Julie Cordua | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles Northwestern University |
| Occupation(s) | CEO, Social Entrepreneur |
| Organization | Thorn |
Julie Cordua is an American entrepreneur serving as the chief executive officer and executive director of Thorn since 2012, and previously serving as the vice president of marketing at (RED).
Cordua has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from UCLA. Cordua was born and raised in Lindsay, California, a small rural town, and currently resides in Southern California, along with her three children. [1] [2]
Cordua spent nearly ten years in the wireless industry, leading Motorola's global marketing efforts for 5 years, where she helped launch the Razr. Following her work at Motorola, she joined and helped establish Helio, a wireless startup, as director of buzz marketing. [3]
Cordua left her job at RED to join co-founders Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore in launching Thorn, an anti-human trafficking organization whose mission is to create technology to defend children from abuse online and to remove all child sexual abuse material from the internet. As CEO of the organization, Cordua works with other NGO's, technology companies, government, and law enforcement to assist efforts to identify, protect and rescue victims, and to fight predatory online behavior.[ citation needed ] In 2017 Cordua noted in Recode that Thorn had an unusual business model, as a non-profit that was also driven by products and technology. [4] One product they have developed, Spotlight, helps law enforcement in the United States and Canada identify victims of child sexual abuse and traffickers, and as of 2018 had led to the identification of 5,894 child sex trafficking victims and the rescue of 103 children. [5] The Spotlight program uses pattern recognition technology from Amazon to identify text and images that might contain or relate to child sexual abuse online. The organization has faced some criticism around the program due to concerns about privacy and the company's stance towards adult sex workers. [6] Another product developed by Thorn is called Safer, and is a tool that allows websites that host user submitted images and videos to identify child sexual abuse material. [7] Thorn also started another program, their Innovation Lab, to collaborate with tech companies including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Expedia, IAC, Sabre, Twitter, Amazon Web Services and Pinterest to police child sexual abuse material on their sites. [8] In 2019, Thorn was one of eight organizations that were awarded a total of $280 million in funding by the TED launched Audacious Project. [9]
Cordua has been the recipient of several notable awards and honors for her work with Thorn, including being named as one of the Forbes Leaders Proving Tech Is A Force For Social Innovation in 2019.[ citation needed ] She was also a recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship the same year. [10] In 2017, Cordua was number 51 on the Recode 100 honoree list. [4]
Child sex tourism (CST) is tourism for the purpose of engaging in the prostitution of children, which is commercially facilitated child sexual abuse. The definition of child in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is "every human being below the age of 18 years". Child sex tourism results in both mental and physical consequences for the exploited children, which may include sexually transmitted infections, "drug addiction, pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and death", according to the State Department of the United States. Child sex tourism, part of the multibillion-dollar global sex tourism industry, is a form of child prostitution within the wider issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child sex tourism victimizes approximately 2 million children around the world. The children who perform as prostitutes in the child sex tourism trade often have been lured or abducted into sexual slavery.
Christopher Ashton Kutcher is an American actor, producer and entrepreneur. Kutcher began his acting career portraying Michael Kelso in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show (1998–2006). He made his film debut in the romantic comedy Coming Soon (1999), followed by the comedy film Dude, Where's My Car? (2000), which was a box office success. In 2003, Kutcher starred in the romantic comedies Just Married and My Boss's Daughter. That year, he created and produced the television series Punk'd, also serving as host for the first eight of its ten seasons. Kutcher starred in the science fiction film The Butterfly Effect (2004) and had a voice role in Open Season (2006).
Sexual grooming refers to actions or behaviors used to establish an emotional connection with a minor, and sometimes the child's family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. It can occur in various settings, including online, in person, and through other means of communication. Children who are groomed may experience mental health issues, including "anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts."
Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a commercial transaction that involves the sexual exploitation of a minor, or person under the age of consent. CSEC involves a range of abuses, including but not limited to: the, child pornography, stripping, erotic massage, phone sex lines, internet-based exploitation, and early forced marriage.
Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).
Adweek is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. Adweek covers marketing, creativity, client–agency relationships and the media, technology and platforms which support the global marketing ecosystem. During this time, it has covered various shifts in technology, including cable television, the shift away from commission-based agency fees, and the Internet.
The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with a regional presence in Brazil, Singapore, and Australia, is a private 501(c)(3) non-governmental, nonprofit global organization. It combats child sexual exploitation, child pornography, and child abduction.
The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. It is distinct from people smuggling, which is characterized by the consent of the person being smuggled.
Recode, formerly the Center for Digital inclusion (CDI), is a nonprofit organization that uses technology to fight poverty and stimulate entrepreneurship. CDI and partners create community centers in low-income, rural, indigenous communities, hospitals, prisons, and psychiatric clinics. These centers work to strengthen low-income communities by providing access to information and communication technologies.
Child pornography is unlawful pornography in most jurisdictions that exploits minors for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a child or it may be simulated child pornography. Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts or lascivious exhibitions of genitals or pubic areas which are recorded in the production of child pornography. Child pornography may use a variety of mediums, including writings, magazines, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, video, virtual reality and video games. Child pornography may be created for profit or other reasons.
Kik Messenger, commonly called Kik, is a freeware instant messaging mobile app from the Canadian company Kik Interactive, available on iOS and Android operating systems.
Jennifer Pahlka is an American businesswoman and political advisor. She is the founder and former Executive Director of Code for America. She served as US Deputy Chief Technology Officer from June 2013 to June 2014 and helped found the United States Digital Service. Previously she had worked at CMP Media with various roles in the computer game industry. She was the co-chair and general manager of the Web 2.0 conferences. In June 2023, she released the book Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better.
Michael Chikong Seto is a Canadian forensic psychologist, sexologist, and author. He is director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, where his research focuses on pedophilia, sexual offenses committed against children, child pornography, risk assessment, offenders with mental disorders, psychopathy, and program evaluation.
Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims is a nonprofit organization based in Tokyo, Japan working to eradicate human trafficking and modern day slavery. It used to be known as "Polaris Project Japan" (ポラリスプロジェクトジャパン).
Thorn: Digital Defenders of Children, previously known as DNA Foundation, is an international anti-human trafficking organization that works to address the sexual exploitation of children. The primary programming efforts of the organization focus on Internet technology and the role it plays in facilitating child pornography and sexual slavery of children on a global scale. The organization was founded by American actors Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
The EARN IT Act is proposed legislation first introduced in 2020 in the United States Congress. It aims to amend Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, which allows operators of websites to remove user-posted content that they deem inappropriate, and provides them with immunity from civil lawsuits related to such posting. Section 230 is the only surviving portion of the Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996.
Sex trafficking in the Philippines is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and slavery that occurs in the Republic of the Philippines. The Philippines is a country of origin and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit for sexually trafficked persons.
Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.