Digital Technologies and Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

Digital technologies, including mobile devices, cloud computing services, and social networks, play a nuanced role in intimate partner violence (IPV) settings, including domestic abuse, stalking, and surveillance of victims by abusive partners. However, the interactions among victims of IPV, abusers, law enforcement, counselors, and others --- and the roles that digital technologies play in these interactions --- are poorly understood. We present a qualitative study that analyzes the role of digital technologies in the IPV ecosystem in New York City. Findings from semi-structured interviews with 40 IPV professionals and nine focus groups with 32 survivors of IPV reveal a complex set of socio-technical challenges that stem from the intimate nature of the relationships involved and the complexities of managing shared social circles. Both IPV professionals and survivors feel that they do not possess adequate expertise to be able to identify or cope with technology-enabled IPV, and there are currently insufficient best practices to help them deal with abuse via technology. We also reveal a number of tensions and trade-offs in negotiating technology's role in social support and legal procedures. Taken together, our findings contribute a nuanced understanding of technology's role in the IPV ecosystem and yield recommendations for HCI and technology experts interested in aiding victims of abuse.

Human Rights by Design: The Responsibilities of Social Media Platforms to Address Gender‐Based Violence Online

“…We suggest that the next steps in a multifaceted response to online GBV requires open discussion and debate as well as empirical research to better understand peoples' lived experiences of online GBV. While excellent work is emerging (see e.g., Chatterjee et al, 2018;Dragiewicz et al, 2018;Freed et al, 2017Freed et al, , 2018Lewis et al, 2017;Salter, 2017;Woodlock, 2017), more research is needed to understand the landscape of GBV and responses to it online. In particular, empirical research is needed in order to produce evidence to guide international efforts to modify and use Internet architecture to address GBV.…”

“…3-4). Domestic violence perpetrators are also exploiting the affordances of the Internet and their insider knowledge of intimate partners to increase their capacity to control and harm their targets (Freed et al, 2017). A major part of the problem, as the WIRED editorial indicates, is the mistaken ideology of value-neutral technological development, which results in a dual failure to design for prosocial uses and guard against antisocial ones.…”

Mapping the Margins

“…The intersection of technology and domestic violence has been described as generating a "new breed of abuse" [48] through GPS location tracking, physical control of digital devices and public humiliation by threatening messages or enacting image-based sexual abuse ('revenge porn') [23]. Yet, other work within HCI has sought to place the victimsurvivor at the heart of the discussion, describing the security and personal safety practices taken by an individual in an attempt to lessen or avoid further abuse [12,32,36].…”

“…It has only been until recently that HCI research has addressed the complexity and scale of domestic violence through the viewpoint of domestic violence service providers [22,23]. Although the need for inclusion of professional, specialist stakeholders has started to be addressed, the incorporation of their recommendations has not yet gone beyond protections for an individual service user's privacy and safety.…”

“…HCI has been slow to recognize the complexity of this problem and the need to include multi-partner stakeholders in the design of digital support for service delivery [22,23]. Although well-intentioned, technologies framed with a narrow conception of 'harm reduction' have been met with unintended consequences.…”