Thanks to the CovidSAFE application, privacy concerns are rife on the internet, with social media users expressing condemnation over the way data is used and collected. In 2020, the average citizen has relinquished their right to privacy to various technocrats both willingly and unwillingly by handing over their data in return for the use of an application demanding said data. Our data is bought and sold, hacked and used for various purposes, particularly by companies selling services to the public, as they have the incentive to analyse data in order to create ‘targeted advertising.’ With the rise of the digital age, prostitution ‘industries’ are abusing the data collected by the public, in order to present adverts to entice locals into engaging in sex trafficking behaviours. On the site y2mate.com for example, a number of adverts have emerged in an attempt to seduce users into engaging in pornographic and prostitution related content, targeting the area in which the user is located. Such adverts can be viewed below (with black squares added):
This material is publicly available, where children can view it, thereby normalising prostitution ‘services’ to the public and desensitising them to such content. Content such as this should be censored, however due to the transnational aspect of the internet, it is difficult to remove such content when the content itself is not known to be part of the Australian jurisdiction. In coming years, the government should make it a priority to censor material that can be accessed by Australian citizens when it breaches the values underpinning their jurisdiction. According to WA’s Prostitution Act, the following is an offence:
Seeking [a] prostitute in or in view or within hearing of public place.
According to the Act, a public place is defined as ‘any place to which the public, or any section of the public, have or are permitted to have access whether on payment or otherwise.’ The internet is fundamentally a public domain, thus soliciting and seducing unsuspecting users in this space, and targeting those in a jurisdiction which forbids this, should be stopped and reported to officials. It is an even more detrimental crime, when you consider the fact that the perpetrators have abused your data in which to solicit you. This repulsive behaviour must be brought to the attention of criminal investigators, so that internet users can rest assured, knowing a) companies involved in trafficking do not have your data, and b) companies involved in trafficking are not publicly seeking to promote their services in jurisdictions where this is actually illegal.
Write to your local MP, when you see this content on your screen, or report it to the Australian Federal Police. If the prostituted individuals appear to be underage, then report it here: https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/services/child-protection/online-child-sex-exploitation
