tech<\/a> abuse team at Refuge, told The Independent she believes technology companies need to do more to safeguard their products, adding it is \u201cunacceptable\u201d for the safety of women and children to be an \u201cafterthought\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cWearable technology is cheaper to purchase than ever before,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s integrated into all of our lives and we can\u2019t really avoid it even if we want to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the reports the charity receives involve wearable health technology like smartwatches and rings, but she said abusers are also using smart locks, heating technology, and even fertility trackers to manipulate and control victims.<\/p>\n
She said perpetrators of abuse are \u201cquickly learning\u201d they have \u201cnew tools at their disposal\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYears ago, a perpetrator needed to physically be in the house to change the heating and turn the lights on and off,\u201d she explained. \u201cNow you don\u2019t even need to be in the same country and you can use smart locks to trap someone in or outside a property. You don\u2019t have to physically be anywhere near the person that you\u2019re targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n
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One survivor said she was left \u2018deeply shocked\u2019 after realising she was being stalked using data from her smartwatch (PA Archive)<\/p>\n
According to Refuge\u2019s data, 24 per cent of their tech-related referrals are from people under the age of 30. Ms Pickering said she believes that while young people are generally considered more \u201ctech savvy\u201d than older people, their status as digital natives means it is \u201cnatural to them\u201d to have it integrated into their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cOlder people can do without technology in a way that a younger person just can\u2019t, and that\u2019s probably why the data looks the way it does,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
She said companies are getting \u201cexcited\u201d by the possibilities presented by new technology, but are failing to consider how products can be manipulated by abusers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs things progress, we have to remember that the data it collects is going to have to sit somewhere,\u201d she told The Independent. \u201cWe have to think – who can access it? Can someone hack into it? Can someone manipulate it, and what are we doing to think of that in an intimate partner abuse context?\u201d<\/p>\n
One survivor who Refuge worked with, Mina, said she was left \u201cdeeply shocked\u201d and \u201cfrightened\u201d after realising she was being stalked through cloud accounts linked to her smartwatch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt suddenly exposed and unsafe, knowing that my location was being tracked without my consent,\u201d she said. \u201cIt created a constant sense of paranoia; I couldn\u2019t relax, sleep properly, or feel settled anywhere because I knew my movements weren\u2019t private.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her abuser used the data to post documents to her and confirm her exact location to the police, which Mina described as \u201cterrifying\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt reinforced the feeling that there was nowhere I could go without being watched,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
It comes after reports women are being filmed without their consent<\/a> using smart glasses. Experts told The Independent women experience \u201cmultifold\u201d harms from this behaviour, including the risk of being victims of deepfakes, having to \u201cguard\u201d their privacy in public spaces, and becoming subject to discussions in comment spaces with a \u201cglobal\u201d reach.<\/p>\nA government spokesperson said: \u201cTackling violence against women and girls in all its forms, including when it takes place online or is facilitated by technology, is a top priority for this government.<\/p>\n
“Our new VAWG strategy sets out how the full power of the state will be deployed online and offline. We are working with Ofcom to set out how online platforms tackle the disproportionate abuse women and girls face online.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[49,48,195,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-443365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gadgets","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-gadgets","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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