Dr Leonie Tanczer [Jess Lowe]

A RESEARCHER is calling for greater awareness around tech abuse and how it starts.

Dr Leonie Tanczer, an associate professor at University College London, says we need to be able to recognise the signs of tech abuse quickly, and ensure that women are confident and competent tech users.

Tech abuse is when devices such as smart­phones, tablets, and camera-enabled digital doorbells are weaponised as tools of stalking and coercive control. This can be something as overt as a partner tracking your location through your phone, or as covert as spyware being installed on your device without your knowledge.

Dr Tanczer, who lived in Islington before moving to Northern Ireland during the pandemic, has dedicated much of her academic career to investigating this kind of abuse, its impact on women, and how we can clamp down on it.

“My general question is, where are we drawing the line?,” she said. “We should ask ourselves, ‘Is it OK for my partner to know my email password?,’ ‘Is it OK for my partner to check who I’ve been texting?’ These questions are especially important for the next generation, because they’ve been set a precedent of ‘my parents are allowed to surveil me because they love me.’”

Dr Tanczer, who is also part of the research group Vision, run in partnership with universities around the UK, including City, University of London, that uses data to improve policy on violence prevention, added: “Parental control software is framed like that, and it’s the same frame that abusers use.”

She recognises that many people consent to some level of tech monitoring. Sharing your location with your partner is a safety precaution for many, as is having a doorbell with a camera that can see who’s outside your home, and she is now is calling for women to have a greater awareness of the tech in their lives.

“In our current society, in a heterosexual relationship, it’s often the man in charge of devices and making decisions about them,” said Dr Tanczer, explaining that, frequently, women in heterosexual relationships may not have access to devices in their home and may be unfamiliar with what they’re capable of.

“Sometimes, even though spyware isn’t being installed, victims have a fear that it is. When you’re being abused, you begin to doubt and question things, and you become hyper-aware and try to find patterns in everything.

“Eventually, you become wary of the devices around you. I fear how confident women who have been affected by tech abuse would be in using digital devices in the long-run.”

Dr Tanczer says that these situations often happen gradually.

“Often, what a lot of victims [of tech abuse] say is that, ‘Oh, he just wanted my password,’ or ‘He bought me that device,’ or ‘He set up my account’ – over time, the situation gradually feels more coercive and monitoring, and you get trapped,” she said. “Refusing your partner access to your accounts or whatever it is can be an escalating factor in the long-run.

“Even when you’re in a healthy relationship, imagine turning to your partner and telling them you don’t want them to have access to your passwords any more? They would probably be startled. That situation is even worse in domestic abuse.”

She added: “Essentially, it always boils down to who the account holder is – if they have no voice and no control, then there’s always a risk of someone exploiting that access.”