Gender and IoT: the Implications of smart technologies on victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and abuse

Abstract

In recent years, forms of online harassment and sexual abuse facilitated through information and communication technologies emerged. These ICT-supported assaults range from cyberstalking to online behavioural control. While many efforts to tackle technology-facilitated abuse (“tech abuse”) are concerned with ‘conventional’ cyber risks such as abuses on social media platforms and restrictions to devices such as laptops and phones, emerging “Internet of Things” (IoT) technologies such as ‘smart’ meters, locks, and cameras expand domestic violence victim’s risk trajectories further. 

In this talk, findings from UCL’s “Gender and IoT” (GIoT) research project will be outlined. GIoT runs in collaboration with a wide stakeholder group, including the London VAWG Consortium, the digital rights charity Privacy International, and the UK-wide PETRAS IoT Research Hub. The research project analyses evolving IoT privacy and security risks. It studies IoT technologies impact on gender-based domestic and sexual violence and abuse and the socio-technical measures that will need to be implemented in order to mitigate against those risks.

About the speaker

Leonie Maria Tanczer is Lecturer in International Security and Emerging Technologies at University College London’s (UCL) Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) and currently leading the "Gender and IoT" research project at UCL. She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Open Rights Group (ORG), affiliated with UCL's Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research (ACE-CSR), and former Fellow at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) in Berlin. Tanczer's research focuses on questions related to Internet security. She is specifically interested in the intersection points of technology, security, and gender. Prior to her lectureship appointment, Tanczer was Postdoctoral Research Associate for the EPSRC-funded PETRAS Internet of Things (IoT) Research Hub, where she was part of its "Standards, Governance and Policy" research team. She an active Twitter user (@leotanczt) and on evenings out of the office, she is likely to be found on one of London’s many meetups, conferences and CryptoParties.