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	US organisation has linked up with Safe Ireland on a project that will train service providers, garda&iacute; and judges to deal with cyber-abuse</p>
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	Technology is &ndash; usually &ndash; our friend. It lets us hail a taxi and turn on the heat before we get home.</p>
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	But it has a dark side too. It facilitates new forms of cyber-harassment, stalking and other types of abuse, while those perpetrating it remain under the cover of anonymity.</p>
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	Domestic violence (DV) support workers have noticed that more abuse is taking place online, and the methods range from using spyware to monitor and track victims to posting revenge porn.</p>
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	&ldquo;When we think of stalking, we think of someone hiding behind a bush or in a car, but in Ireland technology is the way forward. We see abuse on social media, mobile phones, constant texting,&rdquo; says Deirdre Lawlor of the Dublin 12 Domestic Violence Service.</p>
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	&ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking into teen dating abuse, which is getting huge. A lot of young girls are giving their boyfriends their [social media and email] passwords.&rdquo;</p>
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	The US-based National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) carried out a survey of victim services in the US last year.</p>
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	Of the 346 respondents, 97 per cent said domestic and sexual assault victims who seek services are being harassed, monitored and threatened by offenders misusing technology.</p>
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	Safety Net</p>
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	NNEDV has partnered with Safe Ireland, an organisation that represents frontline DV services here, to launch a project called Safety Net, which is already up and running in the US and Australia.</p>
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	The programme will train advocates, service providers, government agencies, garda&iacute; and judges to recognise and deal with cyber-abuse. It will educate people to use technology safely while maintaining privacy.</p>
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	&ldquo;When we did our survey, we found that the majority of technology monitoring by offenders is happening via social media and text messaging. That&rsquo;s what was bubbling up in conversation with Irish advocates,&rdquo; says NNEDV&rsquo;s vice-president Cindy Southworth, who was in Ireland earlier this year to train victim advocates.</p>
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	&ldquo;They&rsquo;re really struggling with how victims can maintain a presence on social media after basically leaving an abusive partner.</p>
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	&ldquo;And the whole point is they&rsquo;ve been isolated and cut off from family and friends, so we want them on social media,&rdquo; she says.</p>
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	Ms Southworth also advises some of Ireland&rsquo;s leading tech companies about how to keep devices and platforms safe for victims and consumers in general.</p>
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	Caitr&iacute;ona Gleeson, programme manager at Safe Ireland, says she is looking forward to adapting the Safety Net model to an Irish context and linking it to Irish laws.</p>
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	She says Safety Net&rsquo;s launch is tentatively planned for September, provided they can secure enough funding and government commitment by then.</p>
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	Educating victims, garda&iacute;, judges</p>
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	The programme will teach support workers to show victims how to do things such as retain evidence using screen shots and teach them when not to use a device that has been compromised.</p>
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	&ldquo;To tell someone not to use technology is to further disempower and isolate the person.</p>
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	&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that the technology is bad. The mobile phone isn&rsquo;t going to hurt you, but how someone uses it can control you,&rdquo; Gleeson says.</p>
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	&ldquo;We have a lot of work to do in Ireland . . . within our legal system particularly.</p>
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	&ldquo;We want to bring increased awareness to garda&iacute; and judges so that when a woman is going into a Garda station, garda&iacute; are equipped to ask the key questions,&rdquo; she says.</p>
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	If a former partner always knows where you are, a key question might be, &ldquo;Were you driving your car on the days your ex showed up?&rdquo;</p>
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	If so, your car could have a GPS device used for tracking. If not, your ex might be accessing location data from your phone.</p>
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	&ldquo;Those patterns help identify what technology is being misused. The last thing we want is a victim going to the garda&iacute; and saying, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m being tracked, but I don&rsquo;t know how.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s not likely to get a strong response.</p>
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	&ldquo;But if they can go in and say, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m pretty sure my phone has been compromised. Over the past three months my ex has shown up at 16 places where I&rsquo;ve been. It&rsquo;s always been when I&rsquo;ve had my phone, and I have a stalking log.&rsquo; There&rsquo;s a much higher likelihood the officers will sit down and take that report and climb into the case,&rdquo; says Southworth.</p>
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	She says the next step is training judges. In the US, more judges are including text, phone and social media contact bans in protection orders.</p>
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	&ldquo;That&rsquo;s not something we&rsquo;ve heard the judges are doing yet in Ireland, but the advocates were very excited about the possibility.&rdquo;</p>
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	Assessing Irish law</p>
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	Safety Net also plans to assess which Irish laws are available for victims of cyber-abuse.</p>
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	&ldquo;We have stalking laws at the moment, but there&rsquo;s a debate whether the law is up to date with cyberbullying and technology, so this is a question that the Law Reform Commission are looking to have answered at the moment,&rdquo; Gleeson says.</p>
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	&ldquo;We have lots of laws that aren&rsquo;t being implemented consistently. So do we have to go through legislative change? Or can we just upskill to understand that if somebody is listening to me via a new form of technology, it&rsquo;s still tapping?&rdquo;</p>
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	Southworth would rather use current laws to address cyber-abuse than rely on legislative change. &ldquo;If every time a new device comes out we update the law, eventually we&rsquo;re going to say, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t stalk by using a computer that&rsquo;s part of your watch.&rsquo;</p>
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	&ldquo;What happens when it&rsquo;s no longer a part of your watch, and the computer&rsquo;s a part of your earring? Let&rsquo;s not go there. The behaviour is what&rsquo;s relevant, not the technology medium.&rdquo;</p>
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	<a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/recognising-and-dealing-with-growing-issue-of-cyberabuse-1.2222216">http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/recognising-and-dealing-with-growing-issue-of-cyberabuse-1.2222216</a></p>
