ABSTRACT
The proliferation of communication technologies has impacted the sex work industry globally in significant ways. Technological development, particularly the Internet and Internet-mediated sex work has been a topic of study for many scholars in the past. Female sex workers who live in brothels in Kamathipura in Mumbai generally migrated from other parts of the country. Hence staying connected with their families and often young children in their home towns or villages is very important for most sex workers and it was often this vital need that mobile phone technology met. Anonymity and safeguarding individual identity is a vital concern for most sex industry participants, particularly sex workers. Many of the female sex workers we spoke to readily acknowledged the intense vulnerabilities that stemmed from their lack of control over the ways in which clients used mobile phone technology. Clandestine filming and photography by clients were highlighted consistently as an omnipresent risk from mobile phone technology.
