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Photo Source: Safety Net Project. ‘’Cyber Safety for Survivors of Domestic Violence.’’ https://www.techsafety.org/blog/2019/10/31/cyber-safety-for-survivors-of-domestic-violence.
Everyone has the right to use online platforms in a safe manner; however, the internet is often a platform for sexist, racist, homophobic and other violent types of behavior and content that disproportionately affects women and young women. An Amnesty International report found that women of color, women with disabilities, lesbian, bisexual, trans women and women at the intersection of forms of oppression are even more targeted. Violence and abuse against women and young women, including technology-facilitated abuse, is increasingly serving as a barrier to gender equality and may impact women’s work in areas that require a significant online presence, including politics, journalism or public advocacy.
Women and young women may encounter:
- Threats
- Discrimination
- Harassment
- Doxing
- Sharing sexual or private images without consent
More broadly speaking, youth also face a plethora of online risks that can impact both their psychological and physical safety.
Three categories of risks could include:
Content risks
For youth, these risks include coming across material that they might find upsetting, disgusting or otherwise uncomfortable, especially if they encounter it accidentally including: pornography or sexually explicit content in music videos, movies or online games; real or simulated violence; hate sites; terrorist sites; fake news that seems believable; or harmful user-generated content like sites about drug use, self-harm, suicide or negative body image.
Contact risks
These risks include coming into contact with adults posing as children online, strangers who persuade teenagers to meet them in real life, and online scammers.
Conduct risks
Conduct risks include behaving in inappropriate or hurtful ways or being the victim of this kind of behavior. Examples include: cyberbullying; sexting; misusing people’s passwords and impersonating people online; making unauthorized purchases using other people’s financial details; creating content that reveals information about other people; or having trouble regulating online time, which can develop into problem internet use.
Every age group has unique vulnerabilities in addition to general Internet risks, and seniors are no exception. Few entirely new types of scams are created to target seniors; the issue lies in how existing scams are tailored specifically to exploit older Internet users. Though many seniors are very computer savvy, many more are not. Often their computers are not properly secured. Even when you have installed security software, it is critical that they set up automatic updates, turn on a firewall, use secure passwords, etc. If seniors are not comfortable setting up their computer, oftentimes, computer companies have trainings specifically designed for seniors to effectively set up their devices.
Seniors who use social networking sites that cater to older users are targeted with quizzes and surveys that often have very invasive questions about your health, wealth, and personal lives. Quizzes are created for revenue. Ask yourself who profits from you answering the questions and who else gets to see your answers. Understand that any information posted in these quizzes is likely to be used by many companies. Answer a medical quiz and you may find your insurance claims, even your ability to get insurance, are affected. Quizzes can also generate targeted spam ‘offers’ based on your answers.
Cyberbullying is not just a problem among young people; seniors are also affected. One clear difference is that, whether you want to face it or not, cyberbullying of seniors is most often done by family members.
Cyberbullying of seniors can take several forms, but the most common are:
Emotional abuse with rage, threats, accusations and belittling comments, often followed with periods of silence or ignoring the target.
Financial abuse aimed at finding their account information, setting up online access to their accounts, and stealing their money.
All users need to be aware of contract risks, which include signing up for unfair contracts, terms or conditions that they aren’t aware of or don’t fully understand. Oftentimes, the elderly may be more susceptible to these scams. As a result, users may: be open to identity theft or fraud; get inappropriate digital marketing messages or scam emails; or have their personal data collected from apps and devices like fitness trackers.
