Tech Abuse in the Pandemic & Beyond: Reflections from the Field, 2021

Tech abuse is a widespread problem seen by advocates and legal systems professionals across the US. Our new report, “Tech Abuse in the Pandemic and Beyond,” shares findings from a needs assessment that included the participation of over 1,000 advocates and legal systems professionals. They told us that tech abuse increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survivors and their communities also encountered additional barriers to safety, justice, and healing. Read the Full Report or the Executive Summary.

Key Findings:

• The most common types of tech abuse - harassment, limiting access to technology, and surveillance - increased during the pandemic.

• Phones, social media, and messaging were the technologies most commonly misused as a tactic of tech abuse.

• Internet of Things (IoT) devices, next generation location trackers, and other emerging technologies are increasingly misused in tech abuse.

• Survivors’ lack of access to technology, sometimes called the “Digital Divide,” is a barrier to accessing services, legal support, courts, and other services and social supports.

Takeaways:

• We should be prepared for the likelihood that tech abuse tactics adopted during the pandemic will not be given up easily.

• We should work together to promote digital equity and tech safety.

Technology can amplify abuse but is also used strategically by survivors and those who support them.[1] Moving forward, we should bring this knowledge even more deeply into our work to respond to and prevent violence and abuse while supporting the well-being of providers.

Download the Executive Summary.

Download the Full Report.

Thank you to the dedicated advocates and legal systems professionals who took the time to complete our survey in December 2020 to January 2021. Related research on victim services throughout the pandemic highlights what we have always known: that advocates and service providers are resilient and dedicated. They shifted to new ways of using technology to communicate with survivors and each other while coping with profound personal, professional, and pre-existing societal challenges and inequities. However, there is a cost to excessive flexibility and creativity in burnout, vicarious trauma, and exhaustion.[2] We’re grateful for your responses and your work every day alongside survivors to increase safety, privacy, and healing.

This project was supported by cooperative agreement number 2019-V3-GX-K017, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

[1] Freed, et al. (2017); Matthews et al. (2017); Dragiewicz, et al. (2018); Richard & Gray (2018); Douglas, Harris, & Dragiewicz (2019); Harris & Woodlock (2019); Messing, et al. (2020); Leitão (2021)

[2] Wood, et al. (2020)

Increasing Awareness of Tech Abuse and the Importance of Privacy

Safety Net recently participated in some efforts to raise awareness about the complexities of technology abuse and the importance of privacy for survivors. In a podcast for Coda Currents, Erica Olsen shared examples of how technology is often misused as a tactic of abuse.

Toby Shulruff also talked with Consumer Reports about devices and privacy settings. The resulting article includes some helpful pointers for survivors who are looking to minimize privacy and safety risks with their tech. It also breaks down several steps to increase privacy and minimize the possibility of abuse, including:

• email accounts

• social media accounts

• ride-hailing apps (Uber, Lyft)

• streaming media (Netflix, Uber)

• bank and credit card sites, cable, phone, and utility companies,

• and computer and mobile device passwords.

For additional information read the full article, How to Shut Stalkers Out of Your Tech, and share with anyone who may be concerned about their privacy. In addition, for a deeper dive into maintaining control over your information, check out their Security Planner Tool that they revised last year with Safety Net’s input.

Safety, Privacy, Security, & Access: Four Pillars of Consumer and Survivor Wellbeing

Stalking Awareness Month Graphic

As we commemorate National Stalking Awareness Month and Data Privacy Day today, we recognize four pillars to ensuring both consumer and survivor well-being: Safety, Privacy, Security, and Access. These pillars are the foundation that guides our work every day in helping to safeguard technology safety for all. While all of these go hand-in-hand, we’ll look at each one below. 

Safety: In today’s digital age, survivors have an exhausting list of considerations to protect their information and their safety. Whether protecting location, online activity, home, and work addresses, or children’s whereabouts, so much of this is critical for a survivor’s safety. Survivors have a right to technology and shouldn’t have to choose between staying safe and using a device or platform. Many people rely on the internet to shop, look for jobs, search for resources, maybe even conduct business as part of their livelihood. Strong privacy and security policies and settings, along with access to technology, help keep all of us safe.   

Privacy: Today is Data Privacy Day, but survivors and consumers alike always have a need for privacy. Whether a person wants to make sure that their accounts are private from the prying eyes of family members or future employers, or survivors of stalking who need to know the platforms they use do not share information with others, privacy benefits everyone. Strong privacy policies, settings, and protections mean that survivors and consumers can have one more way to take back control over their digital lives.

Security: Having a secure way to communicate with trusted individuals, seek online resources or help, or have a place to store legal, health, or other personal documents is incredibly important. As consumers, we share our information when using online spaces, services, and apps and hope that it remains secure. Strong security measures help ensure that personal information does not get into the wrong hands. 

Access: Building a platform that is intentional in centering the needs of survivors and consumers means considering the accessibility needs of those who live with disabilities, speak another language, or have culturally-specific privacy and safety needs. Built from these perspectives, technology can be used by as many survivors and consumers as possible. Accessibility barriers that keep survivors from getting assistance can be a significant safety risk. Making sure that we have accessible products, platforms, and technologies should be a core tenet of our work.

Building and using technology with all this in mind can be challenging. For survivors, it can be exhausting and terrifying. Fortunately, more and more online platforms and services are building in End-to-End (E2E) Encryption as the default functionality to protect the privacy and security of users and their data. We’re always happy to see these announcements and even more thrilled when the platform has clearly also considered safety and accessibility!

E2E Encryption can be a little hard to understand, but it’s a really important feature to ensure privacy – and if you’re a victim service provider, to protect confidentiality. Safety Net worked with the Internet Society on a new resource to help survivors and service providers understand E2E Encryption more. Whether you’re a technology start-up, a victim service provider, or a survivor – understanding and using E2E encryption can be an important step to prioritizing safety, privacy, security, and ensuring access.

These four pillars guide us in this work and allow survivors and consumers the ability to harness the power to remain online in a safe and meaningful way.