“Children represent the future. Encourage, support and guide them.” – Catherine Pulsifer

SAFETY TIPS TECHNOLOGY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING Gaming ■■ ■■ Know which safety features the game offers; In 2018, the Pew Research Center found the headset may have features to mask your that 95% of teens have access to a voice. smartphone and 45% are online all the time (pewinternet.org, 2018). ■■ Do the games have moderators or reporting ■ features? ■ Pew found that on average, a child gets his or her first smartphone at 10.3 years ■■ Keep gaming consoles in common areas so it old. by age 12, a full 50% of children have is easy to monitor usage and set usage rules. accounts (primarily and ). ■■ Never give out personal data and never meet anyone outside the game (NetSmartz.org). ■■ Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) is made more accessible by technology, Social Media e.g., social media, the internet, and online ■■ Never post where you are going, only where gaming apps. you have been. Be careful about Checking ■■ Thorn recently published a survey in 2018 In and know what apps are sharing your that found that 55% of DMST survivors location. who entered the life in 2015 or later met ■■ Check privacy settings frequently. their trafficker for the first time using a mobile app, website (online), or by text ■■ Do not post threats or nudity. Know what your message. SAFE SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS friends are posting. ■■ 63% of traffickers used online platform ■■ Never meet anyone you meet online in to groom potentially vulnerable victims FOR PARENTS AND TEENS person without parental supervision. (Thorn, 2018).

■■ Do not accept friend requests from people you do not know. Contact Us! [email protected] Visit us at www.path2freedom.org Mobile apps can be used for cyberbullying, accessing pornography, and sexting at home or in school. Parents must be aware of the risks these apps potentially pose and their use by some traffickers as a way to recruit and exploit.

KEEK Allows users to upload video status Photo messaging app; a user takes Users submit anonymous questions updates and share video content through photos, records videos, and text and or confessions as text over a photo major social media networks; no privacy drawings, and send them to recipients or graphic; other users are allowed to settings. with a set time limit to view “snaps,” comment and send private messages; 1-10 seconds, content is deleted from carries a 17+ rating. DOWN device but not the snapchat servers. This app was rebranded after it was removed from the App store; intended to INSTAGRAM Microblogging service that allows match Facebook friends for, among other Adult content can frequently appear on users to create content and post media things, casual sexual encounters. this photo and video sharing app. on a short-form blog; high amount of pornographic material. Another network with worldwide Twitter video app that allows users to SECRET CALCULATOR popularity, Twitter is also liable to contain create and share 6-second videos; age Vault or “ghost” apps show up on a adult and other inappropriate content limit set at 17+ after pornographic and smartphone as a normal app such as that is easily accessed. suggestive clips began appearing. a calculator, but enter a password and you’ll unlock a vault of secret photos and ASK.FM videos. Allows users to ask questions from Online dating app allows users 12+ to other ASK.FM users with the option of view profiles and connect with users YIK YAK anonymity; often used for cyberbullying within a geographical area. Allows users to post anonymous (Utah Attorney General Task Force, comments to other users in a 10- Internet Crimes Against Children). MEET ME mile radius; used for threats and MeetMe is the app version of the online cyberbullying; app was intended for OMEGLE & CHATROULETTE flirting and social networking website “college age and above.” Chat services that allows anonymous formerly called MyYearbook. The users to randomly chat with strangers primary uses of MeetMe are to meet JOTT using instant messaging, video new people and interact with them Messaging app that works without a data (webcam), or microphone. online. Much of the communication has plan of WiFi network; users can send “flirty” overtones. texts using or iPods on a closed network within a 100-foot area.

POOF Allows users to hide apps from their home screen.