Human trafficking is one of the most lucrative of all criminal enterprises. According to recent research (PDF) from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 20.9 million people have been pushed into forced labor, creating a booming $32 billion illicit trade stretching from Laos to Los Angeles.
Despite all their manpower, law enforcement, anti-trafficking task forces, and policymakers know surprisingly little about the illegal cross-border flow of humans forced into the sex trade or into slave labor or cut open to have their organs extracted. Google believes Big Data can turn the tables on these crime gangs.
