by Mark Schwendau
To those of us engaged in actual journalism reporting the news, the recent box office success of the “Sound of Freedom” movie was no surprise. That is because we have long been aware of this problem thanks to organizations like “Operation Underground Railroad” who have been actively engaged in stopping the problem with International law enforcement organizations.
So Operation Underground Railroad exists to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. They report a statistic from the “Liberate Children” organization that about 40 million are trafficked globally each year; of those, 25% are said to be minor children.
Two months ago, Operation Underground Railroad posted a video to help educate people about how pedophiles prey on children using the Internet.
“I hope you are touched by this powerful true story of the rescue of a young boy being subjected to some of the worst forms of child exploitation and human trafficking, written and narrated by the actual O.U.R. undercover operator who tracked down the predator online.
“This story highlights some of the digital forensic and other investigative tools O.U.R. is able to provide law enforcement so they can track down predators and identify children being exploited and trafficked.
“These forensic tools are not cheap, yet the demand for them has never been greater. Please consider donating to O.U.R. so that we can empower our law enforcement partners to save additional innocent ‘Miko’s’ and arrest other ‘Walters’ out there exploiting innocent children. Thank you in advance for your generous support.”
“The internet is the top recruiting platform for trafficking (Polaris, 2022). Predators are out there, searching for vulnerable targets to exploit.
“It’s estimated that there are 500,000 online predators active every day (Child and Grooming Safety.)These predators are constantly finding new ways to gain access to vulnerable children.
“How do traffickers find these children to exploit? The answer is right in front of you. The same algorithms we use every day to shop, online find friends on social media, or any number of online activities—these are the tools predators use to find their targets. It’s on our phones, on your child’s phone.
“Predators use the same online pathways to infiltrate a child’s life. Smartphone apps store data about the user- age, gender, location, what you’re interested, how much time they spend on the app, what time of day they use it, who they communicate with, and what they look at (Financial Times.).
“Imagine a predator gaining access to this information. They can track a child who spends a lot of time online. A child who might not have many friends. They can find their location, personal preferences, and gaming habits. All these amount to a twisted toolbox for traffickers and predators to find and exploit children.
“But that’s not all it amounts to.
These same tools are in the hands of O.U.R. Investigators and law enforcement to track down online predators. Undercover operators find the same dark pathways. These lead them straight to the digital and eventual the actual doorstep of predators.”
Operation Underground Railroad is a 501(c)(3) non-profit you can both donate your time and treasures to. It was established by a Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security Tim Ballard. Ballard spent more than a decade working the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and deployed as an undercover operative for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team.
“He has worked in that role and has seen every type of case in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings. He’s worked in the United States and in multiple foreign countries to infiltrate child trafficking organizations. He has successfully dismantled dozens of these organizations and rescued children from slavery and exploitation.”
Fox News led with a story that made me angry and then laughed related to this issue of children being used for sex around the world: “Human-trafficking film ‘Sound of Freedom’ trashed by liberal outlets as ‘QAnon-adjacent.’”
After getting over my anger, my laugh came with the thought, “So besides being liars and hypocrites, they are also pedophile sympathetic, too?!”
Independent Sentinel has reported on the phenomena of “The Sound of Freedom” previously.
Copyright © 2023 by Mark S. Schwendau
Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.” He Is a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist. His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.