D-ISN: Understanding the New Online Advertisement Ecosystem and its Links to Human Trafficking and Other Organized Crime

该项目旨在更好地了解在线成人广告生态系统及其与人口贩运和其他有组织犯罪的联系，以便更有效地发现、破坏和拆除该生态系统中现有的非法网络。自从占据主导地位的成人广告网站Backpage关闭后，许多与之竞争的网站出现了。此外，匿名电子支付方式的流行导致诈骗广告的显著增加，这增加了识别被贩运个人的噪音。分散的市场，大量的广告发布，以及欺诈广告的存在使得监控工作相当混乱。此外，人们对新成人广告网站之间的联系、它们的运作方式以及成人广告数据中出现的模式如何与其他非法活动相关联知之甚少。该项目将确定过滤广告数据中的信号和噪声的方法，以便为在新环境中运作的执法组织（LEOs）和政策制定者提供信息。深入了解这些网站是如何工作的，并有可能发现与更高级别有组织犯罪的联系，这将为包括运筹学、网络安全和社会科学在内的不同领域的研究人员提供新的基础，以研究和破坏数字时代的人口贩运。本研究项目使用了自2020年以来来自14个网站发布的超过1亿个成人广告，研究目标有四个：(1)了解当前在线成人广告生态系统中主要网站的发布流程、货币化方案以及采用的保护和防御机制；(2)开发评估广告合法性的多学科方法；（三）调查合法发帖人逃避执法拦截的手段；(4)了解多重网络分析（即毒品、运输）如何有助于提高识别潜在贩运活动的准确性。我们与一个地区人口贩运特别工作组和一个非营利性组织合作，该工作组由几个leo的官员组成，该组织致力于查明潜在的人口贩运受害者，并为他们提供摆脱“生活”的资源。研究人员、从业人员和学生将参与这个项目。研究小组将慎重努力，从代表性不足的群体中招募学生。开发的方法将被纳入IS、OR和分析学的本科和研究生课程材料中。该项目的成果将通过面向研究人员、LEOs和公众的出版物、演讲和研讨会等形式向公众开放并广泛分发。该项目由破坏非法供应网络（D-ISN）计划和促进竞争研究（EPSCoR）既定计划共同资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The objective of this Disrupting Operations of Illicit Supply Networks (D-ISN) project is to better understand the online adult advertisement ecosystem and its links to human trafficking and other organized crime in order to more effectively detect, disrupt, and dismantle existing illicit networks in this ecosystem. Since the closure of the dominant adult ad website, Backpage, many competing sites have emerged. Also, the prevalence of anonymous electronic payment methods has led to a significant increase in scam ads, which adds noise for identifying trafficked individuals. The fragmented marketplace, large volume of ad postings, and presence of scam ads have made monitoring efforts quite chaotic. Moreover, little is known about links between new adult ad sites, how they operate, and how the patterns that emerge in adult ad data correlate with other illicit activities. This project will determine methods to filter signal and noise in the ad data to inform law enforcement organizations (LEOs) and policy-makers operating in this new environment. Developing a deep understanding of how the sites work with the potential to uncover links to higher-level organized crime will provide a new foundation upon which researchers in diverse areas including operations research, cybersecurity, and the social sciences can use to study and disrupt human trafficking in the digital age.Using more than 100 million adult ads posted since 2020 from 14 sites, this research project has four research objectives: (1) understand the posting processes, monetization schemes, and the protection and defense mechanisms employed by prominent sites in the current online adult ad ecosystem; (2) develop multidisciplinary approaches for estimating ad legitimacy; (3) investigate techniques that legitimate posters use to evade law enforcement interdiction; and (4) Understand how multiplex network analysis (i.e., drugs, transportation) can contribute to improved accuracy for identifying potential trafficking activity. We collaborate with a regional human trafficking task force, which is composed of officers from several LEOs, and a non-profit organization that works to identify potential trafficking victims and connect them with resources to get out of “the life.” A diverse group of researchers, practitioners, and students will participate in this project. The research team will take deliberate efforts to recruit students from underrepresented groups for this project. Developed methods will be incorporated into undergraduate and graduate course materials for IS, OR, and Analytics programs. The outcomes of this project will be made publicly accessible and broadly distributed via publications, presentations, and workshops aimed at researchers, LEOs, and the general public.This project is jointly funded by the Disrupting Illicit Supply Networks (D-ISN) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.