CONTEMPORARY SLAVERY AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES: AN APPROACH

Abstract

This study explores new possibilities opened up by digital technologies
for confronting and eradicating contemporary slave labor. In this direction, it
reexamines the assumptions and structure of contemporary slavery — including its
conceptual (re)configuration, types, nature, and related crimes, as well as the profiles
of victimized workers and exploitative employers. Following an introductory report on
the subject, the study introduces readers to the most suitable and widely used digital
technologies for this purpose, namely drones, the internet, artificial intelligence, and
blockchain. Brazilian cases are also highlighted, with accounts of national
experiences using some of these technological tools, both by public institutions
responsible for the prevention, repression, and remediation of 21st-century slavery
and by private organizations, such as the non-governmental organization Repórter
Brasil and its applications (Moda Livre and ENP!). Conclusively, the study confirms
the dedication of modern technologies — even those rooted in a liberal framework —
to combating the utterly unacceptable modern slavery.