Google Donating $11.5M To Fight Modern Slavery

walterbyrd writes "Google announced today that it will donate $11.5M to groups dedicated to ending modern day slavery. 'In what is believed to be the largest-ever corporate grant devoted to the advocacy, intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will, Google said it chose organizations with proven records in combating slavery.'"

Comments

Easy to do

[GameboyRMH]

Delist every high-fashion apparel producer from Google Search, that will put a big dent in it.

Re:Easy to do

[gorzek]

And take off all Apple products.

Re:Easy to do

[GameboyRMH]

I don't think the relationship between Apple and its fanboys counts as slavery, it's more like worship or Stockholm Syndrome...

Re:Easy to do

[rainmouse]

Delist every high-fashion apparel producer from Google Search, that will put a big dent in it.

I used to live in an extremely bad area in Glasgow / Scotland where drugs and prostitution were everywhere. Over the road from me was a homeless hostel and round the back of my apartment block was a methadone clinic and prostitutes stood on street corners for blocks in every direction. I've seen dealers injecting heroin into girls who looked around 12 years old before sending these kids out into the streets to pay for it while the police turned a blind eye (they had some kind of experimental tolerance policy in place between 9 pm till 3 am). Trust me, there are many worse things these children can be forced to do rather than making trainers or iPads for a living. Apparently human trafficking can be just as horrific as drug addict child prostitution and if Google pledges to charities that can actually help prevent some of this stuff then I say good for them.

Re:Easy to do

[Jackdaw Rookery]

You're an idiot. You understand that these factories don't just make Apple products, right? They make products for lots of big players.

Copy/Paste from Wikipedia's Foxconn page:

        Acer Inc. (Taiwan)
        Amazon.com (United States)[16]
        Apple Inc. (United States)[18]
        ASRock (Taiwan)
        Barnes & Noble (United States)
        Intel (United States)
        Cisco (United States)
        Hewlett-Packard (United States)[19]
        Dell (United States)
        Nintendo (Japan)
        Nokia (Finland)[18]
        Microsoft (United States)
        MSI (Taiwan)
        Motorola (United States)
        Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden)[20]
        Vizio (United States)

Re:Easy to do

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Google isn't powerful enough to end US state and Federal prison systems.
https://www.google.com/search?q=us+prison+slave+labor

Re:Easy to do

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it's a sad world we live in when reality is worst than what trolls say.

Re:Easy to do

[TemporalBeing]

And take off all Apple products.

Apple does quite a bit to manage their contractors and ensure good working conditions for the workers therein. I know one person who was an Apple manager and had to repeatedly visit sites to guarantee that the conditions did not degrade, etc.

Now as to how the pay works, that I can't say; but it certainly wouldn't have been slavery.

Re:Easy to do

[Mashiki]

The problem is when the government doesn't enforce the laws, or doesn't break the cycle creating a systemic problem. You can almost bet that there's a serious flaw with the crown per local policy that the law not be enforced. Personally if I lived there, I'd be up in arms over it. The fact that people aren't, is simple moral decay.

Re:Easy to do

[mapkinase]

From your story it looks like all your place needed is a change of Constable (whatever is your local police head)

Re:Easy to do

[WillAdams]

That's why I prefer to live in a community where the Sheriff is a locally-elected official.

Re:Easy to do

[nitehawk214]

I thought the only way to win slashdot was to have a post rated "+5 Troll"?

Re:Easy to do

[hoggoth]

Slashdot is a strange game.
The only winning move is not to play.
How about a nice game of chess?

Re:Easy to do

[Xanny]

Now, I am as against slavery as the next liberty loving nutbag, but can /. not have double standards on google search?

A few weeks ago they took torrent sites off instant search and there was massive outcry. Technically, in most countries using google, most of those sites were breaking law. What they were breaking should not be criminal, but it was still not law abiding to host copyrighted material on torrent sites. And the /. community exploded against it! Hoo rah, how could Google do this, search must be agnostic to culture and law, blah blah.

So lets not have double standards. I love google supporting this, but I also am I proponent that google search has become too imbedded and powerful on the internet to just giving google passes if they start blacklisting sites from their search. It is a slippery slope that goes against the intent if you start making exceptions.

Re:Easy to do

[GameboyRMH]

I was half-joking about it, I'd prefer if Google didn't censor any results at all. On the other hand I'd like to see the corporate elite get a taste of their own medicine in terms of search censorship. I find it hilarious when I see cops checking flea markets for counterfeit apparel when they're often produced more ethically than the real thing.

Re:Easy to do

[EvilBudMan]

I want my check Google.

Re:Easy to do

[rivaldufus]

I wonder - are these scheduled visits? Pretty much every company will dress up things for visiting clients (you can't completely cover up problems, but you can present things as being better than they are normally.) If the Apple employees visited randomly, it might be interesting. Then again, it might actually be difficult to do truly unannounced visits... if Foxconn (or whomever) could look out for certain foreign visitors... perhaps with a little help from the government.

Re:Easy to do

[symbolset]

Congratulations. I was wondering who would be the first to bash Google in this thread. You win the prize!

Re:Easy to do

[Anonymous Coward]

Room and board.

Re:Easy to do

[Dunega]

It's a sad world we live in when I have to bother with troll posts.

Re:Easy to do

[MYakus]

The article was more about national problems where slavery is illegal, but seems to overlook international problems where slavery is ether condoned or allowed by law.

Re:Easy to do

[Khomar]

Actually a bigger dent (and one that would be extremely unpopular... especially on slashdot) would be to put an end to pornography. The correlation between sex trafficking and pornography is very strong as pornography fuels desire for the real thing. For example, you can read this article for references to many government and private studies linking the two. This interview with a government official who specialized in sex trafficking was also very interesting.

The statistics of sex trafficking in America are disturbing. There are an estimated 300,000 sex trafficking victims in the United States alone. Half of them are children (under the age of 18) and 90% of them are American citizens. The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 with an average lifespan once being trafficked of only 7 years. The average girl caught in sex trafficking is dead before she is even legally allowed to drink.

This is an important issue to me. I even wrote a song on the subject and have started speaking out about this problem to raise awareness. If you start to look into this world, prepare to be very disturbed by what you see.

Re:Easy to do

[msobkow]

Blame the do-gooder liberals who've invoked their Charter rights in Canada to have legislation against social "evils" like prostitution pulled from the lawbooks.

Blame the do-gooder conservatives who've ignored the Charter rights to impose legislation against anything they consider morally reprehensible, regardless of the individual's guaranteed rights.

Blame the paedophile leeches in society who pay for the drug-addicted child prostitute's services.

But don't blame the beat cops who have their hands tied by society and have to see it happening every day.

Re:Easy to do

[gorzek]

It's a sad world we live in when nobody has a sense of humor.

Re:Easy to do

[Synerg1y]

Now I've got to add this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides

This might've been on slashdot too while it was more recent ;).

Re:Easy to do

[mcgrew]

Look, I know you athiests love bashing religion, but you're slandering a dead man there, bub. Jesus never said any such thing. Who are you going to slander next, Ghandi?

You, sir, are an asshole. Go fuck yourself, preferably with something sharp.

Re:Easy to do

[newcastlejon]

No need to worry fellow Britons! Thanks to the change of government we too will be getting elected police chiefs!

All this localism stuff is quite ingenious, really: when enough time has passed for simply blaming labour for everything to be implausible they'll be able to simply turn and say "you voted them in, blame yourselves you proles!"

Re:Easy to do

[TemporalBeing]

I wonder - are these scheduled visits? Pretty much every company will dress up things for visiting clients (you can't completely cover up problems, but you can present things as being better than they are normally.) If the Apple employees visited randomly, it might be interesting. Then again, it might actually be difficult to do truly unannounced visits... if Foxconn (or whomever) could look out for certain foreign visitors... perhaps with a little help from the government.

Can't say as I simply don't know. I do know he spent an inordinate amount of time supervising the facilities to ensure they didn't do things like chain people's hand's to the ceiling when they did something wrong. So at the very least they are putting their best effort into it.

Re:Easy to do

[makomk]

That's nowhere near as fashionable as fighting sex slavery. Of course, I expect a lot of the money is being used to imprison non-slave sex workers, some of whom will inevitably be raped by police officers as a result. That's because the war on sex trafficking has never been about actually stopping sex slavery; it's always really been about the immorality of sex work with the trafficking part used as an excuse, and they don't care if the women involved get hurt. IIRC the anti-trafficking movement has roots in the equally questionable feminist anti-porn movement

Re:Easy to do

[mayko]

Pornography leads to a demand?

I would say that the demand is/was already there, long before technology brought us the pornography we know today.

Re:Easy to do

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

No. That was the Jews. In the OLD Testament.

Re:Easy to do

[finnw]

they'll be able to simply turn and say "you voted us in, blame yourselves you proles!

FTFY

Re:Easy to do

[RandomAvatar]

I must agree and disagree. I agree that the pedophiles and pimps should be held responsible for the child sex trade and drug addictions. I also agree that the cops should not be blamed when there is nothing they could legally do. However, I disagree with your first two statements. Prostitution is not "evil", it is a way to make money. Like every other business, there should be standards in place to prevent abuse and harm to the people who do these jobs, but a job is a job. Your second statement makes me think that you have the only set of morals that should ever be followed. That is not the case. Many people have many different morals, and government seems to have forgotten this. For example, I believe that so long as you don't cause harm to others, or act in such ways that puts others in direct harm, or purposely harm someone physically or mentally, anything should be legal within the spirit (not the letter) of these rules. Doing drugs don't harm others, unless you drive afterwards. Prostitution does not harm anyone, unless you force someone into it. Etc.

I believe that governments have been taking away our rights to do what we please to ourselves, while giving the people like these pedophiles ways to get away with their crimes.

Re:Easy to do

[Anonymous Coward]

Well the conventional Christian doctrine is that Yaweh and Jesus are one, right?

Exodus 22:2-3 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

and

    “Ours is one continued struggle sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness.”
- Ghandi, Sept 1896

So Ghandi was a racist asshole. Anyone else?

Re:Easy to do

[PCM2]

Prostitution is not "evil", it is a way to make money.

Except in many cases it's a way for a pimp to make money, not for the prostitutes to make money. A prostitute working the street for a pimp is typically expected to hand over 100 percent of the money given her in a night. The pimp "holds onto her share for her," because "she knows she's no good with money." In these cases the prostitutes are very clearly being exploited and they are often victimized by violence and being coerced into drug addiction. I'd say these things are -- since we've brought up the term -- at least a little evil.

Re:Easy to do

[PCM2]

I didn't have time to listen to the audio interviews you linked, but I don't think the Catholic News Agency story you linked necessarily shows a causal relationship between use of pornography and use of prostitution.

Some of the data points -- such as the prostitutes reporting that pornography was made of them -- don't seem related at all. (Sex workers find themselves involved in the sex industry, news at 11.)

I think it's true that hardcore porn is more pervasive now, but that's mainly because it's available over the Internet, which allows people to access it in the privacy of their own homes. More people are more likely to access such material when they're convinced no one else will find out. Going out and paying for prostitutes still seems like a lot harder thing to rationalize for your typical Joe.

Anecdotal evidence: I know a lot of people who've looked at hardcore porn. Maybe all of my friends have; it wouldn't surprise me. I only know one person who has admitted to visiting a prostitute, though, and then only once. I find it unlikely that the rest of them are all doing it in secret.

On a side note, my own main concern about the prevalence of pornography is simply that it seems to give young people unrealistic or warped expectations about sex. I don't base this on what the guys I've met say -- guys have always bragged about a lot of things -- but the young women I talk to sometimes seem to have a lot of issues around what they perceive is expected of them in the bedroom, and it leads me to believe they're probably not having very good sex.

Re:Easy to do

[PCM2]

Oh ... and FWIW, if both men and women grow accustomed to instant gratification (and I might agree), that doesn't seem to support the idea that the market for prostitution is increasing. Rather the opposite; it would seem to mean that both men and women now have easier access to recreational sex than in eras when prevailing morals made obtaining gratification more difficult.

Re:Easy to do

[ravenshrike]

Which happens primarily because it's illegal and not taxed, and thus monitored, like every other profession.

Re:Easy to do

[PCM2]

Which happens primarily because it's illegal and not taxed, and thus monitored, like every other profession.

OK, so what about basic human dignity? Would you like your sister to be a prostitute? If it were taxed and legal, would you take your sister aside and tell her, "No matter what you do, make sure you fill out the right tax forms?" Is that your only contribution to the discussion -- that the invisible hand of the market will figure everything out, including finger-banging your sister?

Re:Easy to do

[TapeCutter]

The Catholic church needs to get it's own house in order. They could start by not creating ridiculous scapegoats in order to absolve the paedophiles in their ranks of any responsibility for their actions.

Re:Easy to do

[garaged]

Oh come on, next thing you are going to say is that doing drugs is a good thing, and wars always pursue the happinness of the world

Prostitution IS a bad thing, you can make money out of a lot of bad things, that does not makes them good magically

Re:Easy to do

[olau]

In Denmark, a couple of prostitutes started blogging some time ago. There are actually some people who like having sex and don't mind other people paying for it, who like the fact that they can make people happy and earn a living at the same time.

You know what their biggest problem is? Social stigma from people who think prostitution is a disgrace. And of course the few cases of abused prostitutes that color people's opinion of the whole trade. And the fact that even if prostitution is legal in Denmark, they still don't enjoy the same rights as everyone else in the work force, for various reasons (most having to do with the stigma).

Re:Easy to do

[tehcyder]

I used to live in an extremely bad area in Glasgow / Scotland where drugs and prostitution were everywhere.

Words in bold are redundant.

Re:Easy to do

[tehcyder]

However, I disagree with your first two statements. Prostitution is not "evil", it is a way to make money. Like every other business, there should be standards in place to prevent abuse and harm to the people who do these jobs, but a job is a job.

First, a job is not just a job. Second, forcing anyone to do a job is evil. Third, making children work is evil.

Adults voluntarily working as prostitutes are one thing, trafficked and abused teenagers are something else.

Re:Easy to do

[tehcyder]

Which happens primarily because it's illegal and not taxed, and thus monitored, like every other profession.

Prostitution is taxed in the UK and at least at ther moment isn't illegal. That doesn't stop trafficking, use of underage boys and girls and so on (which obviously are illegal).

Re:Easy to do

[tehcyder]

In Denmark, a couple of prostitutes started blogging some time ago. There are actually some people who like having sex and don't mind other people paying for it, who like the fact that they can make people happy and earn a living at the same time.

The idea that prostitutes really enjoy having lots of sex is one of the oldest myths about the oldest profession.

I'm sure there will be some who do, in the same way that some female porn stars probably do have real orgasms, but they are a minority.

It is a myth that helps ease the conscience of punters, nothing more.

Re:Easy to do

[Khomar]

Agreed. I am not a Catholic, but even the Protestant churches need to do some house cleaning. However, the fact that someone else is a hypocrite does not absolve you from doing the right thing.

Re:Easy to do

[RandomAvatar]

I would have to disagree with you completely. Drugs are not a good thing, they are completely stupid. However, people should have the right to choose what they do and don't do to themselves. As for wars, they are evil. Wars should only be declared when there is absolutely no other solution, and the consequences that come along with war are better than the consequences of not fighting one.

HOW is prostitution a bad thing? So long as the person prostituting themselves is willing to do it and not being forced by another to do it, why is it so evil? Please do not say "your body is a temple" or any other religious statements, because not everyone has the same beliefs as everyone else.

Re:Easy to do

[RandomAvatar]

First, I already stated that forcing anyone to do a job is evil, this includes children. As for a job being a job, we will have to agree to disagree because I believe a job is just a job, the only difference is how much you enjoy it.

Re:Easy to do

[hitmark]

On that note, there seems to have been a number of "online peep shows" showing up lately. The only thing missing are sex toys with sensors and motors that one can plug into a USB port, so that one get physical stimulation to match the video and audio. I wonder how long before various developments in robotic "skin" and "muscle" will be used for this exact application...

Re:Easy to do

[garaged]

How many happy non addicted prostitutes do you know?

Im actually religious, but that doesnt make me stupid, and even if we dont have to agree, prostitution is degrading and very dangerous, just as drug addiction, or even usage for some drugs, it's not like other activities like boxing or wrestling, this is paying to humilliate and abuse a human being, how can that be good? And I know there must be people that treats prostitutes with respect, but let's be reallistic, they are really rare

Re:Easy to do

[RandomAvatar]

To answer your first question, 3. The only drug they does in marijuana, but that is a rarity, about once a month, and they rather enjoy their work. Before you make comments, no, I have not hired a prostitute before, and have known these people since I was a child. I am also stating that being religious makes anyone stupid, simply that strongly religious people have a tendency to attempt to enforce religious beliefs and morals onto others, both historically and in the present, regardless of the other peoples morals and beliefs.

I do not see how prostitution is degrading. A person pays for sexual gratification from another person. The prostitute provides the service, the other person provides money. It is a dangerous job, however that is because it is technically illegal (there are loopholes in the law depending on where you live), and thus, no safety regulations are in place to protect the workers.

Prostitution is not being paid to be humiliated, degraded, or abused. It is simply being paid to provide companionship and sexual gratification. Believe it or not, some prostitutes DO enjoy their work and are not forced to do it.

I must agree that prostitution and drug addiction is nothing like boxing or wrestling. Prostitution, if proper regulations are in place, and drug use, if used carefully or caught early enough in the case of drug abuse, do not do nearly as much harm as boxing (and most likely wrestling, though I am not sure about this one), which can cause permanent brain damage and physical disfigurement.

Re:Easy to do

[Em Adespoton]

Bah; that was only offtopic. I still need troll, underrated, overrated, insightful and informative....

Re:Easy to do

[garaged]

This must be a cultural issue, or that you simply haven't seen all kinds of prostitutes, but I have seen a few in mexico city mostly, and it is hard not to notice a few of them doing inhalants (i dont know the english word, painting thinner), so I cannot believe they are really happy working on that

I have never seen a high profile protitute, but from documentaries and the like I pretty much get the idea that most of them not only do drugs, but are really addicted too and cant actually work without to forget the internal pain that causes being prostitute

I know there must be some of them working for the actual fun, just like some porn stars, but let's be honest, even in porn business that is not really the norm.

On the other side, I know not every client will abuse, but some will, and we cannot say prostitutes have the highest rank on moral rules, they try themseles to handle the most to win money, that combined with aging is not a good outcome, I would say

Re:Easy to do

[RandomAvatar]

It very well may be cultural, I am Canadian. I have indeed seen all kinds of prostitutes, and it is very sad with most of them. That is why I am so strongly for legalization and placing regulations on the business of prostitution, in order to protect those people, because making it illegal does squat.

As for people not enjoying prostituting themselves, it is work. So long as they chose to do the job instead of being forced into it, it was their choice in the first place, and it is always possible to leave.

Re:Easy to do

[garaged]

With that I can agree :D, sadly we are in a society that does not actually care for a lot of social groups, even in first world countries like yours

Re:Easy to do

[jwhitener]

I read through some of that first link, and it didn't seem to provide evidence of causation, although it clearly showed correlation. Have you found a good study that gets closer to proving causation?

So..

[somersault]

Google are fighting to abolish marriage now? Does their evil know no bounds?

Re:So..

[Xacid]

No no, they're trying to prevent evil. Don't you remember their motto?

Re:So..

[forkfail]

Do know evil?

Re:So..

[somersault]

Wasn't it something like: "Do no evil, or else." ? :p

Only kidding, I pretty much love Google. If Google were a person, it would probably be Tony Stark.

Re:So..

[Atzanteol]

Due to f'd up US laws Google *is* a person...

Re:So..

[rhyder128k]

I take it they'll be against conscription? Oh right, that mainly affects men. Just ignore me, I'm being silly.

Re:So..

[Genda]

Yeah, he is a person. I bumped into him just the other day down on Castro st. in Mountain View. We were in a pub, drinking a pint, the door opened and suddenly there he was, so we invited him over to our table. The rainbow Google glasses were a wee bit odd, but he seemed like a genuinely pleasant fellow. Really bright, knew a lot about almost everything. We all left together, he hopped into his sports car... it was blinding! All that Chrome!

Re:So..

[HeckRuler]

I don't know why this propagates, but the motto is

Don't be evil

It is not, was not, and will never be

Do no evil

Why are so many people getting this wrong?

Re:So..

[Em Adespoton]

You forgot to mention his Voice.

And yes... there is absolutely no argument that Google is, in fact, Mail.

Re:So..

[lgw]

No, no, it's "Don't, be evil". You're thinking of the stone tablets.

Re:So..

[Quince alPillan]

Does that mean Microsoft is Captain Hammer?

Re:So..

[TheInternetGuy]

It was something about evil, do .... Do evil now?

Re:So..

[gshegosh]

SHE is a person, you insensitive, chauvinistic clod :-P

So Google is serious about it.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Looks like Google is really serious about emancipating people who are enslaved by facebook and twitter.

Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[djl4570]

Will this include Chinese political prisoners who are forced to work as defacto slaves?

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[GameboyRMH]

Also, what about US prisoners working call centers in private prisons for being caught with weed under tighter anti-drug laws put in place by a prison shareholder?

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[halivar]

"Hey, yeah man, like, welcome to Google Tech Support, dude. This is Bud speaking. Get it? Haha! Yeah man, but seriously, have you liked, tried turning it on and off again?"

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[jcombel]

chinese political prisoners are already rich chinese citizens (if they weren't rich, they'd be dead instead of in prison). tax-deduction money wouldn't effect any change here.

this is about funding organizations to assist governments in disrupting human trading.

YOUR UNINFORMED PET CAUSE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[Anonymous Coward]

Usually when people (or corporations) rant against "slavery", they are ranting against "white slavery" or prostitution. Like the article says; "... intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will...". Of course these same people are in denial of the fact that many people deliberately get into "sexual slavery" (i.e. prostitution) because the money is good. Of course, there will be people coercing their employees, just like in the industrial sector.

Too bad all (or at least most) of the talk about "slavery" is only about prostitution. Too bad, because a lot of large corporations like the Fox television network use Chinese prison slaves to make novelty products for distribution in the United States (like Homer Simpson slippers).

Not to mention that industrial slavery is rampant in North America. It's a crime that nobody in the Conservative movement wants to talk about.

Additional References:
The Virgin Trade
AND
Youtube

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[wmbetts]

you just ruined my slippers :(

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[PCM2]

Like the article says; "... intervention and rescue of people being held, forced to work or provide sex against their will...". Of course these same people are in denial of the fact that many people deliberately get into "sexual slavery" (i.e. prostitution) because the money is good.

I've never heard of anyone counting voluntary, "entrepreneurial" prostitutes as "sex slaves." That term has a specific meaning, which involves ... well, slavery. That is, keeping someone for labor against their will. In the case of sex slavery, it usually involves transporting women to someplace far beyond the reach of their family or loved ones and keeping them in conditions that make escape impossible, such as being under constant guard and subjected to coerced drug addiction, violent beatings, and rape. If you're using the fact that some people choose to be prostitutes as an excuse to ignore these kinds of crimes, you're either a little warped or you just don't understand what people mean when they talk about sex slavery.

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[PCM2]

If you were either honest or informed about the subject you will know that "prostitution" and "sex slavery" are synonymous to these organizations.

Uhhh... no. They're not. But thanks for the ad hominem anyway.

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[PCM2]

You're making yourself look like a fool. International Justice Mission (the people that Google are working with) is a faith-based religious organization whom, it turns out "rescues" people who don't want to be rescued.

The International Justice Mission is one of nine organizations that Google is supporting with this round of donations.

The fact that IJM is a "faith-based religious organization" seems irrelevant, unless you want to compare what "atheism-based secular organizations" have been doing to address the same ills.

When you say people "don't want to be rescued," upon what do you base that opinion? Seriously, because that statement gives me the creeps. Had much experience with that, have you? Conducted many interviews?

As far as the difference between prostitution and human slavery, both exist in San Francisco (where I live) but it only takes someone as blinkered as you -- and not anyone who works in law enforcement -- to tell the difference.

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[TapeCutter]

Thanks, I too am wary of "faith based" charities, now that I have informed my self a bit more I think they are a great charity and a worthy cause.

No matter what large charity you look at, their ideology and practise are going to be imperfect, the question is; are they overall a GoodThing(TM) from a secular POV, I would say the answer is "yes" in this case, just as I would say yes to that other imperfect faith-based organisation, the Red Cross.

Also, from your own link; "IJM does have a protocol for their foreign police partners which includes these requirements: that the police protect the sex workers from the media, that the police assure the sex workers that they are not being arrested, and that organizations that provide social services to sex workers not be implicated in police enforcement operations."

Sounds to me like the Thai authorities in the MJ article dishonoured this agreement in order to co-opt the IJM investigation for it's own purposes. I would also put the blame on Thai authorities for the deplorable situation whereby a government orphanage is a fate worse than child prostitution.

Re:Chinese Political Prisoners too?

[hitmark]

In theory one can consider people on minimum wage, with medical and such covered by their employer, as wage slaves. This because if they get fired they also loose access to these protections, and may never had the chance to build up any savings.

They have their work cut out...

[jeti]

They have their work cut out against the US prison industry.

Re:They have their work cut out...

[Genda]

Apparently you've never seen an episode of scared straight... with your free rent, free meals, and health care comes the right to be menaced, traded for a pack of cigarettes, raped repeatedly, beaten, killed and forced to join a prison gang for some small modicum of security. Of course if you're lucky you break federal law and end up in a club fed (especially if your crime was white collar and you helped the Fed by turning states evidence.) However, most go to state pens which for the most part are brutal, nasty places. where no sane person would want to set foot without an M-1 tank to even the score.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of bad people are in prison, and my sympathy and compassion are hard pressed when I hold them up against their victims. That said, we don't separate kids from adults, minor offenders from hard core offenders, in short, or any number of other things to reduce recidivism and promote a prison environment that is both humane and efficient at protecting society from its dregs while actively rehabilitating those it can.

Re:They have their work cut out...

[dkleinsc]

we don't separate kids from adults

Some states do, actually, with a separate juvenile system. That started trending the other way, though, when gangs decided that the best way to commit crimes was to have all your front-line people be minors so they'd be punished less if they got caught.

Re:They have their work cut out...

[jeti]

If all US prisoners deserve their fate, americans must be very bad people indeed. The incarceration rate in the US is ten times as high as in Europe.

Re:They have their work cut out...

[PCM2]

That said, we don't separate kids from adults, minor offenders from hard core offenders, in short, or any number of other things to reduce recidivism and promote a prison environment that is both humane and efficient at protecting society from its dregs while actively rehabilitating those it can.

This seems like a pretty glib comment. I'm pretty sure that there are people employed by every Department of Corrections in every county of every state whose sole job is to figure out how to do all of these things.

Unfortunately, the biggest thing working against prison reform in my state (California) is simply the massive, totally unconscionable overcrowding in our prisons today. When you're forced to house hundreds of offenders in triple-high bunks in a gymnasium like it's an army barracks, it's pretty hard to do the kinds of things you suggest. So far, California's solution seems to be to build more prisons -- which seems odd when violent crime has been trending downward throughout the entire United States for decades. The real solution is to stop sending so many people to prison for so long for so many different offenses -- but that's where it becomes a highly politicized issue, and the discussion just fizzles out.

Re:They have their work cut out...

[Stan92057]

I will agree we shouldn't be mixing hardened criminals/lifers with teen criminals or non violent crimes. These scum don't care about anyone but themselves thats why they end up in prison so i will not shed one single tear nor feel sorry.

Great news

[zppln]

This is great news. The fact that slavery is still very much in effect in countries like Mauritania isn't something a lot of people are aware about. Hopefully this will raise the issue.

Re:Great news

[Anonymous Coward]

Mauritania? You don't have to go to the far ends of the Earth to find slavery. Cleveland has a *huge* human trafficking problem. Yes, *that* Cleveland.

Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Make prostitution legal and well regulated. You'll decrease the demand for sex slaves. Anyone who claims to care about sex slavery and doesn't advocate the legalization of prostitution is simply not serious.

Re:Legalize it.

[Jackdaw Rookery]

You are right, it needs legalising and regulating. Nothing wrong with the concept of prostitution, it's all in the implementation.

Right now that's what's messed up. Legalise, tax it, regulate and it will be healthier, safer and better for the economy.

Re:Legalize it.

[ChibiOne]

Make prostitution legal and well regulated. You'll decrease the demand for sex slaves. Anyone who claims to care about sex slavery and doesn't advocate the legalization of prostitution is simply not serious.

Sex slavery is a much worse problem than what is shown in Hollywood films. It's not limited to cute 20-something girls being forced to service powerful executives in posh locations. The majority of these sex slaves are children, drugged and kept prisoners in slums and secure houses. Do you want to legalize child prostitution and child porn, too?

Re:Legalize it.

[dkleinsc]

Not all human trafficking is about sexual slavery (although a lot is). In addition, in countries that are trying to combat it, like the US, there are generally provisions in the law that make it so that trafficked prostitutes can't be charged with a crime if they manage to escape and contact authorities.

Re:Legalize it.

[Atzanteol]

File photo of "sexconker":
http://southparkstudios.mtvnimages.com/images/shows/southpark/vertical_video/season_13/sp_1309_clip09.jpg

Re:Legalize it.

[Beryllium Sphere(tm)]

It might also be necessary to abolish poverty, drug addiction, and child abuse that forces kids to run away from home, in order to make sure it's actually consensual.

Re:Legalize it.

[rolfwind]

If the sex trade would be more regulated, prostitutes wouldn't have to divvy up half their money to "pimps". They'd be in safer, healthier environments that take less commission.

(BTW, I hate prostitution but I don't want to legislate morality or condemn the people who choose the wrong choice here to jail for a victimless, besides themselves, crime or become and stay perpetual dregs of society with no hope for the future.)

Re:Legalize it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Prostitution is evil.

[citation needed]

There are many devastating effects of prostitution on society besides exploitation of women.

If the existence of devastating effects is sufficient to make something evil, then sugar, television, and the Internet are all evil.

Prostitution is only exploitation if people are forced or coerced (economically or not) into it. The fact that the job involves using one's vagina as opposed to one's boobs or biceps doesn't make it inherently more exploitive than working at Hooters or at the docks, respectively. Among the prostitutes I've known, most neither felt coerced into the job, nor experienced any devastating effects.

Re:Legalize it.

[GameboyRMH]

Prostitution is evil? Even in first world countries where it has been legalized and women become prostitutes voluntarily?

Re:Legalize it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Your argument stems from relativization of good and evil tendency. Evil is absolute. Prostitution is evil. There are many devastating effects of prostitution on society besides exploitation of women.

Your absolutism stems from an inability to grade phenomena beyond a simplistic and flawed binary. If it takes more than one variable to model simple natural phenomena, what makes you think something as complex as morality can be plotted on one axis?

Re:Legalize it.

[PPH]

Do you want to legalize child prostitution and child porn, too?

No. I want enforcement to concentrate on these areas.

Leave the over 18 y.o. strippers alone when they give customers hand jobs in the private booths. The Seattle vice cops are standing in line to sign up for undercover duty. Which entails taking a couple of grand of petty cash (taxpayers money) and buy lap dances until someone fondles their junk. Tough work, but somebody has to do it.

If adult prostitution was legal, every hooker (of age) would gladly turn in the names of the pimps running kids. After all, they are the competition.

Re:Legalize it.

[TheCarp]

Ok, so legalize prostitution and sever ties between the now legal sex trade and the illegal sex trade.

There is plenty of money to be made in selling alcohol to minors, how many legitimate places are willing to risk their prized liquor licenses over it? They may make mistakes, employees may make exceptions for friends and other shit, but.... outside of those minor incidents, nobody does it as a matter of course. Nobody has a back room for kids to go buy liquor at.

Now, I know the drug markets more than the flesh but... the paralells are easy to see.

The average drug dealer is just a user who needed a way to afford his habbit. No matter how honest of a businessman, no matter whether he denies sales to kids, or advices customers when their habbits seem to be going out of control (all things i have seen from real dealers), he still has to worry about being robbed, threatened, or blackmailed. There is no real separation between him and abusive predators.

There is just no excuse for submerging these people into the criminal underground and leaving them with no reasonable legal recourse to protect themselves from dangerous predators. Thats what it really comes down to. When you make it illegal, you lump all people doing it together, you force them into the same boat as the abusive people. This helps the abusive hide, and gives them victims.

A legal prostitute has no reason to not report illegal activities, in fact, she has every reason to do it. Do you want her on your side, or do you want her to be just another victim? Thats the real question.

Do you want to give abusive criminals an ocean to hide in? Or would you want to shrink his world, and leave him fewer places to hide?

Because in the end, the basic transaction of sex for money, no matter how you feel about it, has no victim. It is nearly invisible, and it is impossible to stop. Why fight it, when its not really the actual problem?

Re:Legalize it.

[TheCarp]

But doesn't that just give any prostitute the incentive to claim she was being kept as a slave?

How do you separate out the willing liars from the genuine article? Seems to me registration, licensing, and inspection would do a better job of that than these shortsighted laws.

But...thats only if you want to solve the problem of slavery...if all you want to do is moralize and throw more people in jail and feel good about "doing something", then these laws sound about perfect.

Re:Legalize it.

[PPH]

Read the first chapter of SuperFreakonomics about prostitutes' preference for associating with pimps. Its not all bad. Pimps provide security, advertising (and other forms of marketing) and a few other services that prostitutes find valuable. And it turns out that the hookers aren't stupid. The ones with pimps end up making more money.

Legalize prostitution and the abuse associated with pimping will disappear. There won't be any penalty associated with turning them in to the police.

Re:Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Prostitution is evil

[Citation needed]

To those of us unburdened by bronze age concepts of sexual morality, it looks like just another job.

Re:Legalize it.

[Genda]

Its called simple economics. Provide clean, healthy, drug and disease free prostitutes in a crime free, regulated environment and Johns will flood there especially if the price is reasonable (which it will be if the prostitutes only have to work for themselves.) The market for illegal prostitution would almost certainly dry up, forcing pimps into another line of business.

As for slavery, there are places all over the world where women are kidnapped and made drug addicts to keep them under control. You are right, that many women choose this lifestyle because its the best they're going to do under their personal life circumstances and most of their alternatives are dark and sad. That doesn't make them slaves, but it is a problem, on dozens of levels. From the spread of disease to the funding of international organized crime, this is a trade that destroys our humanity and undermines the societies it invades.

As well, significant number of sex slaves are children. Adults from the all over the western world go to the far east to trade in child sex slavery. This is a practice that should result in the harshest of punishments, particularly from the government officials who profit from the trade.

Re:Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Consent is a legal fiction. As long as we have to work to eat, nothing is truly consensual. There's always some duress in any sort of employment. There's no reason that we should be any more concerned about people being coerced into sex work than we are about people being coerced into making hamburgers.

Re:Legalize it.

[ClioCJS]

You're an asshole worthy enough for me to un-mod all the comments I modded here just to post some links proving what a fucking asshole you are.

sold by her mother? Oh wait, it's just FUD, she was really a child whore.

But you know what? One link in, I find you too vile to care what you think enough to look for another link. Open google and open your fucking eyes, jackass. Really.

Re:Legalize it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, the economics aren't as simple as you suggest in some cases. See for example this article. If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's the important part:
 

But rather than eliminate sexual trafficking, the evidence has consistently revealed that legalizing prostitution fosters it. Dorchen Leidholdt, Co-Executive Director of the international NGO Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, stated:

Jurisdictions that have legalized prostitution have demonstrated just what happens when prostitution is legitimized and protected by law: the number of sex businesses grows, as does the demand for prostitution. Legalized prostitution brings sex tourists and heightens the demand among local men. Local women constitute an inadequate supply so foreign girls and women are trafficked in to meet the demand. The trafficked women are cheaper, younger, more exciting to customers, and easier to control. More trafficked women means more local demand and more sex tourism.

In other words, sexual demand is not as stable as you might think; it can be stimulated. Just consider what happened in Australia when its government decriminalized prostitution and took control of the industry: “in New South Wales where brothels were decriminalized in 1995, the number of brothels in Sydney had tripled to 400-500 by 1999, with the vast majority having no license.” In other words the illegal sector of the sex industry flourished once prostitution was legalized. The Netherlands are another excellent case study. Their brothels were legalized in 2000, but the number of reported human trafficking cases increased from 341 in 2000 to 909 in 2009. When the sex industry enjoys government protection, it thrives and demand increases. It also becomes much more difficult to identify instances of abuse and to prosecute trafficking.

Re:Legalize it.

[misexistentialist]

Feminism has become doctrine, and the clock can't be turned back. Even countries with great traditions of whoredom like France are on the path to prohibition.

Re:Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Not all human trafficking is about sexual slavery

Agreed, but it's far more common in illicit industries.

in countries that are trying to combat it, like the US, there are generally provisions in the law that make it so that trafficked prostitutes can't be charged with a crime if they manage to escape and contact authorities.

Which has absolutely no effect on the demand for prostitutes, and does nothing to fill that demand with through consensual means. As such, it has very little effect on human trafficking.

Re:Legalize it.

[ElusiveJoe]

I hear sarcasm. So what is wrong with the concept of prostitution?

Re:Legalize it.

[JesseMcDonald]

I hope you were being sarcastic, but on the Internet one can never be sure. Did you really mean to say that there is no significant difference between receiving an offer which you could refuse without penalty, remaining exactly as you were before, and actual duress, where refusal will result in a violation of either your personal rights or property rights (or both)?

Even in the most extreme case imaginable, if you were dying, and only what they offered could save your life, they didn't put you in that position. They didn't have to make the offer at all—and you don't have to accept. There is no coercion here. If you do accept, you do it of your own free will.

Re:Legalize it.

[fatalGlory]

I disagree. While legalisation might seem like a good idea at first, I don't think it will dry up the black-market for prostitution very much.

1) Johns still want the discretion afforded by the black market (legalisation will likely lead to at least some minimal paper trails, etc.)

2) People's requirements in a prostitution experience get kinkier over time as they become jaded (same thing as with drugs, it takes a harder hit to get the same high). This will inevitably lead to a black market where prostitution involves acts that are outlawed within the confines of the law (such as pedophilia). I'm given to understand that beyond the confines of the well-known red light district, there are places in amsterdam that are home to this kind of thing already, with girls as young as 18 months being used for prostitution. Note that this is in a place where adult prostitutes are already readily available, so legitimising adult prostitution obviously has not alleviated the problem.

Re:Legalize it.

[sexconker]

You're an asshole worthy enough for me to un-mod all the comments I modded here just to post some links proving what a fucking asshole you are.

sold by her mother? Oh wait, it's just FUD, she was really a child whore.

But you know what? One link in, I find you too vile to care what you think enough to look for another link. Open google and open your fucking eyes, jackass. Really.

The "sex slave" hysteria is almost as bad as the pedophile hysteria. The fact that you can point to 1 or 2 cherry picked, sensationalized stories doesn't mean that the ridiculous claims of tens of thousands of sex slaves being bussed in for the Olympics are in any way valid. It doesn't mean that politicians and police chiefs and MSNBC aren't drumming up the non-story in order to get votes and viewers. It doesn't mean that hookers aren't "encouraged" to falsely testify against their "pimps" and make bogus claims.

But hey, keep on feeding at the FUD trough, it seems to get you pretty passionate about things. You've only proven it yourself - your "some links" are in fact, one link about one case. Until you can point to tens of thousands of cases in the US as is often claimed, and actually show people were forced into it as opposed to willing participants, you're just wrong.

Re:Legalize it.

[sexconker]

I don't think the market for illegal prostitution would dry up because it's so entwined with other shit (like drugs and gangs/mobs and business/political bribes).
And the legit joints won't let a hooker work there if she's got a disease. The legit joints won't let you play out your sick fetishes. The legit joints won't provide 16 year olds.

The market for the seedier shit will still exist.

Re:Legalize it.

[couchslug]

"If adult prostitution was legal, every hooker (of age) would gladly turn in the names of the pimps running kids. After all, they are the competition."

Your solution is too logical to be implemented.

Also, religion requires the fight against sin happen, not that it be successful or not cause massive collateral damage.

Re:Legalize it.

[couchslug]

We must fight prostitution for the same reasons we supported Alcohol and support other Prohibition, because Sky Fairies insist on it.

Re:Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Even in the most extreme case imaginable, if you were dying, and only what they offered could save your life, they didn't put you in that position. They didn't have to make the offer at allâ"and you don't have to accept. There is no coercion here. If you do accept, you do it of your own free will.

The fact that the 2nd person didn't cause the danger excuses them from moral responsibility for the situation. But from the first person perspective the choice between life and death is exactly the same as if there was a gun to my head.

Re:Legalize it.

[JesseMcDonald]

Perhaps you would indeed make the same choice if you were being coerced. That doesn't mean you actually are being coerced.

Insisting that limited options equate to coercion is self-defeating. Any contract made under duress is void, for obvious reasons. Why would anyone offer you help, apart from charity, knowing that your agreement to pay them back isn't worth the paper is was written on? The ability to enter into binding agreements gives you the option of escaping the situation. If you claim duress, that option disappears.

Re:Legalize it.

[makomk]

But doesn't that just give any prostitute the incentive to claim she was being kept as a slave?

Yes it does. The Swedish police managed to prove that 100% of sex workers in the country illegally were victims of sex slavery through pretty much this method. (While proponents of the "Swedish model" claim that being a sex worker there isn't illegal and that only frequenting sex workers is, this is only true for women that have the legal right to work in the country. Women that don't get to look forward to time in prison, followed by being kicked back home with a note to their home government telling them exactly why, and often get their passports cancelled as a result. Alternatively, they can point to their "pimp" and carry on working until the trial concludes, at which point they can quietly go back home without their government being told and try again elsewhere.)

Re:Legalize it.

[Hatta]

Coercing you under pain of fines or imprisonment is less coercive on the whole than coercing me under pain of death. In fact, this is exactly the reason why every civilized country has socialized health care by now.

Re:Legalize it.

[JesseMcDonald]

Coercing you under pain of fines or imprisonment is less coercive on the whole than coercing me under pain of death.

No real argument here, though I'm not really interested in comparative degrees of coercion. Any coercion is too much.

In fact, this is exactly the reason why every civilized country has socialized health care by now.

Non sequitor. The equation with socialized health care isn't "coercion via threats of fines/imprisonment" vs. "coercion via threats of death". It's "coercion via threats of fines/imprisonment" vs. "no coercion at all". Not offering health care isn't coercion; neither is offering it conditionally.

Re:Legalize it.

[PCM2]

If adult prostitution was legal, every hooker (of age) would gladly turn in the names of the pimps running kids. After all, they are the competition.

Except that's not true. Every stripper knows that some guys like how they look and some guys won't. Everyone is into something different. A child prostitute isn't taking business away from a full-grown woman with tits and hips.

What's more, if adult prostitution is legal but child prostitution is still illegal, then the two businesses simply won't be conducted in the same places. The two groups will never cross paths, except in cases where they're in cahoots with each other.

Re:Legalize it.

[marnues]

Such services are only needed because the job is black market. Security is provided by the police, advertising is provided by the brothel or red light district, and any other services can be paid for, cash, check, or whatever, to any other legal industry. Pimps are only needed given the illegal nature of prostitution. Such a role will disappear for any prostitutes that enter a legally regulated business.

Re:Legalize it.

[marnues]

Signing up for slavery is still slavery. We need to eradicate that option, because the circumstances that push people into signing up for slavery are everyone's problem. Slaves existing makes us all poorer.

Re:Legalize it.

[mapkinase]

Take any book sent by God.

Re:Legalize it.

[Confusador]

I'll admit to being a bit concerned by your sexuality, but I suppose to each their own. I, personally, know what I would choose if given a choice between being forced into burgermaking or prostitution.

Re:Legalize it.

[Jaysu]

Anyone who claims to care about sex slavery and doesn't advocate the legalization of prostitution is simply not serious.

This is a classic example of an informal fallacy. If A -> C, you must support A or you are against C.

By that logic, you must burn your car if you are against pollution. If you don't burn your car, you are for pollution. The problem is that this does not take into account any other side effects.

Re:Legalize it.

[tehcyder]

Make prostitution legal and well regulated. You'll decrease the demand for sex slaves. Anyone who claims to care about sex slavery and doesn't advocate the legalization of prostitution is simply not serious.

The thing is, you're not going to make it legal for thirteen year olds to be prostitutes, so there will still be a demand.

Re:Legalize it.

[tehcyder]

Consent is a legal fiction. As long as we have to work to eat, nothing is truly consensual. There's always some duress in any sort of employment. There's no reason that we should be any more concerned about people being coerced into sex work than we are about people being coerced into making hamburgers.

No, there is definitely a difference between having to clock in at a burger joint for a few hours each day, and being kidnapped, raped, tortured, drugged and locked in a room to service however many customers your captors decide on.

If you really don't see the difference, I'm glad I don't live in your head, it must be a weird place.

Re:Legalize it.

[Jackdaw Rookery]

You hear completly wrong. I meant exactly what I said and I stand by it.

"You are right, it needs legalising and regulating. Nothing wrong with the concept of prostitution, it's all in the implementation.

Right now that's what's messed up. Legalise, tax it, regulate and it will be healthier, safer and better for the economy."

This isn't the place for personal stories, but lets just say I have personal experience relating to this.

Re:Legalize it.

[makomk]

There are definitely women out there that were offered exactly that choice and chose prostitution though. Apparently the hours and pay are better and you have the ability to reject assholish customers.

Wage Slaves!

[boristdog]

But if we start paying them they'll just be wage slaves!

Re:Hum.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure it's nothing compared to what's needed, but if others company would follow Google's lead it wouldn't be just 11 million in the anti-slavery pot. In South-America the so called modern day slavery is so prevalent in rural areas specially in sugar cane farms and the governments of those countries are pretty much looking the other way. In Brazil it isn't rare to see politicians running private farms in which the workhorse is basically slavery powered.

I don't really understand this kind of behaviour you seem to so proudly practice. Every single time a company donates X to help cause Y some imbecile has to say "big deal, X isn't nothing compared to what Y needs". Breaking news to you, Sherlock, no single person or company will ever solve such complicated problems by themselves.

Re:Hum.

[ByOhTek]

I don't think Google intends to fight it all on their own, their entire revenue stream would probably have trouble coping with that.

I think it is more a matter of 'their fair share'.

Re:The Irony...

[PatDev]

I hope this is a joke. But being paid well to burn out on a job is not slavery. Being compelled through the threat of violence to labor against your will to no benefit of your own is slavery. And sadly, human trafficking is a real thing in the world.

This is more like an investment banker who donates some of his money to groups fighting rape. Sure, some people overly fond of hyperbole might say that he has "raped" the economy, but that doesn't make him a hypocrite because he has never committed rape, and is doing real good in the world.

I understand that what Google is trying to do here is purchase good will. But it worked - they bought mine. It's not a bad trend to start. Any corporation that decides to donate considerable sums of money to ending atrocities in the world will get my consumer loyalty.

Modern slavery. eh?

[cjeze]

So they want to go back to old fashioned slavery?

You can buy...

[Rayzed]

a BUNCH of slaves for 11 Million.

a few million dollars vs empires of money

[Anonymous Coward]

when NYMEX wanted to open a branch in Dubai, most of the board of directors engaged the services of dubaian prostitutes. of course it did not matter to them that dubai is one of the world headquarters of forced prostitution (people are lured with promises of waitress or clerk jobs, and then their passport is seized)

NYMEX did it, you can bet the hedge fund managers and investment bankers of the world are doing it.

and like that dude recently said on bbc. governments dont run the world. Goldman Sachs runs the world. Goldman makes huge profits from slavery (i.e. globalization) , why would they want to stop it?

Re:a few million dollars vs empires of money

[Millennium]

NYMEX did it, you can bet the hedge fund managers and investment bankers of the world are doing it.

That's a very serious accusation you're making. Care to back it up?

and like that dude recently said on bbc. governments dont run the world. Goldman Sachs runs the world. Goldman makes huge profits from slavery (i.e. globalization) , why would they want to stop it?

Ah, so here we get to the gist of things: you aren't a fan of competing in the job market, so you call it slavery in an attempt to whip up other people's pathos. You also throw in a conspiracy theory for good measure.

Can I Have Some Money, Google?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not my intent to diminish the plight of those who are being forced to work against their will and who are getting unwanted sex, but I can't help notice that I am being forced to work against my will every day and I'm not getting any sex. I would appreciate it if Google would throw some of its enormous wealth toward this issue. Many of us have been stuck in this situation for decades, with no hope in sight.

Re:Money ?

[PT_1]

How does one fight slavery with money ? Isn't that the job of states ? Or will there be some really nice commercials telling us "slavery is bad, don't do it" ? No seriously, what will they do with $11.5M, apart from paperwork for politicians who just don't care ?

From the article:

"Gary A. Haugen, president of the International Justice Mission, said the coalition would focus on three initiatives: A $3.5 million intervention project to fight forced labor in India; a $4.5 million advocacy campaign in India to educate and protect the vulnerable; and a $1.8 million plan to mobilize Americans on behalf of the millions currently at risk of slavery or waiting for rescue around the world. The remaining $1.7 million will go to several smaller organizations working to combat slavery."

Anyone know where the UPC code on a slave is?

[kawabago]

Mine has stopped working and I need to return it.

Re:Anyone know where the UPC code on a slave is?

[Anonymous Coward]

Back of the neck. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Neck_barcode_tattoo.jpg

The interesting part to me is the value: 550-720-219, see: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=550-720-219

this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves it

[decora]

a lot of criminal gangs infiltrated the 'well regulated' prostitution industry in holland.
when an illiegal immigrant is brought to holland illegally by gangsters and forced to work in a brothel, the 'regulators' are not going to accomplish much to save her.

as we see in the US financial system, 'regulated industries' are not always well regulated. regulators are frequently corrupt and/or incompetent. and they have conflicts of interest.

those cops have a union

[decora]

are you willing to do what is necessary to form a union?

no, i didnt think so.

Eliminate welfare?

[Bardwick]

You get food, shelter, clothing, heating/cooling, an Xbox, a car and a little discretion cash.. In return, you are required to vote for your slave owner...

It's about time!

[BilldaCat]

I was feeling really bad for all those people stuck using 14.4k still. Glad Google is doing something about it.

This begs a few questions.

[sgt scrub]

1) Do i have to give up my "wifes"?
2) Do robots count?

Re:This begs a few questions.

[PPH]

1) Do i have to give up my "wifes"?

Legalize polygamy. Monogamy is male servitude.

(Yes dear. I'll take out the trash just as soon as I've finished this Slashdot post.)

Re:This begs a few questions.

[PPH]

So this means I''ll have to take out the trash for 2n-1 people? :-(

Re:This begs a few questions.

[aminorex]

You could have an even number of spouses.

Google is the new Microsoft

[bigsexyjoe]

Google gives money to fight slavery. And everyone is like "Google is teh Slaver!11" They compare Google making it's engineers work a lot to slavery. They criticize everything Google has ever done, etc. It looks like Google is the new Microsoft; they are always in wrong in Slashdot group-think, even when they donate money to the anti-slavery cause.

Don't get me wrong. I agree that Google does plenty of bad things and they scare me. I think they are a greedy corporation and they don't take the "Don't be evil" thing seriously. I think they are just doing this for good press. But really, is it so important to criticize everything they do, even when they legitimately do something good?

prisoners in general

[alienzed]

As opposed to tax payers just paying the bill? Every one HAS to work to make ends meet, why should prisoners be treated any different?

Re:prisoners in general

[tehcyder]

Agreed. I'd also like to see prisoners receive a bill for their incarceration upon release.

Yes, and you could make it something ridiculously high like four million a year, so they'd never be able to pay it off, and they and their descendants would become economic slaves to the corporation running the prisons.

Profit!

Re:prisoners in general

[alienzed]

I don't agree with putting people in prison for invalid reasons. My only law would be 'do no harm'. But every one has to work and in the end I don't think everyone *can* choose exactly what they want to do, that's not how societal life works. Sometimes the jobs that need to get done aren't necessarily the jobs that people want to do. I wish we could set wages that way, that would be fair. All I am saying is the concept of a prison is that remove the dangerous people from society, but they should also have to work, and compete at that work for benefits. Some could even like their jobs, it would teach others responsibility, hierarchy and that together individual men can live and work together to achieve something. And damned are we if we don't force that on them!

Re:that won't be nearly enough

[trout007]

As opposed to having a minimum wage and 20% unemployment?

Do they really think....

[retrorogue]

$15 million is enough to combat EA and Zynga?

Re:Do they really think....

[Lashat]

That is the post I was waiting to read. Hahah.

The problem with State Regulated Whores

[RobertLTux]

It has been documented that The State can't run a Whorehouse properly so what makes you think that they could regulate the whole industry??

Re:The problem with State Regulated Whores

[PPH]

The Netherlands is actually quite good at regulating the prostitution industry.

We'll see. I'm going to be visiting there soon. A few years ago, there was a big push to shut down the red light district and move all the hookers into brothels. According to the independents (the women standing in the individual windows) that was motivated by a study which was backed by organized crime. Who wanted the women working for them in their clubs.

Niger

[Das Auge]

Right now in Niger, 8% of the population are slaves. That's 1.8 million people.

Let me reiterate, that's happening right now. Sub-Saharan Africa has the majority of the worlds slaves; and I'm not talking about indentured servants.

Re:Niger

[finnw]

If this estimate is correct, its 0.4% worldwide.

Re:Hum.

[Genda]

The point is to show up bright and early with your toothbrush in hand, wave it high at all the neighbors and mayhaps a few of them will also arrive with whatever brushes they have. You know, start something. Begin a movement. Before long, the mansion is looking pretty spiffy.

Perhaps even Google's users will feel compelled to toss their two bits in to see what kind of difference it would make. Two bits, that's a quarter ($0.25 US), If everyone on the planet that uses Google shot in 25 cents, per day for let's say a week. Google could raise billions to stop slavery. Anything is possible, and when I say possible I don't mean like perhaps, maybe some day, but like the opportunity exists here and now for people of conscience and compassion to make a real difference in the world. All because Google decided to toss its two bits into a pot called "End Human Trafficking". Bravo, good job, keep going!

Re:Hum.

[Critical Facilities]

"The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step", Lao-Tzu quote

Re:I'll join, I'll use cable select

[GameboyRMH]

But you still have to put one on the Slave connector! You need to add more IDE controllers and put each drive on the Master connector.

Re:WOW we are all income tax *partial* slaves...

[GameboyRMH]

If they're advanced enough for interstellar travel, they might like to use Earth as a tax haven...

It will never happen

[mark-t]

The only way to truly eliminate slavery is to eliminate not only all forms of human prejudice and the desire that some people have to manipulate others, but also *ALL* forms of debt as well, since taking on debt is a form of voluntarily becoming a slave for whatever duration that it takes to repay the debt.

Good luck with with that.

Re:It will never happen

[aminorex]

It used to be the case that debt was voluntary. I can't really make a moral objection to voluntary servitude. But the U.S. Federal budget has insured that we are all indentured. My great-grandparents were free. My grandparents were 10% slave. My parents were 25% slave. I am 40% slave. At this rate it seems likely my children will be 60% slave, and my great-grandchildren will be chattel.

And all this time

[synapse7]

I thought IT was modern slavery...

Re:The Irony...

[Mordermi]

I agree. There are a lot of people here making jokes of this, but it is a serious problem and that is a lot of money to help a great cause. I applaud them for that.

Re:WOW we are all income tax *partial* slaves...

[Skidborg]

In biblical terms, the Egyptians sold themselves into slavery to Pharaoh... which amounted to a 20% income tax. I suspect our standards may have slipped since then.

oh no.. Apple will get upset if you do that Google

[Wingfat]

Apple lives off the back of slaves in other countries. So google might be making enemies with this move.

Re:The Irony...

[Genda]

Indeed, the plight of young engineers at Google having to perform sex acts is utterly appalling and must end immediately!

11.5M is like pocket lent to google.

[AgNO3]

Wait so is google going to help the Movie Visual effects industry in the UK, Canada and the US? 11.5 million. REAALY thats probably less then the operating cost of ONE of the Private jets owned by the top 3 guys at google.

Re:how google fights slavery..

[Genda]

Yes, yes, I know. Everyone knows why there are women at Google. Its their language and parsing skills. That big fat corpus collosum women have between their brain hemispheres just makes them inherently better language machines than men. Honestly though, I'd say that the skill makes them useful for more than just one thing. Yes?

Re:Money ?

[reg]

I've personally met Gary Haugen, and know a number of people who work/have worked for IJM. Their main goal is to get laws passed in countries which do not have laws against slavery, and then to get those laws enforced. Often this involves using influence with first world countries to pressure these countries into applying their own laws.

Their other role is to bring (generally US) trained law enforcement to these countries to train local law enforcement to collect evidence, etc. They then use lawyers to pursue individual cases, and train local lawyers in their own laws so they can effectively prosecute slave owners. When they loose cases (which are always cut and dried) they investigate how the judge was bribed and take legal action. They will keep this up until they get all the way to the top.

My guess is that most of this money will go to getting law enforcement and lawyers on trips to India to do this. They will also use the money to change attitudes in the US, so that Congress can be coerced into doing the right thing (like adding anti-slavery clauses to trade agreements).

Regards
-Jeremy

Re:how google fights slavery..

[Genda]

You're mistaking the women at Google for your Mom... a common mistake of the young and pimply... most cooks are men. Go figure.

Google should have called me....

[billybob_jcv]

... I'll do it for half that and get the same results.

Re:this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves i

[Applekid]

When you use "well regulated" in quotes, you give the impression that you do not believe it's well regulated. Fair enough, but to say that poorly implemented regulation means quality regulation isn't the answer is a bit much.

I thought the headline said "modem" slavery

[lazyforker]

The font on my browser makes the "r" and "n" so close that they look like "m". Google is finally going to rid us of dialup Internet access???? WTF? Is that really such a big problem?

Stop doing business with Saudi Arabia

[tekrat]

If we were serious about ending slavery, we should stop doing business with Saudi Arabia. We just happen to look the other way because they have us by the balls due to the fact that we are addicted to their oil.

But I find the whole thing ironic. I wonder how America would have responded if, in 1811, a company in say... Spain had donated 11 million to wiping out slavery in the USA.

Re:how google fights slavery..

[walterbyrd]

Compared to who? If woman don't want to be developers, what should we do? Force them?

Re:We like slavery, we just don't like to admit it

[walterbyrd]

True that. In the US we see the old slavery of pre-1865 as barbaric, and we like to think we've moved beyond that.

We think that our economy is dependant on foreign slave labor, but is that an excuse? I bet the old slave owners thought their economy was dependant on that version of slavery.

Re:Hum.

[trout007]

Slavery is still legal in the US. Take a look at the text of the 13th Amendment.

  Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Re:this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves i

[misexistentialist]

Is it really that hard to send in a cop to screw some whores? If one says she is there against her will she leaves with the cop and the brothel is shut down. Maybe there are threats being made against her family which will shut her up, but that is not a problem with prostitution but of law and order in the home country. Her and family's life is going to be shit no matter what until that situations changes.

A fart in the wind...

[MindPrison]

...11+ mill. bucks means nothing, Nike probably earns 100x that much on their slave factories around the world, god knows they've been busted numerous times (just read the news once in a while), c'mon...I love the BTTF Nike Power Laces...shoes as much as any other 80's fan, but don't kid yourselves, business is business, and it's all about Public Relations.

Remember the Ronald McDonalds fund? Sponsoring a few cents now and then, promotions? Children's hospitals? Raising one or two hospitals for the MILLION of obese kids destroyed by processed food?

Google? 11.5M..!??! Aw man, my house cost that half mill... Google is a multi-BILLION corporate, they can do way better than this.

Maybe they should start HERE:

[tekrat]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/14/world/asia/afghanistan-rape-victim/index.html

And this is in a country we're throwing billions of dollars at. We have troops ON THE GROUND.

And yet, if a woman gets raped in that country, *she* goes to jail. It's outrageous.

Re:Maybe they should start HERE:

[TheCarp]

Saudi Arabia has the same situation....no wait... we actually had to use media exposure and pressure to convince them not to stone a woman to death for being raped. Its ok though...they are our allies and good friends. As long as those women neither are American citizens nor part of a relatively small group that could be advantageous to crush as a means to bump the bottom lines of defense contractors, the default position is that they are just chattel animals like the rest of us peasants.

Re:Hum.

[joebagodonuts]

Has anyone ever been actually sentenced to "Slavery"?

Re:Hum.

[makomk]

Sure it's nothing compared to what's needed, but if others company would follow Google's lead it wouldn't be just 11 million in the anti-slavery pot. In South-America the so called modern day slavery is so prevalent in rural areas specially in sugar cane farms and the governments of those countries are pretty much looking the other way.

If I'm reading the announcement correctly, not a penny of Google's money will go to stopping that kind of slavery. It's just not politically popular enough and never has been. Instead, it'll go to stopping sex slavery. There's the small problem of it not actually existing on anything close to the scale claimed, but that's not going to stop the groups they're funding from "rescuing" sex workers that aren't actually slaves by forcibly imprisoning them (at which point a fair few of them will be raped by the police, based on past history). I've no doubt that Furry Girl will have something interesting to say about this soon.

Re:this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves i

[makomk]

a lot of criminal gangs infiltrated the 'well regulated' prostitution industry in holland.

Which is why sex worker activists generally want decriminalization, not legalization and regulation of the kind that's happened in most countries. The big difference is that decriminalization involves the removal of the criminal offences that stop sex workers from plying their trade, allowing them to do so as they wish. Pretty much of the regulation-based approaches have involved sex workers being forced to work for intermediaries who are meant to keep the industry well-regulated (except the Government only really cares about whether it affects normal people, not about how they treat their employees), have left important subgroups stuck working illegally, or more commonly both.

Yep, this is the best solution available

[ElusiveJoe]

I find it bitter that prostitution needs to exist at the first place. I mean, we all have our bodies, and all people enjoy having sex, so sex must be so easy to get...

But this is a real world and female sexuality has a price. Let it be legal at least.

Re:We like slavery, we just don't like to admit it

[chilvence]

This is either a subtle joke or I want to punch you in the face...

The only reason I can't tell is even joking about it is sick.

Re:this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves i

[jrumney]

I don't think poor regulation is the problem so much as the fact that Amsterdam has become a sex tourism destination because of its early legalisation of prostitution, so demand exceeds supply. This leaves room for criminal gangs to continue to operate their people smuggling rings, bringing illegal immigrants from the ex-Soviet countries and Africa over into slavery. If prostitution were to be legalised and open everywhere, this side of Amsterdam would lose its attraction leading to a more natural balance between supply and demand.

Re:Hum.

[Fned]

Has anyone ever been actually sentenced to "Slavery"?

Uh, yeah.

(HhhHehehhehehehehehhh... penal...)

Re:this is not a silver bullet. amsterdam proves i

[PCM2]

On the other hand, because prostitution is at least semi-legal in Holland, there is a lot more transparency into what happens in brothels in Amsterdam (no pun intended). Americans can easily think "there isn't any sex trafficking in my city, it doesn't really exist, those stories are all FUD." When someone from Amsterdam tells you that sex trafficking is a problem in Dutch brothels, on the other hand, you should probably believe them, because the Dutch have been running the great experiment of how to integrate vice into society for many years now, and as a result, they're much more willing to discuss such issues dispassionately and with an eye to finding solutions.

What about looking at home first?

[JustNiz]

Section 13(a)(17) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(17)) is amended to read as follows:

(17) any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker, whose primary duty isâ"

(A) the application of systems, network or database analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine or modify hardware, software, network, database, or system functional specifications;

(B) the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, securing, configuration, integration, debugging, modification of computer or information technology, or enabling continuity of systems and applications;

(C) directing the work of individuals performing duties described in subparagraph (A) or (B), including training such individuals or leading teams performing such duties; or

(D) a combination of duties described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), the performance of which requires the same level of skill;

who is compensated at an hourly rate of not less than $27.63 an hour or who is paid on a salary basis at a salary level as set forth by the Department of Labor in part 541 of title 29, Code of Federal Regulations. An employee described in this paragraph shall be considered an employee in a professional capacity pursuant to paragraph (1).â(TM)

Brazil and cat poop

[Slur]

Brazil, well they have the bigger problem that the majority of their population has Toxoplasmosis, and this is adversely affecting their brains. Maybe it's related to the slavery behavior. Studies should be done.

Dearest world,

[mjwx]

#1 - US - 743 per 100K pop.
#65 - New Zealand - 199 per 100K pop.
#87 - England and Wales - 156 per 100K pop.
#111 - Australia - 133 per 100K pop.

Yeah bitches, now who's full of criminals.

Signed,
Australia.

China and Saudi Arabia

[unixisc]

Will this include Chinese political prisoners who are forced to work as defacto slaves?

I was going to ask - that, and Saudi Arabia, where Blacks as well as Asians (from Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan) are treated as slaves

Sometimes It's a Job

[BSalita]

In Mauritainia, where I did Peace Corps duty 10 years ago, people self identified themselves as slaves even though slavery was abolished twenty years before. Why? Because it was their culture and job. Being a slave gave them steady meals. The alternative was worse.

Re:We like slavery, we just don't like to admit it

[tehcyder]

Buying cheap things isn't what makes your life good.