The secret way phone apps enable domestic violence

Technology-facilitated violence may not be as overt as a black eye but its capacity for damage is just as powerful. We must do more to help these women truly escape, writes Amelia Saw.

He would read every text message, every email, listen into every conversation. He’d track my location, watch where I’d drive, gaze at me through my iPhone camera, monitor every keystroke.

But he was my husband. I loved him.

These are the voices of the silently abused — the women who have fallen victim to technological-enabled violence and secretly put under 24-hour surveillance by an intimate partner.

And it’s terrifyingly common.

Ordinary smartphone apps are enabling domestic abusers control over victims. Picture: Supplied

The most recent Australian study into tech-facilitated violence, ReCharge: Women’s Technology Safety project, surveyed 546 domestic violence practitioners (workers in DV charities, sexual assault, housing and health who provided support for victims) in 2015.

• 98 per cent said their clients had experienced technology-facilitated stalking and abuse

• 82 per cent said these victims had been stalked and abused via smartphones and Facebook

• 52 per cent said the offences occurred over email

• 29 per cent had been tracked by GPS

And domestic violence experts claim the problem is getting worse.

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There are special “spyware” apps, which run covertly in the back of a victim’s phone, giving an abuser access to monitor all texts, calls, contacts, images, videos and GPS real-time tracking.

But there’s also plenty of seemingly innocuous technology being used for the same purpose. Gmail, Find My Friends, Facebook, Life360, Snapchat, and employee and child monitoring software all offer helpful features for safety and helping us stay in the closest possible touch, giving the domestic violence tech-predator an arsenal of “stalker-ware” at their disposal.

The result? Victims feel they can never escape. Even if they physically flee their abuser, chances are they’ll always be found.

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Worse still, when women present at police stations the offence is often not taken as seriously as it should be — or police don’t have the resources or expertise to follow-up.

Victims are told if they’re being stalked on technology, the solution is to get rid of the technology — mid-crisis they’re told to part with valuable smartphones and laptops, ironically the same devices that keep them connected to their support network.

“It’s exactly the same as telling women not to wear high heels if they don’t want to be raped,” says Karen Bentley, National Director SafetyNet Australia program for WESNET, which studies the intersection between domestic violence and technology.

“It’s basically saying it’s your responsibility, women, to make sure you don’t get attacked. We need perpetrators to be held accountable.”

Tech-facilitated violence can result in severe anxiety, unshakeable paranoia and PTSD. Picture: Heidi Lewis

One mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she had spent in excess of $25,000 replacing devices and installing technology including security cameras to keep herself and her children safe from an abusive ex-husband adept at digital stalking.

Despite moving to three different states and taking countless precautions, technology always allowed her abuser to find her.

Another woman told of an abuser who had figured out how to listen in on her at home through her phone and computer. If he heard what he believed to be a male’s voice he would break in through the manhole and terrorise her, punching holes in the walls.

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Others told of the lasting effects of post-traumatic stress, severe anxiety, insomnia and constant paranoia, feeling like they were always being watched. They compulsively check phones and computers for any sign they could have been hacked, such as slow operating systems or having unknown programs installed. Many regularly have their cars inspected for tracking devices — which can be as small as a fly and bought off eBay at minimal cost, and easily hidden in an engine.

It’s an insidious type of violence that destroys lives but it’s also difficult to detect and notoriously hard to prove.

Domestic violence victims can feel like they’ll never escape when they continue to be stalked through smartphone apps. Picture: Supplied

Domestic violence support services first noticed the problem in 2010, when abusers began to gather around the front of women’s refuges. The perpetrators had tracked their victims to the location but no one could quite figure out how.

Almost a decade later, as technology has continued to develop, so too has its use for unethical purposes, and increasing numbers of women are falling victim to it.

Education, a change in attitudes and enforcements of punishments that fit the crime are key to combating the problem.

Frontline domestic violence workers and our judicial system need to understand technology-facilitated violence may not be as overt or as easily prosecuted as a bloody nose, but its capacity for damage is just as powerful.

“Some police are really onto it and we have seen a massive increase in magistrates starting to take it into account,” said Bentley.

“We need education about it not being OK and we also need perpetrators to be held to account. Until we have both of those things the situation won’t improve dramatically.”

If you have been impacted by domestic or family violence call 1800 RESPECT for confidential information, counselling and support, 24 hours.

@AmeliaAliceSaw