Persons of Interest

One of my favorite TV shows is Persons of Interest on CBS.  It is a series about a computer program that is constantly spying on us, so it really plays into the concern that many people have with the surveillance state.  Of course the program was installed for a good reason, to track down terrorists and prevent them from carrying out attacks, but since the program tracks everyone it could also be used to prevent murder and crimes on a smaller scale, but that was outside the scope of the governments interest so the programs designer created a backdoor to give him access to the more personal crimes so he could do something about them.  He gets a former military/government operative to help him do the heavy lifting and BAM you have a really intense and engaging story.

Well, rather than science fiction, I think people will look back on this series as a thriller, but also as a historical fiction.  There are real life programs that our government uses to track terrorists, but also other criminals.  One of them is dedicated to tracking the slave trade, particularly child sex trafficking.  Our government has been using it for about eight years, but only to help children within its scope.  Basically they see were child pornography is being shared in real time using this software, and they can see every case around the globe, but unless it is related to a child abducted in the US, or a US citizen abducted abroad they don’t or perhaps can’t take action.

Fortunately the makers of this software have made it available to some private citizens including former Navy Seals and CIA operatives that are able to make use of this program outside the scope our government has defined.  These private groups have acted in the shadows, but they aren't nearly as secretive as Harold and Reese from the CBS series, and now they are starting to go public with their efforts via Glenn Beck on the Blaze network and a documentary that is in the works from producer Gerald Molen called “The Abolitionists.”  They are actually rescuing children that have been sold as sex slaves and anyone can help in the effort as part of a new Underground Railroad. 

Now this blog is called Delaware Politics and this article doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with Delaware, or politics.  Except that when you look at the map of this program that tracks child rape videos that are being shared, it looks like there is a fair amount of activity happening in Delaware.  Now maybe none of those people in Delaware have child sex slaves of their own to rape, then again maybe some do, but that is beside the point.  The people watching this trash in Delaware are helping to fuel child sex slavery wherever it is happening around the world.  Many of these people seem very normal, not menacing or blatantly evil.  However, whether they are the ones online watching real slaves be abused from thousands of miles away, or they are the ones selling, or abusing the children directly they have all made one choice in common.  They have decided that something is more important to them than the freedom, innocence, and virtue of a child.

We each make choices.  Do your unbridled appetites fuel slavery?  Do they enslave you?  Or do your bridled passions help abolish slavery?   Are you a slave, a slaver, or an abolitionist, or do you find yourself wavering between the three?  Tonight I decided to help, in a small way, to build Operation Underground Railroad.  I hope it is never a relative or a child I know that is on the receiving end of this project, but at least I will know it is here if they need it.

Note: This article was originally posted at Delaware Politcs.  Also for much better video and more detailed information please click the links.