UK – No safety net: domestic violence through technology.

We all love our phones. In the UK, we spend an average of 2 hours 52 minutes a day on mobile devices. That’s a little over 20 hours a week and 43 days a year. We have the ability to work, keep in touch with friends and family, check the news, shop, monitor our health, learn languages, and more, all in the palm of our hands. Technology is an amazing thing, but it can also be abused, including as a tool for domestic violence.

What is misuse of technology?

Technology abuse is the use of technology to control or harass another person. This can happen in the wider context of domestic violence. Examples of domestic violence through technology:

• Tracking a person’s location using their smartphone or other wearable devices (such as fitness trackers or headphones).

• Using smart home devices (such as a home security system, doorbell cameras, or baby monitors) to listen in and record a person.

• Intimidation with smart home technology such as smart locks, heating control or music control.

• Using social media to harass or intimidate or to share (possibly AI-generated) sexually explicit content.

England does not collect statistics on domestic violence through technology, but it is likely to be some part of the experience of at least 2.1 million people who we know have experienced domestic violence in the UK in 2023.

What legal protection does England currently offer?

Currently, there is no statutory definition of technology-mediated domestic violence, nor is there a single or coherent set of laws designed to address this issue. Instead, given the urgency of the problem, there are a number of different laws. Some of these relate to the field of family law/domestic violence, while others are outside the field of family law and may have been developed for a completely different purpose.

There is a more general statutory definition of domestic violence which was introduced in 2021 and will cover technology-assisted violence if it occurs in a domestic context. According to the statutory definition, a person’s conduct towards another person constitutes domestic violence if both parties are at least 16 years of age and are in a personal relationship (which includes being or have been married, civil partners, engaged, roommates, intimate personal relationships, parents of one child or other relationships with each other). Behavior is abusive if it consists of physical or sexual abuse, violent or threatening behavior, controlling or coercive behavior, economic or psychological, emotional or other abuse.

The main laws providing remedies for domestic violence (and therefore technology-assisted domestic violence):

• Domestic violence laws (mainly the Family Law Act 1996). They are in the context of family law, so are available to victims who are family members or otherwise “connected” (which generally corresponds to “personally related to”, explained above) the offender. A restraining order provides protection against any form of domestic violence falling within the statutory definition above, as long as it is serious enough to warrant protection from the court, while an occupation order may require the abuser to leave the home or part of the home . Violating a no-molestation order (of which the defendant knew and without reasonable excuse) is a felony punishable by imprisonment, as well as contempt of court (meaning that if the state chooses not to prosecute, the victim can still seek enforcement by applying within the framework of civil proceedings with a request to imprison the offender or to fine him). Breach of an occupation order (as opposed to a no-molestation order) sometimes is and sometimes is not an arrestable offence, and this depends on whether a power of arrest was attached to the order when it was made, but it can (as and not depravity) order) will also apply as contempt of court where appropriate.

• Domestic violence protection notices/orders (originally introduced by the Crime and Safety Act 2010). This allows the police and magistrates’ courts to provide protection to victims immediately after an incident of domestic violence (which again includes any form of domestic violence within the statutory definition above). They are useful when there is insufficient evidence to charge an alleged offender, and they provide protection for up to 28 days to give victims time to decide on their options and future safety with the help of legal advice and support agencies.

• Apart from the fact that there may be a criminal element to any of the above, there is a specific criminal offense of “controlling or coercive conduct in an intimate or family relationship” under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. This means that the victim and the offender are personally connected, that the conduct has a serious impact on the victim (which either means that the victim has at least two fears that violence will be used against him, or that it causes him serious anxiety or distress that substantially affects their normal day-to-day activities) and the offender must know or should have known that his conduct would have such an effect.

Outside of Family Law/Domestic Violence:

• Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This applies to both criminal and civil law (so its protection extends not only to family members or related persons). It creates a general prohibition against harassment, which is not defined, but it must be where the person whose conduct is questioned knows (or should know) that their conduct constitutes harassment, which may involve causing another fear, anxiety or distress Stalking can be one of a number of criminal offenses punishable by imprisonment or a fine; and it may also separately be the subject of civil remedies (for example, a court may grant an injunction or an exclusion zone, or it may award damages for damages such as anxiety and financial loss as a result of harassment).

• Other civil actions may also be a way to secure other remedies. For example, a claim for misuse of private information may arise if there is information in respect of which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, although a balance must be struck between that right to privacy and (for example) the other party’s right to freedom of expression. Certain types of information, including information about an individual’s sex life, are considered the most private and are therefore afforded greater protection. Remedies available for claims of misuse of private information include injunctive relief, which, if granted, may prohibit the transfer of information and impose sanctions for breach and damages. A judicial restraining order can be applied urgently and therefore can be a fairly quick remedy. Misuse of personal information can also be useful if a spouse or partner has gained access to their partner’s phone messages or emails. (If this happened in a purely personal context within a family, then the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would not apply, but claims of misuse of private information could arise in any context).

In addition to the legal protections discussed above, a number of organizations are already contributing to addressing domestic violence through technology. To name a few:

• OurFamilyWizardthe app, created to help parents peacefully raise children and manage shared schedules and information, integrates technical solutions into its platforms that are designed to ensure that the sharing of information is not used as a control tool, for example, it removes metadata from a photo and ensures accurate documenting communications.

• Google has taken steps to remove “stalking” apps from its app store.

• Monzoprovider of mobile banking services, has a feature that allows a victim to talk to their bank about domestic and financial violence without appearing in the app’s chat.

The way forward

There is more to be done in the area of ​​anti-abuse with technology than is being done, and it is not a matter of further legislation. For example, Australia has established the Office of the Cybersecurity Commissioner, which is a centralized body that exists to provide information, assistance and support to the Australian public about online risks and harms; or specialized technical abuse units can be established in police forces and support services.

A final word about children

This article focuses on adult victims of domestic violence, but children can also be victims of domestic violence when they see, hear, or feel the effects of their parents’ abuse. Also, unfortunately, children can be a tool in one parent’s abuse of another. In the technical realm, it could be a child being directly watched to indirectly watch another parent. Their smartphones are as smart as ours, and children’s toys and baby monitors are also surprisingly smart. After good faith efforts by companies like Google to remove “stalkers” from their app stores, such features can sometimes be found hidden in parental control apps.

What happens in virtual space can sometimes be considered ephemeral. But we must not fall into this trap with abuse through technology, especially since the perpetrators of such abuse are often able to convince victims and others that the victim’s accusations are fabricated or delusional.

For more information, contact:

Victoria Harrison, Withersworldwide

[email protected]