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According to Julie Inman-Grant, “... an asset that’s crucial for escape is being used as a mechanism to trap and control”.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner has called upon Australians to educate themselves regarding how certain smart car features can be misused by perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse.
eSafety said it has received reports from frontline workers of a growing trend of abusers taking advantage of GPS and geolocation features to track their victims via companion applications linked to their vehicles.
“More Australians are buying cars that can connect to the internet and other smart devices, but domestic violence abusers can exploit these modern features to spy on and gaslight their partners,” eSafety commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said in a 1 December statement.
“Through our service, we’re hearing of cases where abusers access trip histories to keep tabs on a partner’s movements, remotely lock doors or change the heating to intimidate them, and use kill switches to prevent them [from] travelling beyond certain distances.
“In these situations, an asset that’s crucial for escape is being used as a mechanism to trap and control.”
Speaking alongside Inman-Grant at an event to mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek called technology-facilitated abuse “one of the greatest and rapidly evolving challenges in tackling domestic, family and sexual violence”.
“When a woman seeking help arrives at a shelter, often the first thing that happens is a thorough check of their phone, car, smartwatch and personal belongings to identify and destroy tracking devices and software,” Plibersek said.
“The weaponisation of technology by perpetrators requires new thinking and approaches. It’s a new frontier that we have to tackle.
“It’s why our government has invested in building the capacity of frontline workers to respond to technology-facilitated abuse, as well as providing victim-survivors with safe phones that can’t be tracked.”
To try and tackle the problem, eSafety has called on car makers to build a raft of safety measures into any smart car device and accounts, including emergency lockouts and safe transfers of ownership that do not require contact with another party, user-visible audit logs for access to account histories, and higher standards for car dealerships when it comes resetting devices when they change owners.
“These are solvable design issues,” Inman-Grant said.
“If manufacturers and tech companies build in the right safeguards from the start, we can prevent a lot of harm before it happens. This next generation of automotive technologies means that car manufacturers need their next ‘seatbelt moment’.”
If you’re experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence, 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) provides confidential counselling and support at any time of the day or night.
If you think you may be experiencing technology-facilitated abuse by a current or former partner, eSafety has online advice that you discuss with a frontline service.
If you’re a frontline worker wanting advice from eSafety’s Technology-Facilitated Abuse Support Service, you can book a consult online. Please note: This service is for frontline workers only.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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