Technology to End Domestic Violence

Researchers and sociologists call the era we're living in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It goes by many names: the data revolution, Big Data, the digitization and robotics revolution, the artificial intelligence revolution and more. But they all describe the opportunities that technological progress gives humanity to store enormous amounts of data and turn it into something valuable in nearly every area of life.

Like the revolutions before it, this one is bringing fundamental changes to the job market. It is making some professions obsolete, replacing them with technology and automated processes, while at the same time giving rise to new professions, job opportunities and specializations.

What can't technology replace?

Mainly fields and professions that require human interaction, caring for others, and a connection between head and heart.

Domestic violence is a complex, tangled, sensitive issue, and quite literally a matter of life and death, and no technology is, or ever will be, a substitute for education, awareness, support and assistance, treatment, protection, legislation and enforcement. All of these are needed to fight this terrible phenomenon until it is eradicated.

According to UN data, an estimated 640 million women worldwide aged 15 and over have been subjected to violence by an intimate partner. A 2018 study, conducted even before COVID-19 drove the numbers up, estimated that one in seven women worldwide had experienced violence from a partner in the previous 12 months, and that 137 women around the world are killed by a family member every day.

Can technology help professionals tackle domestic violence?

Can we raise awareness, work to prevent violence, and even make it possible to ask for help using technological tools? In January 2020, a few months after the horrific murder of Michal Sela, of blessed memory, which pierced my heart as it did the hearts of so many others, I came across an article on ynet by her sister, Lili Ben Ami: Technology Could Have Saved My Sister.

In the article, Lili described for the first time her vision and that of the Michal Sela Forum, which she had just founded as a nonprofit to advance technologies for women's safety at home and the prevention of domestic violence.

That same day, we set up a time to meet.

A few months after that meeting, during the first lockdown, amid reports of a dramatic surge in domestic violence cases in Israel and around the world, we founded safe@home, Israel's first hackathon dedicated to finding technological tools to end domestic violence. We brought together frontline workers and professionals with the tech community to create a new conversation about the challenges and the solutions.

The first hackathon took place in May 2020, in partnership with in.dev, a community of senior developers, and many partners from the business and public sectors who joined the effort. 56 initiatives were developed during the hackathon, and some of them are still going strong today.

Why is technology in this space so complex, and what does it need to take into account?

For women suffering from domestic violence, technology is the enemy. They are tracked and have no privacy. In many cases, spyware and monitoring software is installed on their devices, so their abusers know at every moment what they're doing and where they are. They are threatened with the exposure of information from their phones and their social media profiles. Naturally, a woman being abused by her partner can't install an emergency alert app on her phone, like the apps that already keep women safe in public spaces, such as Safe-up or Sekura (both of which, by the way, are a source of Israeli pride). The enemy at home would discover such an app right away, which could make her situation and her personal safety even worse.

In 2017, Chayn, SafeLives and Snook carried out a comprehensive six-month study in the UK to explore the potential of technology in the context of domestic violence. The study included market research into existing solutions, surveys, interviews, and focus groups with survivors of domestic violence as well as with professionals.

The study's main conclusions were:

1. Professionals lack the knowledge and confidence to work with technological tools, yet they see the potential of such tools to make their services more accessible and to raise awareness among women who don't realize they're in an abusive and dangerous relationship.

2. Despite the risk involved, women experiencing abuse do search online for information, support and help. These women have a very short window of time (the "15-minute window") to find information before someone shows up behind them, someone who, as mentioned, is constantly checking their activity history on their personal devices.

3. Any technological solution must first and foremost take the woman's safety into account, and its design has to get inside the head of "the abuser," who is constantly monitoring bank accounts, social media, computers and cell phones. Encryption, concealment and erasing digital footprints are of the utmost importance.

"To best ensure women’s safety when designing technology in this space, you have to think as an abuser" (Tech vs Abuse: Research Findings, Snook, Chayn and SafeLives 2017)

The same British study defines four key stages in an abusive relationship, and at each one the needs, and the attitude toward using technological solutions, are different:

1. Lack of awareness: at this stage, there's not yet a realization that the relationship is dangerous. Various tech initiatives can help raise awareness among the general public, for example e-learning modules and online campaigns that illustrate different relationship scenarios and highlight warning signs, or linking certain Google searches and keywords to relevant content and referrals to support organizations.

Example: The danger assessment questionnaire was written by professionals to assess the level of risk to a woman's life and physical safety at home. It's a well-known, widely used tool among professionals, but it hasn't been made broadly available to the public so that anyone can do a self-assessment.

Israel's Ministry of Welfare, together with the Michal Sela Forum, through Hilma and with the support of JDC-ELKA, recently launched an anonymous online questionnaire that lets you assess the level of risk in your own relationship or in the relationship of someone close to you. The questionnaire is available in five languages, is quick and easy to complete, leaves no trace on the device, and closes automatically after 10 minutes

2. Awareness: at this stage there's already an understanding that the partner is abusive and the relationship is unhealthy and dangerous, but no decision has yet been made about what steps to take. This is a stage where the woman feels in danger, the people around her aren't always aware, and she needs solutions and ways to protect herself, as well as quick access to helpful information.

Example: Wonder Jewel is a smart ring that detects, records and sends distress signals in real time, making it a practical, lifesaving solution. Its founder and CEO, Nitzan Kish, is a 3D printing expert, designer, jeweler and photographer, and a graduate of Bezalel and of Alchimia in Florence, Italy. The ring uses advanced artificial intelligence and IoT technologies. Pressing the ring identifies that the wearer is in distress and sends out signals. The signals go to the phones of selected contacts, to the authorities, and to the WONDER Community, a secure community nearby that can offer immediate help. Pressing the ring also triggers automatic real-time recording by activating the phone's camera and microphone. The ring can also sound an alarm if desired.

3. Leaving: the decision to end the relationship has been made, and now she needs to find the right and safe way out, get professional help, gather evidence and so on. At this stage, professionals are needed to support and guide the process so it's done correctly and safely. Technological solutions can help by providing information and referrals to professionals quickly, with encryption and security, documenting evidence securely, and so on

4. Recovery: the focus is on the future, but threat and fear are still present, along with anxiety about entering new relationships.

Example: Hayiti Sham ("I Was There") is an initiative started by Politically Korect to collect testimonies from women who survived violence and give space to stories that had been silenced until now. As part of the hackathon in memory of Michal Sela, a team of talented volunteers led by Moran Weber built a website inspired by the #MeToo movement, the legendary "Achat Mitoch Achat" (One of One) Facebook page, and Politically Korect's #IWasThere project. The site brings together testimonies from abusive relationships, lets people upload a testimony, and allows searching existing testimonies by tags and keywords. The goal is to foster a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics of abusive relationships by identifying with them: the moments of realization, of coping and of healing. The site also aims to show that violence comes in many forms, not only physical, and exists in every sector of society.

In November 2020, after the site launched, the nonprofit L.O. Combat Violence Against Women took the project under its wing, and continues to operate and maintain it with the support of the Sofi software cooperative.

Technology won't solve this broad and painful problem, but it absolutely should be part of the conversation about solutions, and it should create platforms for raising awareness, education, quick and easy access to information, preventing tracking and stalking, online counseling and support, real-time emergency alerts, and the secure collection of testimony and evidence.

** More examples of tech initiatives in this space can be found on the Michal Sela Forum's YouTube channel and in the mapping compiled by the British study.

* This post was first published on the Shatil blog, May 2021