Technology the primary reason for violence against women

Digital technologies have contributed significantly to global social and cultural advancements, but they have also made it easier for abuse, harassment, and violence to be committed.

This phenomenon is known as technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA).

Dr. Linda Baker, Learning Director at the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children, reported some shocking facts how technology is playing a role in all categories of violence against women (e.g., sexual violence, harassment and stalking; intimate partner violence).

According to Baker, the effects of technology-related violence extend to adulthood. Both genders are capable of perpetrating this violence and becoming victims or survivors of it.

“Any violence stemming from technology is worrisome and must stop,” she stated.

According to an EU Rights Agency report, since the age of 15, one in ten women in the EU have been the victim of cyber-harassment. This includes receiving inappropriate or offensive advances on social networking sites, as well as unsolicited and/or sexually explicit emails or SMS messages.

Here is the list of ways how an accused blackmail victim with the technology use:

1. Hacking – Violation of passwords, controlling computer functions (e.g., freeze the computer; log off the user), accessing information from a cell phone or TTY device such as text messages, call histories, and contact lists using data broker sites to gain access to personal information such as home address, phone number, and marital status.

2. Surveillance/Tracking – Mobile phone tracking/GPS, keeping track of web-browsing, tracking email, program, and chat activity, tracking files transferred and keystrokes typed on the computer.

3. Impersonating – Impersonating someone in instant messaging applications, impersonating the victim/survivor while sending emails from her account or creating a fake profile for social networking sites, ‘spoofing’ — the ability to change what someone sees on their caller ID display and, in some cases, alter the caller’s voice, destroying credit rating by way of identity theft, counterfeiting documentation using advanced printer and computer technology, impersonating victims who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired by using their TeleTypewriter (TTY) or Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS).

4. Malicious Distribution – Blackmail by threatening to distribute intimate photos or video, manipulating photographic images and distributing them, unauthorized use of personal videos/images/photographs, posting slanderous, defamatory material on social networking sites, using technology as a propaganda tool for supporting violence against women, using file swapping programs and peer to peer networks to share illegal material.

5. Other – Forcing women to do illegal tech activities, traffickers using e-business technologies to make anonymous financial transactions with customers. 

As per EU report, the most frequently reported instances of violence are: misinformation and defamation (67%); cyber harassment (66%); hate speech (65%); impersonation (63%); hacking and stalking (63%); astroturfing (58%); abuse based on images and videos (57%); doxxing (55 percent); violent threats (52%); and undesired images or sexually explicit content (43%).

(With inputs from the Learning Network and EU Right report)