Domestic violence and communication technology: Survivor experiences of intrusion, surveillance, and identity crime

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Author(s)
Dragiewicz, M.
Harris, B.
Woodlock, D.
Salter, M.
Easton, H.
Lynch, A.
Campbell, H.
Leach, J.
Milne, L.
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2019
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Abstract

Domestic violence has significant social and economic costs each year in Australia. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in this abuse. ICT security and privacy are essential to domestic violence victims, but are often compromised. Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in everyday life. The ubiquity of these technologies, combined with factors like with GPS tracking, cloud-based storage, and platform integration, present significant challenges to personal security and privacy. This is particularly true for domestic violence survivors. The control and fear that characterise experiences of domestic violence have an expanding technological dimension as perpetrators weave technology into patterns of abuse. ICTs offer domestic violence survivors vital opportunities for communication, help-seeking and support. Domestic violence victims are a uniquely vulnerable population of consumers who face risks including loss of access to and control of their telecommunications accounts, privacy rights, personal security, and physical safety when technology is abused. This study extends the emerging research on technology-facilitated coercive control (TFCC) to gather deeply contextualised qualitative evidence from survivors. We conducted interviews with domestic violence survivors in Queensland and New South Wales who had experienced technology-facilitated abuse, supplementing the interviews via focus groups with practitioners who work with domestic violence survivors in rural, regional, and remote areas in Queensland and New South Wales. The data provided by this study comprise a preliminary evidence base to guide future research, policy, and practice in an area of growing concern. This study documented Australian domestic violence survivors’ experiences of technology-facilitated abuse; discovered what resources and tactics survivors and practitioners use to deal with technology-facilitated coercive control; and compiled survivor and practitioner recommendations about how to improve responses to this form of abuse. The findings allow us to better understand technology use in the context of domestic violence, the resources currently available, and how to improve responses to this type of abuse.

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© 2019 This work is copyright, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. You are free to cite, copy, communicate and adapt this work, so long as you attribute the authors and “QUT, supported by a grant from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network.”

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Criminology

Sociology

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Dragiewicz, M., Harris, B., Woodlock, D., Salter, M., Easton, H., Lynch, A., Campbell, H., Leach, J. & Milne, L., 2019, Domestic violence and communication technology: Survivor experiences of intrusion, surveillance, and identity crime, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Sydney

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