‘Chilling’ surge in use of smart speakers and baby monitors to control domestic abuse victims, MPs say
Connected devices such as baby monitors and smart speakers are increasingly being used to survey, harass and control domestic abuse victims, MPs have warned.
The government has been urged to do more to tackle the rise in so-called “tech abuse” – whereby smart technology and connected devices are used to broaden and facilitate patterns of abuse.
According to official figures, there are on average nine connected devices in every household in the UK. By 2050, there will be 24 billion interconnected devices worldwide.
The report by the Culture, Media and Sport Committee found the vast majority of domestic abuse cases now feature “some sort of cyber element” – including the use of spyware, with perpetrators able to monitor movements and collect recordings and images of victims and survivors.
Statistics from Refuge, the largest specialist provider of gender-based violence services in the UK, found that of the women and children it supported in 2020, 59% experienced abuse involving technology.
Dr Leonie Tanczer, lecturer in international security and emerging technologies at University College London, told the committee some organisations cite figures between 75% and 100%.
She warned that some women were now being detected at domestic violence refuges and shelters through remaining logged into their Netflix account.
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What is coercive control?
“People now need to think, ‘If I go into a refuge, is my smartwatch still connected with my device?’
“Interestingly, people have found that women are often detected in the refuge through their Netflix account because they forget that they are still connected when they log in at the refuge. It is these things that women are not thinking of, and of course they aren’t,” she said.
While the MPs said there was no “silver bullet” for dealing with tech abuse, it urged the government to do more to tackle it by improving the criminal justice response, raising public awareness and bringing together industry representatives to ensure they are mitigating risks through product design.
The committee criticised the current criminal justice response to tech abuse as “lacking” and said more action needed to be taken to help survivors, including, for example, providing specialist services for those who have experienced tech abuse and rolling out training to police forces.
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Cost of living: Domestic abuse rise
In evidence given to the committee in June last year, Refuge said: “Too often, the onus is placed on survivors to change their behaviour, with police officers recommending survivors come offline, rather than focusing on pursuing perpetrators.
“Officers frequently lack an understanding of the nature and dynamics of domestic abuse, and the dangers and multiple forms of tech abuse.”
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the CMS Committee, said the surge in the use of devices in domestic abuse was “truly chilling”.
“The government must make it a priority to work with manufacturers to tackle this technology-facilitated abuse, which is only going to get worse in the future.”
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‘I changed domestic violence law’
Nicole Jacobs, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, said: “Too often, victims and survivors are expected to keep themselves safe from tech abuse, rather than tech companies taking steps to prevent harm.
“While the government has made good progress on some forms of tech abuse through the Online Safety Bill, they must ensure tech companies address all the tools that perpetrators use, including smart home devices.
“I also want to see more police training on how perpetrators use these new forms of technology, and investment in specialist domestic abuse services that are focussed on supporting victims of tech abuse.”
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A government spokesperson said: “Domestic abuse is a despicable crime and one which this government is determined to tackle. That is why we published the cross-government tackling domestic abuse plan in March 2022 and are investing over £230m of funding to prevent offending, support victims and pursue perpetrators.
“We will introduce world-leading rules next year to bolster cybersecurity standards across devices, protecting individual privacy and security, and our Online Safety Bill will become law in a matter of months – making the UK the safest place in the world to be online.”
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Politics
Sir Keir Starmer vows to defend budget decisions ‘all day long’ as farmers slam ‘disrespectful’ PM
Sir Keir Starmer has said he will defend the decisions made in the budget “all day long” amid anger from farmers over inheritance tax changes.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month in her key speech that from April 2026, farms worth more than £1m will face an inheritance tax rate of 20%, rather than the standard 40% applied to other land and property.
The announcement has sparked anger among farmers who argue this will mean higher food prices, lower food production and having to sell off land to pay for the tax.
Sir Keir defended the budget as he gave his first speech as prime minister at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales, where farmers have been holding a tractor protest outside.
Sir Keir admitted: “We’ve taken some extremely tough decisions on tax.”
He said: “I will defend facing up to the harsh light of fiscal reality. I will defend the tough decisions that were necessary to stabilise our economy.
“And I will defend protecting the payslips of working people, fixing the foundations of our economy, and investing in the future of Britain and the future of Wales. Finally, turning the page on austerity once and for all.”
He also said the budget allocation for Wales was a “record figure” – some £21bn for next year – an extra £1.7bn through the Barnett Formula, as he hailed a “path of change” with Labour governments in Wales and Westminster.
And he confirmed a £160m investment zone in Wrexham and Flintshire will be going live in 2025.
‘PM should have addressed the protesters’
Among the hundreds of farmers demonstrating was Gareth Wyn Jones, who told Sky News it was “disrespectful” that the prime minister did not mention farmers in his speech.
He said “so many people have come here to air their frustrations. He (Starmer) had an opportunity to address the crowd. Even if he was booed he should have been man enough to come out and talk to the people”.
He said farmers planned to deliver Sir Keir a letter which begins with “‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you”.
Farmers’ tractor protest outside the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno, North Wales
Mr Wyn Jones told Sky News the government was “destroying” an industry that was already struggling.
“They’re destroying an industry that’s already on its knees and struggling, absolutely struggling, mentally, emotionally and physically. We need government support not more hindrance so we can produce food to feed the nation.”
He said inheritance tax changes will result in farmers increasing the price of food: “The poorer people in society aren’t going to be able to afford good, healthy, nutritious British food, so we have to push this to government for them to understand that enough is enough, the farmers can’t take any more of what they’re throwing at us.”
Mr Wyn Jones disputed the government’s estimation that only 500 farming estates in the UK will be affected by the inheritance tax changes.
“Look, a lot of farmers in this country are in their 70s and 80s, they haven’t handed their farms down because that’s the way it’s always been, they’ve always known there was never going to be inheritance tax.”
On Friday, Sir Keir addressed farmers’ concerns, saying: “I know some farmers are anxious about the inheritance tax rules that we brought in two weeks ago.
“What I would say about that is, once you add the £1m for the farmland to the £1m that is exempt for your spouse, for most couples with a farm wanting to hand on to their children, it’s £3m before anybody pays a penny in inheritance tax.”
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Welsh farmer Gareth Wyn Jones
Ministers said the move will not affect small farms and is aimed at targeting wealthy landowners who buy up farmland to avoid paying inheritance tax.
But analysis this week said a typical family farm would have to put 159% of annual profits into paying the new inheritance tax every year for a decade and could have to sell 20% of their land.
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The Country and Land Business Association (CLA), which represents owners of rural land, property and businesses in England and Wales, found a typical 200-acre farm owned by one person with an expected profit of £27,300 would face a £435,000 inheritance tax bill.
The plan says families can spread the inheritance tax payments over 10 years, but the CLA found this would require an average farm to allocate 159% of its profits each year for a decade.
To pay that, successors could be forced to sell 20% of their land, the analysis found.
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