Refuge's Tech Safety Newsletter June 2024
Join us at the Refuge Tech Safety Summit 2024!
We are excited to announce the Tech Safety Summit 2024, taking place on September 24th and 25th. Hosted by Refuge, this groundbreaking virtual event focuses on tackling technology-facilitated abuse and promoting economic empowerment for survivors.
Event highlights:
The Summit will feature a series of expert-led sessions covering a wide range of topics. From international responses to technology-facilitated abuse to financial sabotage and safety by design, these sessions will provide attendees with valuable information directly applicable to their work.
Engage in workshops and sessions led by industry experts designed to deepen your understanding of technology-facilitated abuse. These interactive sessions will allow you to develop strategies to combat this abuse and support survivors.
Connect with like-minded professionals from various sectors. The virtual Summit includes networking opportunities, offering unique occasions to exchange ideas and collaborate.
Why attend?
The Tech Safety Summit 2024 is a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of how technology is misused by perpetrators of domestic abuse and the impact it has on survivors. By attending, you will gain knowledge, access to practical strategies and resources, as well as a network of professionals dedicated to making a difference.
Who should attend?
The Summit is ideal for policymakers, tech companies, legislators, advocates and any other professionals interested in combating technology-facilitated abuse.
About the organisers:
Refuge’s Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment Team is dedicated to combat technology-facilitated abuse and promote economic empowerment. This team leads efforts in addressing these unique challenges through advocacy and strategic partnerships.
Register today!
Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of this important conversation. Register now to secure your spot at the Tech Safety Summit 2024. Visit our website for more details and to sign up.
Tackling Tech Abuse with Pride
Pride month is a wonderful time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, and technology has played a key role in the lives of many members of the community. LGBTQ+ people often still experience discrimination which can lead to isolation, and technology can be a powerful tool in combatting this. It gives people the opportunity to seek out stronger and more understanding support networks, which can prove harder for some LGBTQ+ people to build up due to the damaging impact of homophobia. By connecting with other members of the community and genuine allies online, LGBTQ+ people often feel more ‘seen’ and accepted for who they truly are.
Unfortunately, technology is a double-edged sword
In the hands of perpetrators, it can be used to further the marginalisation of LGBTQ+ people, and to subject them to further harm and abuse. Perpetrators may limit or completely cut off an LGBTQ+ person’s access to safe and supportive online community to increase their control over the victim-survivor. These online support networks can be a lifeline for young LGBTQ+ people in particular, who may not feel accepted by their own families due to their sexuality or gender identity. It’s therefore vital that professionals supporting LGBTQ+ survivors understand the heightened negative impact of limiting access to safe online spaces on these individuals.
LGBTQ+ people can also be subjected to hostility and abuse in online spaces. In Galop’s 2021 Hate Crime Report, 60% of respondents stated that they had experienced online abuse. 28% of respondents further stated that they had been outed (often facilitated by technology) or doxed. This involves intentionally publishing personal information about someone on the internet, often with malicious intent. This could include exposing private information about someone’s gender identity or sexuality, which could put an individual at risk. LGBTQ+ survivors must be empowered to know their rights and options in these scenarios, which include reporting online abuse to social media platforms, reporting to the police, and seeking support from anti-abuse charities. Online abuse can be just as distressing and dangerous as other forms of abuse, particularly when a survivor has increased vulnerability due to marginalisation.
Sadly, we can also see a concerning trend in increased victimisation for the LGBTQ+ community in relation to intimate image-based abuse. This refers to the sharing of sexually intimate images or videos of another person without their consent, with the aim of causing them distress or harm. The sharing of intimate images is a criminal offence, and the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act has also now made it a criminal offence to threaten to share an intimate image. LGBTQ+ victims of intimate image-based abuse face increased risk of outing, blackmail and further danger due to the risk of their sexuality or gender identity being exposed. This is in addition to the harm already associated with this form of abuse. Professionals must ensure that survivors are aware of their options when they are on the receiving end of this form of abuse. These include undertaking reverse image searches, setting google image alerts, reporting to the police, and seeking support from a specialist service. StopNCII.org and Revenge Porn Helpline provide specialist support in this realm, as well as Refuge’s tech abuse team. Galop provide specialist support for LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic abuse and hate crime. StopNCII.org also have an interactive tool which provides guidance on what you can do if someone is threatening to share an intimate image.
Everyone deserves to live a life free from technology-facilitated abuse, and we need to work together to ensure that a future free from all forms of abuse extends to the entire LGBTQ+ community.
Refuge in conversation with…
Coalition Against Stalkerware
Our latest podcast is hosted by Rebekah from Refuge, joined by guest speakers Eva Galperin and Martijn Grooten, both active members of the Coalition Against Stalkerware. During this episode they discuss things to look out for when detecting stalkerware, the challenges faced by both victim survivors, and how to support someone facing this issue.
‘There aren't always symptoms, but often there will be some indicators such as rapid battery decline, significant interference on calls, and the phone glitching and behaving in unusual ways. The biggest indicator of stalkerware really is someone knowing more information than they should.’