Refuge hosts inaugural Tech Safety Summit, a two-day event to raise awareness and education around technology-facilitated domestic abuse.
Domestic abuse charity, Refuge will host their first ever Tech Safety Summit this September, a two-day event specifically created to address rising cases of complex technology-facilitated domestic abuse.
This form of domestic abuse, commonly referred to as ‘tech abuse’ is whereby a perpetrator uses technology as a weapon to facilitate abuse against their partner or ex-partner. It could be use of stalkerware, tracking, misusing AI, financial sabotage caused by economic abuse, creating and sharing ‘deepfakes’ or other forms of intimate image abuse known as so-called ‘revenge porn’, online abuse such as stalking and harassment or misusing Smart Home Tech known as Internet of Things (IoT) to devices to rack up expensive heating bills, turn lights on and off, and even lock doors trapping a survivor in her home.
It is something the charity has seen rise and has been priortising tackling throughout their nation-wide domestic abuse services. Refuge set up a specialist technology-facilitated and economic empowerment service in 2017, the only of its kind in England. Since then, cases have grown both in quantity and in complexity with Refuge reporting a rise of 258% in survivor cases involving technology since they began monitoring this in 2018.
Emma Pickering, Head of Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment at Refuge said:
“The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) recently stated that they are recording 3,000 incidents of violence against women and girls (VAWG) every day. We keep being asked why is domestic abuse at ‘epidemic’ levels? Why do cases seem to be getting more complex and what can be done? The critical threat of technology-facilitated abuse and online harm is one of biggest issues facing those looking to tackle this crime of violence against women and girls. We must be clear; it is not the technology alone that is to blame. When used correctly and as intended technology can make vast improvements to our lives, but in the hands of a perpetrator of abuse, it becomes another tool in their arsenal to misuse and weaponise against a victim/survivor – with devastating effects. There are so many myths and misinformation about this form of crime that professionals must be educated on how to spot this rapidly increasing and complex form of domestic abuse so that we can support more survivors. That is why we are hosting this conference bringing together experts looking to work together to eradicate the harm caused by tech-facilitated abuse.”
The event titled ‘Tech Safety Summit 2024: Leading the Change Against Technology-Facilitated Abuse’ will take place virtually on 24th and 25th September 2024. As well as experts from Refuge, panel speakers will also include the Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Sophie Linden, Director of Cybersecurity at Electronic Frontier Foundation and Co-Founder of The Coalition Against Stalkerware Eva Galperin, speakers from Meta, Google, Bumble, TikTok, Barclays, PayPlan and many others.