STRIPPED, SEARCHED, STALKED AND RE-VICTIMIZED BY INTERNET SPIES
Privacy is a crucial component of a crisis survivors’ safety. Domestic Violence shelter locations are shrouded in secrecy with laws in many states protecting the addresses of the shelters and the victims.
So, who protects the victims who are not housed in shelters? How do you prevent a stalker, abuser, or a total stranger from accessing your home address on GPS sites, or the interior / exterior layout of your home on residential search engines? How do you prevent employees working for companies such as the DMV, cell phone and internet providers, doctors’ offices and even police officers from taking as little as fifty dollars from a stalker / abuser seeking to find out your address, phone number and names and addresses of your family members?
Despite state and federal laws, data collection and data sharing has become so easily accessible that it’s almost impossible not to be completely stripped of your privacy and left so completely exposed that survivors become open targets only to be violated repeatedly.
Abuse survivors and even the public are finding it difficult to maintain any form of privacy. How can you feel safe when the enemy, frenemies’, jealous ex’s, rapist, abusers, sexual predators or nosy neighbors are working in front of computer screen like it’s a 9 to 5 seeking information about someone with the intent of using anything they can find to harm the subject of the search.
How much information is too much information? The answer coming from any Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis survivor is All of IT is too much! Do you know what it’s like to move into a new house, thinking your abuser has no idea where you are, only to receive a call from him/her describing your front porch, the color of your flower baskets on your back porch and the beautiful bird feeder hanging from the tree near your side door? Do your know how isolated you feel when you have to use a fake name just to have a social media account or when you’re too afraid to have devises like Alexa because not only is your abuser invading your privacy but Apple and Google and perhaps even the government is listening to your every word. Eventually, you begin to feel like you may need to enter the witness protection program so that you can go into hiding to maintain some sense of anonymity, some sense of security by any means necessary to help ease your fears and constant anxiety.
As data sharing becomes easier and more accessible, simply removing a victim’s name will not erase the data or block the searcher. So, what is the purpose of the Fair Information Practice Principles? These guidelines are designed to help organizations determine how to collect and share personal information, while considering individual privacy. Problem is, who is enforcing the guidelines? Who is controlling the government, Google, or Apple? Are privacy protection laws enforceable or do they exist at all? Maybe abuse survivors should file Restraining Orders seeking the removal of your identity from Internet Search engines. How do we lobby to get that proposal in front of the House?
ALEXA turn on the lights. I’m afraid of being alone in the dark.
