Israeli hackers developed new mobile apps that can fight domestic violence and prevent future abuse by alerting women about potential signs from their husbands or partners. According to Wired's latest report, using technology as a tracker to stop domestic violence is trickier than it sounds.

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The rising number of social media platforms and smartphone gadgets allowed abusers to easily control, isolate, and monitor their victims. A digital privacy and security researcher at Cornell who works with the Clinic to End tech Abuse in New York, Diana Freed, explained that potential apps might be hard to trust nowadays.

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She said that although these apps are hidden on the victim's phone, which can alert the authorities with just a single tap, it is still challenging to identify if they have a safety device. Diana also said that people should be aware of the factor of security of their emergency apps.

"We're always concerned about the safety of the client and what the abuser might know," said Diana.

There are also other apps that help women to get rid of any connection they have with their previous abusive partner. In 2019, "Tech Disconnect checklist" was launched to allow victims to exit dangerous relationships by making sure that there are no potential harmful links from their ex-husband or ex-partner after they broke up.

The new apps that can prevent future domestic abuse: Here's how they work

The "Forum's Hackathon" promising set of new technologies can help prevent domestic violence, dividing the different types of initiatives into three segments. The first one will tackle the prevention, studying a nationwide database to look for potential signs of systemic, unreported abuse in the education and healthcare systems. MedFlag was introduced to identify signs of repeated abuse among clinic and hospital patients by analyzing medical records.

The second one will focus on life-threatening emergencies. One of the hackathon's winners is "Stay Tuned," which allows victims to alert authorities about ongoing abuse without touching their device. The app can notify the police, and other contact numbers on the phone by sending them the alarming noises recorded using machine intelligence and voice recognition tech.

The third one will focus on technologies that can prevent domestic abuse before they even happen. A smartphone violence detector called "Aware," uses an algorithm that observes the phone owner's daily usage patterns. Once the app learns its owner's usual phone activity, it can identify if an abuser is using it. It can detect if spyware is being installed, contacts are being blocked or deleted, and the owner's male Facebook friends are removed. These new apps can help not only the women in Israel but also those facing domestic abuse across the globe, male or female.


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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.

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