Gender and IoT: Response to UK Government Consultation

On behalf of UCL’s Gender and IoT (G-IoT) Research Team, Dr Leonie Tanczer submitted a response to the Government’s “Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse’ Consultation. The submission drew on research from a pilot project run in collaboration with PETRAS, the London VAWG Consortium, and Privacy International.

The G-IoT project focuses on the implications of the Internet of Things (IoT) on victims of gender-based domestic violence and abuse. It is a six months feasibility study that runs in collaboration with UCL’s Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) and Computer Science (CS). Collaborators include Dr Simon Parkin, Dr Trupti Patel, and Professor George Danezis.

The UK Government’s states its main aim of the consultation is to work to “prevent domestic abuse by challenging the acceptability of abuse and addressing the underlying attitudes and norms that perpetuate it”. Survivors, support organisations and research experts were invited to contribute as well as professionals across policing, criminal justice, health, welfare, education and local authorities who deal with these issues every day.

The G-IoT team responded specifically to questions related to tech-abuse, meaning forms of abuses and control that are mediated through technologies, including IoT systems.

The research team agreed in their response with the broader definition of domestic abuse proposed by the UK Government, but stated that they would also like to see an explicit recognition of the role that technology can play in facilitating and exacerbating abuse included in the definition.

Additionally, Tanczer et al. gave specific reference points which may help to tackle domestic abuse which is perpetrated online, or through control of technology.

Drawing on their research, their suggestions included:

(1) Tech-abuse as a factor in the risk assessment of victims;

(2) Tech-abuse as a factor in the safety planning of victims;

(3) Expand the focus on tech-abuse to emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things;

(4) Create tech-abuse guidance and expertise;

(5) Reduce/remove prevalence of spyware;

The full response can be downloaded here.