SAFETY PLANNING FROM TECHNOLOGY-FACILITATED ABUSE

13 March 2017. Church Center for the United Nations. Speaker: Cindy Southworth, MSM, Executive Vice President, National Network to End Domestic Violence, Washington, DC.

By Nazgul Asangojoeva-Baekova

Cindy Southworth

  Safety, planning, technology-facilitated abuse, Cindy Southworth spoke to us about our relationships with our phones and the kinds of damage that might leave us susceptible to. It’s meaningless to tell victims not to use their phones and apps, but it is important to be more aware of the apps we do use actively and the technology behind it.

In regards to social media, one of the main challenges they face is protecting teenagers. Teenage kids want to use technology; however, they then need to be brought into the safety planning conversation. Teenagers want to use social media to be visible friends, acquaintances, and sometimes strangers. It’s important that survivors of technology-facilitated abuse are mentors to all teens interested in a social media platform presence.

For example, instead of posting the details football game you are about to go to, you should instead post about it after it’s been done. This way, you’re location is more difficult to find and trace. You can’t be followed by someone. From a safety perspective, you should always post backward, and you should talk about what you have done not where you are.

In 2014 survey, they found that 86% of local programs report that abusers are harassing them on social media. Southworth thinks that numbers are probably going up since 2014 because more than ever people are using social media as a way to be connected with their loved ones, their families, and friends; because this is going she thinks more abusers are taking advantage of this information and misusing it. Southworth explained that giving up social networks and technology is not the solution, but it is important that they help survivors figure out how to improve technology - what settings to change, how to report it, blocking, accessing, and also being more vocal with survivor stories.

     Not every country has good domestic violence laws, and even fewer have good laws addressing computer crime, online harassment, sharing explicit photos and images. Victims might not be able to have the police response they need to save them. So, it’s important to document these criminal acts. Whether or not the authorities record technology abuse, survivors might still want to document what is happening to them personally. This way if the case ever does end up in a court of law, she has some source and documentation to protect her. Otherwise, the court system may not be an option for her.

One of the reasons survivors might want document her posts and exchanges with the abuser to show escalation. This way if a survivor notices that the threats that her partner or husband has been posting are escalating, she might be able to form a safety plan. Survivors can document evidence by taking screenshots or writing it down. They should keep track of what is happening even if there is no chance that the law enforcement will get involved; because, it is still useful to be able to track that over time.

Safety plans encourage people to manage access and privacy of their accounts and to use unique passwords. There is a trend happening globally – if you love me you would share your passwords with me. She said that it is so concerning, it is such a common thing that dating partners and even good friends will know each other’s passwords. With the knowledge of someone’s login, it’s incredibly easy to gain access to that person’s account, to change their password, and lock them out of their account. Facebook does not get people back into their account after they’ve been locked out by someone else.

Be cautious with things like secret questions. When some of the questions that you are asked by an online mail, google mail, Facebook account are things like your favorite color and your favorite food; your dating partner often knows that, so one thing she recommends for victims is to answer it but do not answer with what they are expected. Instead of a favorite food always do a favorite color, when it is a favorite food, switch it around. The reason she says to do this is to always make up answers that make no sense so that even you will forget them. For example, the speaker has a formula, and she always gives the same date of birth to every website that asks for it. It is a certain number of the month, a certain number of days, and a certain number of years from her real birthday; because she does it consistently, she remembers what her fake date of birth is. So she can use it for different websites.