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40 U.N.S.W.L.J. 1573 (2017)
Cyber-Violence: Digital Abuse in the Context of Domestic Violence

handle is hein.journals/swales40 and id is 1594 raw text is: Thematic: Cyber-Violence CYBER-VIOLENCE: DIGITAL ABUSE IN THE CONTEXT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HADEEL AL-ALOS* I INTRODUCTION While considerable attention has been given to various cybercrimes, such as hacking, identity theft, and online fraud, less focus has been given to the issue of technology-facilitated abuse between current and former intimate partners ('cyber-violence'). The term cyber-violence refers to repeated abuse committed by one person (the abuser) against a current or former intimate partner through the use of digital technology.' It includes a range of controlling and coercive behaviours, such as threatening phone calls, cyber-stalking, location tracking via smartphones, harassment on social media sites,2 and the dissemination of intimate images of partners without consent ('revenge porn').3 The literature on non-physical forms of domestic violence 4 committed through the use of technology has slowly been emerging and there are now a few studies investigating such abuse. These studies, while limited and largely anecdotal, provide insight on the experiences of victims and domestic violence practitioners dealing with cyber-violence. What is missing in the literature, however, is an examination of the case law involving technology-facilitated * Lecturer and lawyer. LLB/Social Science (Criminology) (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (UNSW). Correspondence to Dr Hadeel Al-Alosi: H.Al-Alosi@westemsydney.edu.au. I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who have provided invaluable feedback. 1 In this article, the term 'cyber-violence' is used interchangeably with the term 'technology-facilitated domestic abuse'. 2 Aily Shimizu, 'Recent Developments: Domestic Violence in the Digital Age: Towards the Creation of a Comprehensive Cyberstalking Statute' (2013) 28 Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice 116, 117. 3 The term 'revenge pom' has been criticised for failing to reflect that the images may have been distributed for a variety of reasons other than revenge and because it is inappropriate to label the images as 'pornography'. Although not without reluctance, the term 'revenge pom' is used in this article to refer to the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, as it is the most widely used and understood term in the literature. See Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee, Parliament of Australia, Phenomenon Colloquially Referred to as Revenge Porn' (2016). 4 Although the term 'domestic violence' encompasses a wide range of relationships (such as relationships between blood relatives and in-laws), the focus of this article is on domestic violence between current and former intimate partners. 5 Some prefer to use the term 'victim' to describe individuals who have, or are, experiencing domestic violence; others prefer to use the term 'survivor'. While acknowledging that each person's experience is unique, this article uses the term 'victim' for consistency. 2017 1573

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