Investigating the impact of technology on domestic abuse

Technology-enabled domestic abuse is a major problem facing society. A wide range of electronic devices are now being used by abusers to control and spy on their victims, and the widespread adoption of IoT makes this ever easier. A device as simple as a smart door lock could be used to track a victim, by monitoring notifications whenever the lock is opened to

determine the user's location. Existing research has widely explored the different malicious uses of technology, including ubiquitous devices such as mobile phones as well as smart devices and IoT. While this provides a good demonstration that there is a problem, including works categorising the different types of attack, there is an incredibly limited amount of

work which attempts to solve this problem. The attempted solution is very high level and abstract, making it difficult to use to solve the problem. This research proposes to design a smart home system which attempts to empower a victim of abuse while inhibiting the control of the abuser by focusing on two key areas: access control and transparency.

Designing a control system which allows a victim to maintain and regain access to their own devices while being able to revoke unwanted access from an abuser would be impactful protection against abuser control, and properly implemented transparency can inform a victim of privacy invasions while also preventing gaslighting as an externality.