Domestic violence abusers have 'weaponised' smart cars to terrorise their victims

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia’s Esafety advisory body has issued a new warning about smart cars, with concerns they're being used by domestic and family violence perpetrators to track, intimidate and control their victims. It's prompted the Federal Government and safety advocates to call for tech companies to embed better safety features in smart devices.

Transcript

00:00People are opting into apps and programs that build that connection, that allow family members

00:07to know where mum is or where kids are.

00:10Same with friends, particularly younger groups are choosing to build those apps into their

00:14relationships.

00:16But what we see is when people are wanting to control, to intimidate, to harass, and

00:22that might be a partner or an ex-partner, it might be a family member in the context

00:26of family violence, those same features are a really effective way to do that.

00:30So we see technology-facilitated abuse occurring in that context of harassment, of control

00:35and abuse, and also through the use of images that can really form part of sexual abuse for

00:40someone.

00:41So there can be very serious harms, and these harms are not just in the minute, these can

00:45have really lasting effects on victims and survivors in these relationships, or particularly

00:50when relationships are ended and someone is continuing to try and exert control over a

00:54former partner.

00:55And would you say tech is moving faster than we can keep up with?

00:59Well, I think what we're missing is this really critical element of safety by design.

01:05And we've seen that coming through in lots of ways.

01:08The people who are developing, who are selling, who are marketing these products have to make

01:12sure that they can't be used for harm.

01:14And there are ways to do that if you think about safety from the outset.

01:18I think what we're starting to see is that once technology is out in the market and is

01:22being used by all of us in lots of different ways, it's often very late to bring that concept

01:27of safety in.

01:28We need to see it right at the start and right at the heart of new and evolving technology.

01:32How does this change their crisis response, say for women who end up in shelters?

01:37Look, we are hearing from services who are onto this from the very point of first contact

01:44with someone who is reporting violence.

01:46So we're seeing services able to scan whether it's your phone or your devices to make sure

01:52that you don't have someone using apps in a way that you don't want them to.

01:56We are also starting to build a set of resources for individuals to make sure that you don't

02:00have shared accounts.

02:01If a relationship has ended, that you can scan and test that equipment yourself.

02:07And similarly, when we're talking about smart cars, we know that just as you might get your

02:10car serviced, you can also have who else is accessing the technology reviewed.

02:15And then you can have people removed.

02:16But the critical path for any of that to be effective is awareness.

02:20And then at the same time, as I say, this is not only about individual usage, it's absolutely

02:25about the systems that are designing, marketing and selling these products.

02:29And they play a really critical role in making sure that those products aren't used harmfully.

02:34So it's clear that regulation is needed and a response to that.

02:39Education important as well as you've outlined there.

02:42What can people do now?

02:44And what can we facilitate better on a national level?

02:49And Australia has really been leading the way in terms of what it looks like to bring

02:52a really effective regulatory arm.

02:55And as you say, that's part of the solution.

02:57So at an individual level, people can be looking at their products, their apps, their platforms

03:02and assessing, are there other users?

03:05Did we set this up with a group of users who we no longer want to have connected?

03:08And you can remove users.

03:10But there's another really core security tip that we hear all the time in our workplaces

03:14that is just as important here, which is about your login and your password.

03:18So if a relationship has changed or ended and you want to make sure that only you are using

03:23your products, make sure you've updated your security passwords.

03:26Make sure you've got a sense of who is connected through your online and tech-based mechanisms

03:31as well as in your in-person environment.

03:33And then there are services and supports that are available.

03:36So again, whether it's a smart car and you want to go through a service and make sure

03:40that they're also checking that technology.

03:42But we do need to make sure that our service providers have the skill and the understanding

03:47to think about the way control can occur through technology.

03:50And so there's also a training and a much broader information base that is necessary to

03:55make sure that whether it's from a crisis response in the family violence context or police,

04:00you know, much broader range of officials or people involved in service delivery are on

04:05to these risks and know what to do about them.

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