Smart fridges, glasses and Bluetooth speakers used to abuse women, as tech firms told to 'step up'
International academics, victims, social media companies and industry bosses have come together to discuss how to tackle tech-enabled abuse.
Bluetooth speakers, doorbell cameras and smart fridges are being used in the coordinated harassment and coercion of women, a conference of technology leaders has heard.
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International academics, victims, social media companies and industry bosses have come together for the first time in London, to discuss how to tackle tech-enabled abuse.
Examples shared with them, on top of revenge porn and social media deepfakes included fridges with cameras and AI being used to track food consumption and control partners.
Speakers, with microphones, are also being routinely repurposed to listen to and track the movements of women, experts said.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan told LBC: “ We have to make the big tech companies aware of how some of their great kit has been repurposed and misused.”
While the conference organiser, an academic at University College London, said: “It’s not a niche issue, because everything that happens to women offline is happening online.”
Over three days, more than 250 delegates from across the world have gathered to discuss how safety can be prioritised in the designing of new technology and not be seen as an afterthought.
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More than 123,000 violent offences against women were recorded as having used digital elements in England and Wales in the year to July 2023.
It’s the equivalent to around 400 a day, and a sharp increase of more than 200 per cent compared to just eight years ago, according to the charity Refuge.
The offences include people who’ve been targeted through online harassment and AI deepfakes as well as the use of doorbell cameras and smart glasses to film and control them.
Dr Leonie Tanczer, an associate professor of computer science at UCL, said she’d spent two years trying to get everyone around the table.
But she was disappointed that no government minister chose to attend, to hear the testimony of victims and experts.
She told LBC: “We have tried our best to get several ministers to come and sadly, to me as an organiser, I get the message that this is not that important to the government.
“We’ve tried really hard to get the major tech companies to come and they are, most of them are, but where are the politicians? That’s the bigger question.”
Labour has promised to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
But last week, the Prime Minister lost both his safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and his victims minister Alex Davies-Jones, as pressure mounted on him to resign.
They were replaced by MPs Catherine Atkinson and Natalie Fleet.
At the same time, Harriet Harman was appointed into a new Downing Street role “to advise the PM on how to galvanise the government to deliver for women and girls.”
It’s understood that Baroness Harman was due to appear at the tech abuse summit but pulled out the day before it started.
The government didn’t respond directly to LBC’s questions about why.
Dr Tanczer added that to achieve Labour’s goal, the abuse committed through technology must be a major priority.
She told LBC: “Everyone has a phone in their pocket, everyone is online all the time, it is every element of violence against women and girls.”
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan opened the conference at City Hall by announcing £6 million to trial new ways of supporting victims of tech-enabled violence in the capital.
Multiple charities and campaigners said it was a welcome move, albeit focused on one city.
But while some major tech players were in the room, it’s understood giants Apple, Samsung and Microsoft failed to attend.
Sir Sadiq told LBC: “There appears to be a lack of international support for this issue, a lack of support from some of the big tech companies.
“But there's also good examples of really welcome partnerships. Google is here, which is really encouraging and we've got other examples of tech leaders being here.
“We know this needs a joined-up approach, not just from the police and the criminal justice system, but also better education, better prevention.
“And we have to make the big tech companies aware of how some of their great kit has been repurposed and misused.”
At a different conference in London this week, the Foreign Secretary has announced that eight countries have agreed to form a new international effort to tackle violence against women and girls.
The UK, alongside South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, Jamaica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Australia will spearhead a renewed effort to prevent domestic abuse and sexual violence.
The Foreign Office says it will also look at practical steps to tackle online abuse.
Speaking at the Global Partnerships Conference, Yvette Cooper, said: “Violence against women and girls is a global emergency not just a national emergency.
“We are determined to work across borders to ensure women’s safety is a worldwide priority.
“I’m delighted to launch this Coalition with countries around the world that share our ambition, because from the UK, to Brazil, to South Africa and beyond, women deserve to live free from fear of violence.
A Government spokesperson said: “The scale of action we’ve taken in recent months shows just how seriously we are cracking down on violence against women and girls, and we will not stop until they are properly protected online.
“From forcing platforms to remove non‑consensual intimate images within 48 hours of a report and holding company bosses personally liable when they fail to comply with Ofcom’s decisions, we are holding tech companies to account.
"We are also future proofing against the risks of emerging tech, ensuring chatbots protect users from illegal content and banning tools deliberately built to generate explicit AI images of women.”