Always an Advocate for Tech Safety
/By: Cindy Southworth, outgoing NNEDV Executive Vice President and future Women’s Safety Policy Manager at Facebook
In the late nineties, I helped build and implement a national online library focusing on violence against women and a statewide protection order database. In both roles, I realized that while not much was intimidating to badass victim advocates, many were uncomfortable with technology. Often, survivors seeking help used more technology than their advocates, and sadly, abusers and perpetrators were even more tech-savvy.
In July 2000, the Safety Net Technology Project was born when I presented a national workshop to alert local advocates that abusers might soon begin misusing technology to harm their partners. My colleagues and I covered analog cordless phone security, cassette tape answering machines, and new monitoring software (aka “net nannies”). The clipart was embarrassingly old school, but the response from participants was sobering. The victim advocates shared stories of abusive partners assaulting victims to get them to turn over email passwords and misusing TTY machines to impersonate victims who are Deaf.
Upon hearing that technology was already being misused by controlling and abusive partners, I realized that the movement needed a national initiative addressing all forms of technology and the intersection with violence – and we needed it yesterday. Leaders at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence were incredibly supportive as I continued my coalition work by day and spent evenings and weekends searching for the right place for the Safety Net Project to land. In December 2001, I met with Lynn Rosenthal at the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) and described my fledgling project. She had a relationship with the AOL Time Warner Foundation and, after countless weekends writing grant applications and continuing to build the Safety Net Project, AOL confirmed our seed money and I moved to Washington, DC – showing up at the NNEDV offices with six boxes of technology curriculum and research. At the time, NNEDV had only five staff; Team NNEDV has grown to almost 45 employees today.
From 2002 – 2014, NNEDV grew, as did the Safety Net team. By the time I was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2014, the Safety Net team was going strong and led by Erica Olsen and Kaofeng Lee. Today, the team provides an extraordinary amount of broad and intensive consultation, training, and analysis every day. The work has always been led by the stated needs of survivors, their advocates, and NNEDV’s member coalitions. The team covers topics impacting survivors ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT), databases, privacy, stalkerware, cybercrime, encryption, apps, and so much more. Starting in February 2003, the team hosted a Training of Trainers for 10 years, then transitioned to their annual Technology Summit that brings together advocates, tech industry leaders, legal professionals, and practitioners from around the country and world.
The team has also been working closely with Facebook, UN Women, and the Global Network of Women’s Shelters to make sure that survivors anywhere can find vetted helplines, and use a range of secure options, including phone, text, and chat, to reach out for help and support. I look forward to continuing to work on these initiatives in my new role at Facebook.
After 18 years at NNEDV and 20 years since I founded the Safety Net Technology Project, I will be joining Facebook on July 13th as their Women’s Safety Policy Manager.
When I began my work in the movement, I worked to end sexual and domestic violence at local programs, universities, and coalitions in Pennsylvania and Maine. I was the one who set up the first fax machine, then configured email for all of the advocates. I brought my desktop computer into my graduate school class and passed around the memory component to demystify technology back in 1996.
Founding the Safety Net Technology Project 20 years ago, and working at NNEDV for 18 years have provided me with the opportunity to form alliances, reach underserved communities, promote innovation, expand public awareness, inform private sector solutions, and expand federal funding for countless survivors across the nation. This work has meant the world to me, and in my new role at Facebook, I will continue to be an advocate working to create a world free from violence (online and offline) and I look forward to harnessing the reach of Facebook to have an even greater impact.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to Erica Olsen, the Safety Net Director, and her phenomenal colleagues on the Safety Net team: Toby, Corbin, Shalini, Audace, Rachel, and Elaina, since they have had it all handled for many years. I know I can’t want wait to reach out to them in my new role. (I think we have a video call scheduled for July 13, right?)
The Team has been providing an incredible amount of support to the field during the pandemic. In March 2020 alone, the Safety Net Team presented 14 webinars to the field, training more than 5,000 advocates, and created 12 pandemic-specific tip sheets and other resources. I couldn’t be prouder of the work of a project I founded 20 years ago this summer.
I look forward to continuing to work with all of you – just in a different role.
For peace and safety,
Cindy
PS - To learn more about the most up-to-date Safety Net resources and information…
