Location-enabled tech designed to make our lives easier is often exploited by domestic abusers. Refuge, a UK nonprofit, helps women to leave abusive relationships, secure their devices, and stay safe.
piece of tech and Emma Pickering knows how it can be used to abuse, harass, and stalk women. Amazon’s Ring home doorbell cameras can monitor when someone leaves the house and who is visiting them. Until recently, Netflix showed the IP addresses where users were logged in, allowing their location to be tracked. Workout apps and websites such as Strava show where and when people are exercising.
Technology-facilitated abuse can range from harassment via phone call or text message to logging into someone’s social media and email accounts without their permission, which allows abusers to read, delete or send messages. In more extreme cases, they might install “stalkerware” on victims’ phones to monitor every tap and scroll. Nonconsensual image-sharing, commonly known as “revenge porn,” and economic abuse, where money and banking apps may be controlled by an abuser, are also frequent.
While the technology itself isn’t usually the problem—it’s how abusers use it to harass their victims that creates the issues—Pickering says tech companies don’t put enough thought into how their services can be used maliciously. They also don’t put enough effort into preventing such abuses. They’re not “considering having features built in that can mitigate these risks,” she says.
While tech abuse is rising, Pickering aims to increase understanding around the problem and tackle some of the issues at its roots. “We’ve got a really big ambition to train the police,” she says, adding that officers often don’t know what to look for in cases of tech abuse and may not take issues seriously. The Refuge team has already worked with one tech company, which she says she cannot name due to an NDA, to advise on safety. “Amazon and Google could work with us,” Pickering says.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Consulate of Mexico helping Valley women build businessesThere is a program through the Consulate of Mexico in Phoenix that is helping women in the Valley build a business from the ground up.
Read more »
Shohei Ohtani gets team MVP award before Angels fans share message for Arte: 'Sell the team'Shohei Ohtani makes his first appearance at Angel Stadium in days to be honored as the Angels' 2023 team MVP before a 7-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Read more »
Spain's women's team players Putellas, Rodríguez and Paredes appear before judge in Rubiales probeTwo-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas and two of her teammates in Spain’s women’s national team have appeared before a judge as witnesses in the investigation of former soccer federation president Luis Rubiales for his kiss on a player.
Read more »
'Welcome to Wrexham' Recap: Blake Lively Supports Women's TeamBlake Lively showed her support for the Wrexham women's football club during 'Welcome to Wrexham,' which the players think is 'pretty special'
Read more »
Xander Schauffele nearly kicked off Ryder Cup team over contract disputeSchauffele and the U.S. team lost to Team Europe.
Read more »
'Hysterical' Women Out for Revenge: Family Court’s Misogynistic Tropes Traumatize Women and ChildrenThe misogynist trope of “hysterical woman out for revenge” is used by coercive controlling abusers. Some women lose custody of their children.
Read more »