Safety Net is a project of The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), which was founded more than 30 years ago to be a national voice against violence. We are dedicated to creating a social, political, and economic environment in which domestic violence no longer exists. We work to make ending domestic violence a national priority, change the way communities respond to domestic violence, and strengthen efforts against intimate partner violence at every level of government.
Through our Safety Net project, NNEDV focuses on the intersection of technology and abuse and works to address how it impacts the safety, privacy, accessibility, and civil rights of victims. Building on more than twenty years of experience addressing this intersection, Safety Net provides expert training and technical assistance, creates and disseminates resources, and influences dialogue globally, through in-person and virtual events on emerging issues.
Developing Resources to Educate about Tech Safety
Safety Net develops and maintains educational resources, apps, and toolkits for survivors and professionals working with survivors focusing on understanding tech abuse and the strategic use of technology to increase and maintain safety and privacy. Below are some examples of available toolkits provided on TechSafety.org.
Technology Safety & Privacy: A Toolkit for Survivors: Created for survivors, this toolkit contains information on tech abuse, safety tips, and privacy strategies.
Digital Services Toolkit: Here service providers can find resources and guidance on safely providing services to survivors using tech-based tools like online chat, text messaging, and video calls. This toolkit was a critical resource for many domestic violence programs at the start of COVID-19 in 2020. In May 2019, only 11 percent of Safety Net webinar registrants indicated they were offering digital services. By June 2020, 58 percent were offering digital services—of these, 87 percent had started during the pandemic.
Agency’s Use of Technology Best Practices & Policies Toolkit: Victim service agencies use this toolkit for recommended best practices, policy suggestions, and resources on how to protect survivors’ personal information and privacy when using technology.
Legal Systems Toolkit: This toolkit was created to help professionals working in the legal system to identify when technology is relevant to a case and how to use technology evidence to hold abusers accountable.
Providing Tech Safety Training and Technical Assistance (TA)
Safety Net provides engaging and interactive trainings that improve the ability of victim service providers, community agencies, the legal system, and other groups to effectively and strategically respond to the technology and privacy related needs of survivors. To date, Safety Net has trained over a 100,000 people on technology safety-related issues.
Throughout the year, Safety Net provides technical assistance to service providers on a range of issues including:
responding to complex technology-facilitated abuse cases;
setting up remote services;
maintaining confidentiality while using technology;
helping survivors register and vote safely; and,
building technology products, apps, and software with safety in mind.
Understanding the interaction of technology, confidentiality, and service provision can be complex. Through training and technical assistance Safety Net helps programs to understand these nuances. NNEDV also sits on several safety advisory boards for technology companies, helping to ensure survivor needs and experiences are reflected in the technology design process.
Knowledge Sharing through Tech Summit
Safety Net’s annual Tech Summit provides unique and vital content to increase the knowledge and skills of those working with survivors to enhance our work to respond to technology abuse, support survivors in their use of tech, and harness tech to improve services. The Summit focuses on an array of relevant and emerging issues at the intersection of technology, privacy, confidentiality, and innovation, as it relates to safety and abuse.
Safety Net’s Global Reach
NNEDV was a founding member of the Global Network of Women’s Shelters and Safety Net has a long history within that work and with other international collaborations, sharing the lessons learned in addressing technology safety. Safety Net helped to establish sister projects in Canada and Australia, and has provided consultation to several other programs globally to share best practices and assist in responding to the needs of survivors around technology.
