Technology-Facilitated Stalking and Abuse

Advances in technology have led to a rapid rise in technology-assisted domestic violence and abuse. Through the use of the internet, social media, mobile devices, texting, email, and surveillance devices, domestic violence perpetrators have increasing access to new methods and tools to stalk, harass, and abuse their victims. In turn, victims of such abuse feel tethered to their abusive partners by technology, unable to escape.

Women’s Legal Service NSW (‘WLS NSW’) has worked with Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria (‘DVRCV’) and WESNET on a national project to develop Australia-specific and Australia-wide range of resources to assist victims of technology-assisted domestic violence and those who are trying to assist them.

Legal Guides and Tech Safety Hub

For this project, WLS NSW has developed a set of legal guides that look at the legal implications of using technology to perpetrate domestic violence and the protections that the existing legal framework offers to those experiencing such abuse.

These guides have been developed for each State and Territory, and made available on the SmartSafe national website built specifically for this project, in order to produce a comprehensive Australian online resource.

Visit the Technology Safety Resource Centre

Legal Guides  Tech Safety Hub

National research findings – 2015 and 2020

DVRCV conducted a national survey in 2015 and then again in 2020 on technology-facilitated abuse drawing on the experience of family violence practitioners across Australia. Thee findings are explained in an Ask Lois Webinar and supporting factsheet.

Download 2020 report:

Second National Survey on Technology Abuse and Domestic Violence

Download 2015 report:

ReCharge: Women’s Technology Safety, Legal Resources Research & Training

Journal articles

Thumbnail image of articleCharissa Sun, a WLS NSW solicitor working on this project, has written an article on this topic, which was published in the June 2015 edition of the Law Society Journal (page 78).

Download article:
“Technology-Facilitated Stalking and Abuse: Putting our Legal Framework to the Test”
Charissa Sun, The Law Society of NSW Journal, June 2015

This article by WLS NSW Law Reform Co-ordinator, Liz Snell, discusses the new laws around image-based abuse (colloquially known as “revenge porn”), was published in the August 2017 edition of the Law Society Journal (page 80).

Download article:
Recording and sharing intimate images without consent
Liz Snell, The Law Society of NSW Journal, August 2017

Law Reform

Technology-facilitated abuse is an issue of concern that we regularly raise in our law reform work. Visit our Submissions page to read what we have said on this issue to various inquiries.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Helen Campbell or Liz Snell

(02) 8745 6900

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