forced labour and human tra�cking

has a pro�t margin of around $150 billion a year, and that at any given time 40.3 million people

are victims of modern slavery. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by this, the

organisation added, making up 99% of all sex workers and 58% of other forced labour, and it’s on

the rise. Polaris, an anti-tra�cking hotline, reported that human tra�cking in the US rose 35.7% in

2016 alone, potentially indicating that high web connectivity and knowledge of the deep dark web

enhances pimps’ or tra�ckers’ ability to reach out to more clients and gain more custom.

One of the reasons why this is so pervasive is that those who are exploiting others have been one

step ahead technologically with their knowledge of the dubious side of the internet and capacity

to hide their identities. However, as law enforcement and supporting organisations start to catch

up, their lives will be getting increasingly di�cult.

Marinus Analytics has created a panoply of different technologies in addition to FaceSearch,

including SimSearch which also uses vision technology and big data to recognise the

backgrounds of pictures as well as the faces. This would be useful to detect individual pimps by

�nding out if more than one tra�cked individual has had a photo taken in the same room, or with

the same bedsheets for example.

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Sarah July 15, 2018 at 9:17 am

1 Comment

# F A C E - R E C O G N I T I O N S O F T W A R E # H U M A N T R A F F I C K I N G # P E N N S Y L V A N I A

# P I T T S B U R G H

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P O S T E D B Y

Frances Jenner

Frances is a journalist living in Medellín, Colombia.

The Thorn group have also created Spotlight which also uses technology to speed up �nding

missing children and �nd out if they have been entered into the sex trade. With the site a�rming

that there are 100,000 new escort ads being posted every day, law enforcement need all the

technological help they can get to streamline the search process and utilise big data and

machine learning to �nd patterns that a mere human wouldn’t be able to.

It’s a tech-eat-tech world out there, and these new technological advancements will be able to

give those on the light side a well-deserved helping hand.

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