IEEE UK and Ireland SSIT Webinar | Designing a Standard to Minimise Misuse of Technology for Coercive-Control (P2987) by Henry Nash (P2987 Standard Working Group)

IEEE UK and Ireland SSIT Chapter and SSIT IST-Africa SIGHT are cooperating with a number of IEEE OUs to organise this SSIT Lecture as a joint webinar.

Guest Lecture Focus

It is an uncomfortable truth for designers and operators of technology that it is increasingly being used by perpetrators of interpersonal coercive-control, for example in cases such as domestic abuse. Moreover, this use of technology does not typically involve hacking in the traditional sense, rather the misuse of often well-intentioned standard features – the design of which usually did not include threat analysis of, for instance, an abusive domestic partner who has access to passwords or manages the device/application in question. Examples include tracking of partners and their children, manipulation of social media while gaslighting to cover what is happening, and utilising smart-home devices to secretly monitor movement.

This session will provide an update on the progress towards a recommended practice in the principles of design and operation of such technology to minimise this kind of misuse.