Researchers are yo examine the bitcoin blockchain to identify Analyze Online Ads and the Bitcoin (Bitcoin) Blockchain to Identify individuals working in the underground sex industry, Bitcoin.com reports.
The University of California in Berkley, the University of California in San Diego and the New York University Tandon School of Engineering have teamed up to develop software aimed at combating the sex trade through examining the bitcoin blockchain.
Machine-learning algorithms will be scanning and identifying patterns in sex ads by identifying cryptocurrency wallets that are associated with multiple ads. That will even include the identification of illegal prostitution rings.
“Where previously you might have five different phone numbers that you had no idea were connected, when you can see that they all came from the same wallets, that the same person paid for them, that’s a concrete sign that these five phone numbers are all related to each other,” UC Berkeley doctoral candidate, Rebecca Portnoff explained.
The project will mostly focus on ads hosted on websites such as Backpage and Craiglist, where human traffickers are known to operate.
“There are hundreds of thousands of these ads placed every year, and any technique that can surface commonalities between ads and potentially shed light on the owners is a big boost for those working to curb exploitation,” co-author of the research and assistant professor of computer science at NYU Damon McCoy added.