*UPDATED: Preserving Victim Privacy While Increasing Law Enforcement Transparency: Finding the balance with Open Police Data Initiatives

We are pleased to announce the release of a package of resources to support law enforcement, advocates and communities in in efforts to ensure victim privacy and safety while increasing transparency through Open Data and the Police Data Initiative.

First released in January of this year, “How Law Enforcement Agencies Releasing Open Data Can Protect Victim Privacy & Safety” was written together with the Police Foundation for law enforcement agencies. This guide describes the need for victim privacy to be a central consideration in efforts to share data with the public, including specific recommendations.

A companion handout written for advocates is now also available. This resource emphasizes the importance of advocates’ involvement in decisions to release police data online, and includes basic information to support advocates in joining those conversations.

Supplementing these written resources, we are making available a pre-recorded webinar conversation between representatives of NNEDV, the Police Foundation, and privacy experts from the Vera Institute, the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, and the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University.

Background from previous post:

One of the hallmark efforts of the Obama administration was to improve the relationship between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Work to increase “open data” included the Police Data Initiative, which encouraged local jurisdictions to provide access to information about 911 calls, stops, arrests and other police activities so that members of those local communities could look both at individual cases, as in some high-profile events covered by the media, and at trends that might reveal disproportionate response over time.

Over the more than two decades since the Violence Against Women Act was first passed in 1994, we have seen improvements in criminal justice system response to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking when advocates and law enforcement work together to improve systems. We also know that there is more work to be done to improve response overall, and particularly in marginalized communities.

As we continue to work with law enforcement to improve the response to victims and communities, we have a need to ensure the privacy and safety of victims who interact with law enforcement. Police data released to the public has the potential to reveal victims’ identity and consequently put them at risk of further harm, harassment or damage to their reputation.

For more than a year, Safety Net has explored the issue of maintaining victim privacy and safety while supporting the overall intention behind the Police Data Initiative with the support of the Office on Violence Against Women (U.S. Department of Justice) and Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and in partnership with the Obama White House, the Police Foundation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Sunlight Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and others.

This project was supported by Grant No. 2016-TA-AX-K064 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

Technology-Facilitated Stalking: What You Need to Know

Through technology and our use of social media, we can quickly and easily connect with other people. However, typical activities such as tweeting, updating a Facebook status, or using a phone’s GPS to find local restaurants can all be misused by abusers to stalk, harass, surveil, and control victims.

What is Stalking?

Stalking is defined as a pattern of behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. According to the CDC, 7.5 million people are stalked in the United States each year.

•  61% of female victims and 44 percent of male victims are stalked by current or former intimate partners.

• 90% of stalking incidents are committed by someone that the victim knows.

Learn more about stalking from the Stalking Resource Center

Misusing Technology in Order to Stalk Victims

One common form of technology-facilitated stalking is spying and eavesdropping. This is a popular method among perpetrators because it is inexpensive and easily hidden.

• Mobile devices include call records, texts, web surfing and physical location histories.

• Many social media apps also track a user’s friends, conversations and location.

The goal of the technology abuse can be to track or control a victim, to isolate the victim from supportive friends and family, or to damage a victim’s credibility or work-life.

Gathering Evidence

When it comes to technology-facilitated abuse, preserving evidence is critical. Though our gut reaction may be to hit ‘delete,’ we need to consider documenting what’s happening on the device before removing it. Possible steps include:

• Coordinating with law enforcement and prosecutors early on, if you choose to.

•  Keeping a stalking incident log. This helps to paint a picture and can help to refresh a victim’s memory. Some items to keep in the incident log include: text messages, photos, videos, voice messages, screenshots of phones and laptops, and printed emails with the header expanded.

Safety Tips for Survivors of Technology-Facilitated Stalking or Abuse

Though abusers can misuse technology, it can also be used strategically by survivors to enhance or maintain safety.

Safe and private use of technology is possible

• Learn more about technology safety through our Survivors’ Toolkit, including guides to privacy and safety with social media, mobile devices and more.

• Download our Tech Safety App to your mobile device to access tech safety tips, resources, and information on the go

Read a longer version of this summary. This post is drawn from a webinar hosted in January by Jewish Women International (JWI) featuring Safety Net and the Stalking Resource Center.

This project was supported by Grant No. 2016-TA-AX-K069 awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.

Recent Instagram Changes Aim to Create a Safer Platform

Early last Fall, Instagram made a commitment to users to make sure it’s a safe place. Recently they’ve taken new steps toward fulfilling that commitment by launching a number of additional safety tools. These include:

·         Instagram Together a new safety center that catalogues all of the safety tools available to Instagram users, and lists international resources to support peoples’ safety (And we’re thrilled to say that techsafety.org is listed among them!)

·         Two-factor authentication will now be available to all users, adding an extra layer of security that helps keep your account safe even if your password is stolen.

·         Sensitive Content Screens will now blur out images and videos that have been flagged by users (and verified by Instagram’s review team) as sensitive in nature. These are images and videos that don’t violate Instagram’s guidelines, but that some users may feel are offensive or disturbing. As we know, sometimes online harassment takes the form of people mis-flagging the photos of victims in an effort to prevent them from effectively engaging on social media. We spoke with Instagram to see how they work to make sure the Sensitive Content Screens won’t be misused in such a way, and were told that the only time the screens will go up is if the content doesn’t violate their community guidelines but contains graphic or violent content. Examples of this include images of animal abuse, the impact of war on local communities, etc. Only Instagram can place a screen over a photo, and the number of times a post is flagged will not impact their decision-making process – so if someone is trying to troll a victim by mis-flagging their photos, their efforts will be ineffective.

We’re pleased to see Instagram work to make their platform a safer place for survivors of harassment and abuse, and look forward to seeing what’s next in their efforts to fulfill their commitment to kindness!