The worrying truth about online abuse

JERSEY is “lacking” the expertise to combat increasingly common forms of online and tech-facilitated violence against women and girls, according to the head of a taskforce set up to tackle the issue.

The Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce, which published its report and 77 recommendations this week, has recommended strengthening of the current legal framework to “better protect Islanders from online and technology-facilitated abuse”, including criminalising “cyber flashing” and “cyber stalking”.

It has also recommended investment in a “comprehensive and ongoing programme of learning and development” to allow the Island’s services to respond more effectively to abuse, which the taskforce said could be “as harmful as offline violence”.

Kate Wright, its independent chair, described online abuse as a “really scary aspect of violence against women and girls” and said that the Island was “lacking” in the expertise to understand and tackle it.

In response to the survey results, which found how common this abuse was, Mrs Wright said: “I expected the number of women who experience this to be high, because of the world we’re living in.

“There is also a concerning sense that not everyone realises what they are experiencing online is necessarily a type of violence or abuse. It is just everyday.

“But it is a really scary aspect of VAWG, because it is proliferated in so many ways, whether that’s online pornography, which is a huge issue that schools are having to deal with, cyber-flashing, online stalking and harassment, or just misogynistic abuse on social media.

“One of the things that really concerned me as we looked into these issues and the support and knowledge available in the Island to combat it, is that there is hardly any,” Mrs Wright continued.

“We are really lacking on this island in any real kind of expertise to help us understand to a sufficient depth and breadth the nature of online VAWG, but also how to combat it. It is hugely complex, but that really shocked me.”

Kate Wright, Independent Chair of the VAWG Taskforce Picture: ROB CURRIE. (36976918)

A victim-survivor who took part in the research said: “He was tracking me all the time through my phone, I found out later. I was so surprised, he always knew everything about my life, but I thought that was because he was so controlling.”

The report posits that “there seemed to be little professional interest in supporting women to understand how technology was facilitating or exacerbating their abuse”.

It recommended that the government should “invest in a comprehensive and ongoing programme of learning and development in order to strengthen the capacity of service providers (specialist and universal) to effectively respond to online and technology-facilitated VAWG”.

Work to prevent online and tech-facilitated VAWG needs to target both schools and the wider community in Jersey, the taskforce recommends.

Educating young Islanders

Vicki Charlsworth, a head teacher who served as a member of the taskforce, said: “Our children have more access to the internet, and social media in particular, than ever before; many have their own tablets and smart phones.

“We all therefore have a responsibility to teach them how to use these appropriately and to challenge unacceptable behaviour. Online abuse is only one aspect of VAWG; if we are to make Jersey safe for everyone, we need both legislative change and a cultural shift amongst all Islanders.”

She added that schools, through the PSHE curriculum, raise awareness of what constitutes bullying, what healthy relationships look like and challenging gender stereotypes from a young age.

Carl Howarth, head teacher at JCG and also a member of the taskforce, said: “Being safe from online abuse and from misogynistic behaviour should be a right for anyone, and there is important work being done in all jurisdictions to combat this.

He added: “This is more than just a school issue, but is a societal issue, but schools should be supported by ensuring that their PSHE curriculum is up to date and relevant with the latest advice.

“For Jersey to seek to provide that expertise around online abuse would be to replicate the expertise that already exists for organisations in the UK.

“It’s obviously good for Jersey to have the level of expertise on Island, but it is equally important to be also learning from the most able organisations.”

Children’s and Education Minister Inna Gardiner has also committed to considering the recommendations relating to online and tech-facilitated abuse schools and young people and “respond fully in due course with a view to implementing as many recommendations as possible”.

Tony Moretta, head of Digital Jersey, supported most of the recommendations, saying: “Putting cybercrimes in legislation is sensible.

“You always need to update and review legislation, because there are always new types of crime possible because of technology.”

In the report, one woman described to researchers about how her partner’s friend had filmed her rape, but when she tried to report this additional violation to the police, she was told it was only a crime if he used the video for his own sexual gratification.

Mr Moretta continued: “We will always be looking at what policies and education we can put in place to educate people about it. There is also a huge role for schools in this around children and young people and their use of technology.”

In response to a supposed “lack of expertise”, Mr Moretta said “the skills are definitely there.

“If we were approached at Digital Jersey, we would be happy to talk to the authors of the report about courses, advice, a central database. These are sensible recommendations.”

“We would be happy to provide advice and support to any charity that approaches us, as well as develop courses and training on how to use technology or to detect stalking software.”

However, he expressed concerns about joining the UK’s Online Safety Bill, as recommended, which would mean regulating online platforms to ensure they are protecting their users.

Tech-facilitated domestic abuse

Examples of tech-facilitate domestic abuse, which has proliferated with the rise of smart-tech in households that give abusers more ways to exert control over victims :

Tracking a person’s location by remotely or making someone prove where they are by sending photos of their location.
Accessing their smart watch or doorbell camera, or using a smart speaker to listen in on private conversations.
Making of continuous controlling or threatening phone calls.
Checking text messages, social media or internet activit.y
Restricting access to a phone or the internet.
Phone hacking.
Cyberstalking.
Online impersonation.
Misuse of online banking.

The damning data from a public survey

Half of people asked had received unwanted messages of a sexual nature. The number rose to 68% among those under 25.

More than half (55%) of survey respondents had experienced “displays of pornographic or sexually offensive materials which made you feel uncomfortable, including it being viewed near you”.

15% had experienced “someone taking and/or sharing sexual photos or videos of you without your permission”.

Eight out of ten respondents did not agree that the government takes online forms of VAWG seriously.

Eight out of ten respondents did not agree that the courts in Jersey take online forms of VAWG seriously.

Nine out of ten respondents agreed that someone sending photos of their genitalia when this has not been asked for should be a crime.

What is online abuse?

The report cites the definition of online abuse as articulated by the E-Safety Commissioner in Australia, Julie Inman Grant.

“Online abuse is behaviour that has a threatening, intimidating, harassing or humiliating effect on a person. Women who have a public profile because of their work are especially at risk of being targeted.

“Online abuse can hurt you socially or psychologically, or even lead to physical harm. It can take many forms, including stalking and sexual harassment.”

Forms of abuse

Tech-facilitated abuse: A form of domestic abuse where perpetrators misuse technology to carry out physical, sexual, psychological, or economic abuse.
Trolling: Deliberately provoking an argument or an emotional reaction. Carried out by a “troll”, a person on the internet posting to cause offend.
Image-based abuse: Where someone shares or threatens to share intimate images or videos, also known as “revenge porn”.
Sexual extortion: Using intimate images/videos to blackmail or extort
Impersonation accounts: Fake social media accounts set up in a victim-survivor’s name to humiliate them.
Doxing: The sharing of personal details online to create unwanted contact from strangers .
Deep fakes and morphing: Adding images of someone’s face to existing pornography.
Defamatory comments: Posts intended to harm someone’s reputation.
Child sexual abuse material (CSAM): Visual material that depicts acts of sexual abuse and exploitation of children. This phrase is preferred by many to the term “child pornography” as this might be seen to suggest a degree of consent on the part of the child. It is also discouraged because of the normalisation of pornography as it tends to trivialise child exploitation
Child: Describes someone under the age of 18 years of age.
Adolescent: Generally refers to a young person between the ages of ten and 19.
Grooming: The process of establishing a relationship with a child to facilitate sexual contact, whether online or in person.