{"id":47901,"date":"2023-10-20T15:56:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/the-role-of-startups-and-tech-developers-in-ending-violence-against-women-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:56:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:56:31","slug":"the-role-of-startups-and-tech-developers-in-ending-violence-against-women-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/the-role-of-startups-and-tech-developers-in-ending-violence-against-women-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"The role of startups and tech developers in ending violence against women – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Federal MP Tim Watts spoke in parliament [earlier this year] about the ways in which new technologies are being used to stalk, intimidate, threaten and harass women.<\/p>\n
This abuse, he suggests, often happens in domestic violence situations.<\/p>\n
It is also happening in new ways, such as via \u201crevenge pornography\u201d, to which our current laws are unable to respond effectively.<\/p>\n
This comes in light of a growing recognition of the ways communications technologies are used to perpetrate violence against women.<\/p>\n
But is it the case that the harms of new technologies might outweigh any good?<\/p>\n
My colleagues and I have written previously on the harms of \u201crevenge pornography\u201d, when intimate images are shared without consent.<\/p>\n
Beyond the regrettable actions of a jilted lover seeking what they perceive as revenge, we identify the ways these images are used to humiliate, harass and threaten victims.<\/p>\n
In some instances, private sexual images are used as a tool to control women in already violent relationships, or as a kind of blackmail to coerce them in sexually abusive situations.<\/p>\n
In a separate study, we surveyed 3,000 Australian adults aged 18 to 54, and found that threats, sexual harassment and the non-consensual sharing of nude or semi-nude images were extremely common.<\/p>\n
Our analysis of Australian state and territory legislation further suggests that the criminal law has yet to catch up with these emerging forms of abuse.<\/p>\n
Research is also uncovering the role of social media in domestic violence and cyberstalking.<\/p>\n
Social media, mobile phone applications and digital communications are all being used to monitor, track and harass victims of partner violence.<\/p>\n
This is an issue affecting one in six Australian women and one in 19 men through their lifetime.<\/p>\n
In a national survey of domestic and family violence workers, 98% of the 546 participants reported that their clients had experienced technology-facilitated stalking and abuse.<\/p>\n
Equally disturbing are rapidly emerging forms of misogynistic cyberhate.<\/p>\n
Women, it seems, are subjected to threatening, aggressive and violent speech for no other reason that being \u201cwomen on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n
There is a role for technology companies and developers in combating technology-facilitated abuse of women.<\/p>\n
Google and other tech companies announced last year, for instance, that they would allow users to report revenge porn victimisation, so that the images could be blocked from internet searches.<\/p>\n