Cyberviolence is also in the couple: this is how to recognize it

At the beginning of June, testimonies related to monitoring events by unknown persons using Airtags multiplied on social networks. This small object developed by Apple to avoid losing your objects has been diverted from its initial use. In particular, it has been used to track and harass young women without their knowledge and consent. No bigger than a two-euro coin, Airtags slip discreetly into a bag, the lining of a suitcase, or even a pocket. But such a situation can also occur within the couple.

Faced with the new cyberbullying tools, the Hubertine Auclert center, which fights for gender equality, published a new document on July 6 to detect an anomalous situation: “Am I a victim of cyberviolence in my partner?”, as well as a platform that offers tools to protect your life online and, in particular, your location from a smartphone, a car or any other connected object.

According to a report published by the Hubertine Auclert Center in 2018, 9 out of 10 victims of domestic cyberviolence are also victims of physical and psychological violence within their partner. Anyone and everyone can be a victim of cyber violence regardless of their age or social category.

What is domestic cyber violence?

Cyberviolence is a crime and, according to the definition of the Information Center on the Rights of Women and the Family (CIDFF), “YoIt is the violence committed by a person, directly against their partner or ex-partner or through a third party (partner’s child, friend, relative, etc.) through the use of applications (Internet, social networks, SMS/MMS, geolocation tools , etc.)”.

There are several forms of cyberviolence and if they are committed within a couple it is considered aggravating, the digital Master Oriana Labruyère specialist lawyer told Tech&Co. “By the couple, I’m talking about a relationship born two days ago or 50 years of marriage, that doesn’t change anything.” The CDIFF details these different forms of cyberviolence:

• Cybercontrol is the fact of controlling movements, social relationships, demanding that the other be reachable at all times.
• Cyberbullying refers to calls, SMS, messages sent also through social networks to harm and invade a person’s daily life.
• Cyber ​​surveillance is the control of movements and interactions, through spyware and GPS trackers.
• Economic and administrative cyberviolence is the fact of changing the passwords of bank accounts or administrative accounts to control procedures and reduce autonomy.
• Cybersexual violence is the action of filming or taking photographs of a sexual nature or during a sexual act, spreading them or threatening to spread them without the consent of the other.

It can be difficult to detect an abusive situation when it has occurred through technology and “the victim may find the abuser’s behavior normal and excuse him by saying: ‘he is stressed,’ or ‘if he asks me where I am it is because he is worried about me ‘” explains the lawyer.

what the law says

The existing legal arsenal makes it possible to adapt and punish all situations of cyber violence. The Hubertine Auclert center updated its complete document in March 2022 indicating all the sanctions incurred by the perpetrators of cyberviolence.

For example, following your partner with an Airtag without their consent is punishable by 2 years in prison and a fine of 60,000 euros. Demanding the reading of your SMS or consulting the call history is a crime of violation of the secrecy of correspondence, subject to the same penalty. Another example, threatening to spread intimate images against certain conditions is punishable by 5 years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

Identify and name violence.

Therefore, the Hubertine Auclert center has put its new tool online as a kind of self-assessment, inspired by the violentometer. The latter makes it possible to detect physical or psychological violence.

Ana-Clara Valla is the center’s project director and worked on the preparation of the self-assessment: “The idea of ​​this highly visual document is to name the forms of violence, some of which are trivialized in the collective consciousness such as demanding to be located at all times, to request access to your partner’s phone or to ask for passwords. We also had to remind people of good behavior, fight against trivialization and the discourse of the aggressors”.

The document also indicates the appropriate organizations to contact in case of cyber violence in order to approach the competent interlocutors and not be left alone.

The center has also put online sheets that explain how to protect its digital tools and the behavior to adopt in case of geolocation. “Here it is about recovering these tools to better protect yourself and adopting the appropriate reflexes: not putting yourself in danger by alerting the attacker that you have found and deactivated his device”, explains Ana-Clara Valla.

What do I need to do with my phone to check and disable geolocation options on my phone? The center has developed a very practical guide Step by Step. This affects both Google Maps and geolocation sharing and even spyware.

Good reflexes include checking your phone for spyware, which often doesn’t appear in the menu, or looking in your bag or car if there isn’t a hidden tracker.

“It is important not to change your digital habits immediately as this can arouse the abuser’s suspicions and escalate the violence. create any additional danger. It may be accompanied by a specialized association “, indicates the Hubertine Aubert center.

Filing a complaint, always a very difficult step

All the interlocutors interviewed made the same observation: the legal arsenal is there, but it needs to be better known and better mobilized.

It can be very difficult to file a complaint because there is a feeling of shame or fear of not being heard. “In rural areas, filing a complaint is also more complicated because you have to drive your car,” observes Marie-Pierre Badré.

Maitre Labruyère suggests that the solution may be to file a complaint online: “We write, we can take it up again, we take the time. In front of an investigator, we can get stressed and confused and online no one can reject the complaint.” Then, the victim is summoned, all that remains is to officially sign and register the complaint.

If it is about cybersexual violence such as an intimate video of the victim broadcast on any platform, social network or WhatsApp loop, it is possible to archive the evidence online through the Chainote site. It is a French platform that has all the ANSSI aggregations and will handle the report like a bailiff does. “This prevents the video from continuing to circulate for several more days,” says Oriana Labruyère.

Support and raise awareness

Clémence Pajot is Director General of the Information Centers on the Rights of Women and the Family (CIDFF), which has 98 branches throughout France. “Every year, 48,000 women are supported and welcomed in our centers for being victims of cyberviolence”, specifies the director of Tech&Co. “Women come to us because they wonder about their rights.”

Its mission is already to inform and raise awareness about an anomalous situation. The accompaniment of women implies in particular the provision of psychologists, marriage counselors, discussion groups with individual and collective interviews.

If victims wish to take legal action, lawyers are also available at the centers. They advise victims, inform them of their rights and criminal procedures, and help them make decisions.

For Marie-Pierre Badré, awareness must be given “from an early age, as soon as children have their own telephone. Spyware, Airtags are rather practical that are found in couples a little more In adolescents, sexual cyberviolence has arrived on social networks. quickly”.

The Hubertine Auclert center also trains police and gendarmes and all the actors likely to intervene in these cyberviolence issues.

In 2020, the journalist Marie Perrin signed the documentary Traquées, available on YouTube in which she went to meet victims of domestic cyberviolence.