{"id":8909,"date":"2021-11-12T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-12T14:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1373091"},"modified":"2021-11-12T14:35:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T14:35:11","slug":"safety-by-design-features-can-reduce-stalking-and-domestic-violence-but-we-need-companies-to-apply-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=8909","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Safety by design\u2019 features can reduce stalking and domestic violence \u2014 but we need companies to apply it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mobile phones and online technologies are frequently used by perpetrators of domestic and family violence<\/a> to coerce, control and restrict the freedoms of victims and survivors.<\/p>\n

Recent death reviews have found that stalking by technology<\/a> and the use of fake social media identities are becoming more common elements in cases of domestic and family violence homicide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Australia, there are two leading agencies working to reduce this kind of technology-enabled abuse: WESNET<\/a> and the eSafety Commissioner<\/a>. Both provide training for advocates and practitioners, as well as resources for victims and survivors. WESNET also provides replacement phones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their work \u2013 and the \u201csafety work\u201d of people experiencing violence \u2013 is made more difficult by tech products and services that treat user safety as an afterthought. Platforms and the tech industry can do a lot to reduce harm by building in user safety from the earliest stages of product design.<\/p>\n

Creating risk<\/h2>\n

At present, major tech companies often design and manage devices and digital media without considering user vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

Until 2020<\/a>, Google allowed spyware and stalkerware<\/a> \u2013 software designed to be covertly installed on a phone to monitor and record photos, videos, texts, calls, and other information \u2013 to be freely advertised on its platform. It banned the ads amidst mounting evidence that this kind of software is used to enact intimate partner violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April 2021, Apple released coin-sized tiles called AirTags intended to help people keep track of belongings via Bluetooth signals. After they were criticized as presenting a serious security risk by enabling stalking of intimate partners<\/a>, Apple updated the devices<\/a> to make them beep at random intervals if they were away from the owner\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s new smart glasses have also sparked privacy concerns<\/a>, like Snapchat\u2019s Spectacles<\/a> and Google Glass<\/a> before them. The glasses contain cameras and microphones that enable (potentially covert) recording.<\/p>\n

Facebook did consult groups<\/a> such as the US National Network to End Domestic Violence in an effort to \u201cinnovate responsibly\u201d, though there are still concerns about how the glasses might be used.<\/p>\n

Recognizing user realities and threat<\/h2>\n

Traditional ideas of cybersecurity are focused on \u201cstranger threats\u201d. However, to reduce and combat digital domestic and family violence we need an \u201cintimate threat\u201d model.<\/p>\n

Partners and families can compel others to provide access to devices. They may be linked to online accounts or able to guess passwords, based on their intimate knowledge of the owner.<\/p>\n

In this context, technologies that enable surveillance and recording can be used to constrain and threaten victims and survivors in alarming ways, in everyday life.<\/p>\n

Understanding and seeking to alleviate the risk posed by abusers requires platforms and industry to think proactively about how technologies may be co-opted or weaponized.<\/p>\n

Safety by Design<\/h2>\n

The eSafety Commissioner\u2019s Safety by Design<\/a> initiative aims to make user safety a priority in the design, development and deployment of online products, and services. The initiative revolves around three basic principles.<\/p>\n

The first is that service providers are responsible for making user safety the number one priority. This means platforms and other companies work to anticipate how their products may facilitate, increase or encourage harm. In this way, the burden of safety will not fall solely on the user.<\/p>\n

The second is that users should have the power and autonomy to make decisions in their own best interest. Platforms and services should engage in meaningful consultation with users, including diverse and at-risk groups, to ensure their features and functions are accessible and helpful to all.<\/p>\n

The third principle is transparency and accountability about operations and published safety objectives is essential. This also helps users to address safety concerns.<\/p>\n

There is growing support for these principles among tech companies. Last year IBM published its own guide to \u201ccoercive control resistant design<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Effective approaches must also acknowledge how intersecting or overlapping forms of structural or systemic oppression shape an individual\u2019s experience of technology and can deepen social inequalities.<\/p>\n

To realize the goals of safety by design or coercive control resistant design, we will need to review not only the policies but also the actual practices of platforms and industry, as they emerge.<\/p>\n

How tech can improve<\/h2>\n

eSafety has produced Safety by Design assessment tools<\/a> to improve and innovate based on good practice and evidence-informed resources and templates.<\/p>\n

Platforms and industry have a key role to play in addressing the impacts of domestic and family violence through design. They can and should do more in this space.\"The<\/p>\n

Article by Bridget Harris<\/a>, Associate professor, Queensland University of Technology<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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