Tech-facilitated stalking countermeasures- Part 3

This is the fourth and final article in this series.

Risk assessment

All stalkers are not equal. Different stalkers have different motives and capabilities. Some want to keep their targets in a state of fear and anxiety but do not have the ability or opportunity to directly cause them physical harm. Some want to destroy the target’s reputation or relationships. Some have the means to use a variety of tactics against their targets while not damaging their own public reputation. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the situation and determine precise responses that are tailored to the situation of the specific victim-survivor. Such an evaluation is called a risk assessment. It is used to effectively determine specific risks and threats that a victim-survivor faces in the present and the future and the potential interventions for their safety and wellbeing.

The Stalking and Harassment Assessment and Risk Profile Tool (SHARP) is a free online tool containing 48 questions that the victim-survivor can answer to evaluate the situation. Upon completion, it generates two detailed reports. One report states the impact of stalking on the victim-survivor. The other is a structured risk profile of the victim-survivor. It also contains suggestions for their safety. 

The tool was developed in the United States, so some aspects of it may not be applicable outside the country. Its website offers more resources for victim-survivors, such as this template for documenting stalker behaviour and incidents of stalking. 

For more information about the SHARP tool, refer to this FAQ. 

Reverse image search

Some stalkers may post their targets’ images (photos or videos) on pornographic websites, defamation websites, adult forums, or sub-Reddits dedicated to pooling the images and information of women and gender-diverse persons without their consent. They may post the images in online profiles impersonating the targets, or alongside text intended to publicly discredit the targets or cast aspersions on their morals or character, for example, “She is a <gendered slur/ offensive word>” or “She is a serial cheater in her relationships.” The intent is to harm the reputation of the victim-survivor and possibly subject them to targeted harassment from other users of the website or forum towards them. 

Reverse image search is useful to detect such images. It allows users to search the internet using images and identify where an image appears online and find similar images. 

This page (Archive URL) lists a range of free and paid reverse image search tools such as Google Image Search, Bing Image Match, TinEye, Yandex Image Search and PimEyes. These services differ to various extents in finding exact or near matches -- one may be able to detect what the other might not.

All the tools listed require the user to upload the image or provide a URL where the image is already present. A word of caution is that the reverse image search service might store the images uploaded to it for searching. Hence, nude or sexually explicit images should not be used for searching. Images that are already published on the internet such as social media display photos may be used for searching -- those are also the images that stalkers are most likely to find and use. Nude and/ or sexually explicit images of the target, if they are posted online, may appear in the search results depending on the tool used and its safety settings.

In addition to the tools listed above, the following browser extensions are useful if many images of the victim-survivor have been compromised and posted on the internet, for example, by hacking a private folder of their photos.

1. Fast Image Search (Google Chrome, Firefox): It enables the user to search results from Google, TinEye, Yandex (in three languages), Baidu, Bing or any combination of those.

2. RevEye Reverse Image Search (Google Chrome): Search images on Google, Bing, Yandex and TinEye. It also allows users to add other search engines to the menu. The extension for the Firefox browser has not been updated since 2022. Hence, its use is not recommended at the time of writing.

Removal of images

Victim-survivors who may want their unwanted images to be removed may report abuse to the website/ service or email a request asking for removal. Whether or not the website will acquiesce and remove the image depends on a number of factors including the content of the images, the website’s/ platforms’ own terms of service, community standards, policies for privacy and content, and the laws and legal jurisdiction that apply. Removal requests can be made under these categories (indicative list):

1. Privacy violation (especially for non-consensual nude or sexually explicit content posted without the consent of the persons in the images) 
2. Copyright infringement (for images shot by the victim-survivor, for example, selfies. If a friend of the victim-survivor has captured those images, then they are the legal copyright owner. They may file an infringement notice to take them down.)
3. Abusive or illegal content (content that is defamatory, abusive, vulgar, harassing etc.)
4. The right to be forgotten in the jurisdictions where it exists

If the source of the image on the internet does not remove it, it may still be possible to request search engines to remove the image from search results. This reduces the discoverability of the image. This online form can be used to report safety concerns to the search engine Bing and other Microsoft products while Google Search has policies and a process to request removal of personal content. For more information about removal requests to different platforms, refer to guide Removing Sensitive Content from the Internet.

Stalkers may conduct searches of the images of their targets to find more images or the information associated with those images. Thus, it is necessary to note the information posted with the search results and consider whether it may possibly be misused, especially in combination with any other information or documents the stalker may possess. Victim-survivors should request removal of that information along with the images. It is likely that these processes may become lengthy and websites and platforms are slow to respond or completely unresponsive. It is essential to keep copies of all communications in this regard.

Conclusion

Although this series has tried to unpack common ways in which stalkers work and countermeasures to address these, victim-survivors should never have to bear the onus of protecting themselves. Technical safeguards and precautions stated in this article are important but often insufficient in cases of serious and sustained intimate partner stalking. Victim-survivors need adequate and timely legal, psychological, technical and safety support and resources. Society, law enforcement, and support systems must work collaboratively to provide a safety net and holistic support that goes beyond individual precautions.

Rohini Lakshané is an interdisciplinary researcher, technologist and Wikimedian. https://about.me/rohini  
Illustration by Laura Ibáñez López. https://cargocollective.com/pakitalouter