How smart devices are exploited for domestic abuse
The number of domestic abuse cases has increased dramatically since the UK's Covid lockdown - and tech has played a role.
Smart speakers, tracking apps and key-logging software are among products that have made it easier for perpetrators to maintain control of victims and continue abuse.
Domestic-violence charity Refuge says more than 70% of those it provides support to have reported tech-related abuse within a relationship.
Two people who experienced abuse during the pandemic shared their stories with BBC Click.
They asked to remain anonymous for their own safety.
"When he left the house, that's when I started to see that he was using the Ring doorbell camera to track me," says Kate, who is using a pseudonym. She is referring to Amazon's internet-connected security device. It triggers alerts when it detects motion in front of a home and allows live footage or recordings to be watched from afar.
"I could take the battery out of it if I wanted to, but I didn't feel like I could because he would say to me, 'You're compromising our children's safety'.
"I was worried that he would go to the police and try and suggest that I'm a bad mother."
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54554408
#smart #devices #domestic #abuse
The number of domestic abuse cases has increased dramatically since the UK's Covid lockdown - and tech has played a role.
Smart speakers, tracking apps and key-logging software are among products that have made it easier for perpetrators to maintain control of victims and continue abuse.
Domestic-violence charity Refuge says more than 70% of those it provides support to have reported tech-related abuse within a relationship.
Two people who experienced abuse during the pandemic shared their stories with BBC Click.
They asked to remain anonymous for their own safety.
"When he left the house, that's when I started to see that he was using the Ring doorbell camera to track me," says Kate, who is using a pseudonym. She is referring to Amazon's internet-connected security device. It triggers alerts when it detects motion in front of a home and allows live footage or recordings to be watched from afar.
"I could take the battery out of it if I wanted to, but I didn't feel like I could because he would say to me, 'You're compromising our children's safety'.
"I was worried that he would go to the police and try and suggest that I'm a bad mother."
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54554408
#smart #devices #domestic #abuse
BBC News
How smart devices are exploited for domestic abuse
Two women explain how their partners turned internet-connected gadgets into a means of control.
Inside India’s booming dark data economy
Thanks to lax privacy laws and high consumer demand, details on everything from how you shop to who you date are all for sale.
Ayushi Sahu was ambushed. One evening in 2018, five months after her wedding, the 21-year-old college student was visiting her parents in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, when her husband showed up unannounced, his father and uncle in tow.
As the men settled in the living room, her husband said he had something he wanted them to hear. He took out his mobile phone and pressed “play.” The audio was loud and clear: private conversations between Sahu and her friends and family, which had been recorded without her permission. And it wasn’t only audio: “call logs, SMS, and WhatsApp messages, each photo and video, recordings of my video calls — he claimed to have accessed everything,” Sahu said. That was when she realized that her husband had, for months, been spying on her.
https://restofworld.org/2020/all-the-data-fit-to-sell/
#Asia #India #spyware #domestic #surveillance #privacy
Thanks to lax privacy laws and high consumer demand, details on everything from how you shop to who you date are all for sale.
Ayushi Sahu was ambushed. One evening in 2018, five months after her wedding, the 21-year-old college student was visiting her parents in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, when her husband showed up unannounced, his father and uncle in tow.
As the men settled in the living room, her husband said he had something he wanted them to hear. He took out his mobile phone and pressed “play.” The audio was loud and clear: private conversations between Sahu and her friends and family, which had been recorded without her permission. And it wasn’t only audio: “call logs, SMS, and WhatsApp messages, each photo and video, recordings of my video calls — he claimed to have accessed everything,” Sahu said. That was when she realized that her husband had, for months, been spying on her.
https://restofworld.org/2020/all-the-data-fit-to-sell/
#Asia #India #spyware #domestic #surveillance #privacy
Rest of World
Inside India’s booming dark data economy
Thanks to lax privacy laws and high consumer demand, details on everything from how you shop to who you date are all for sale.