Family & Safety

Technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) is the use of technology to harm another person. The harm to another person can include:

• Hurting someone physically or emotionally,
• Controlling someone, or
• Taking advantage of someone.

Examples of TFA include:

• Using devices such as smartphones or tablets to text message, AirDrop, or monitor someone
• Using apps such as dating or messaging apps
• Using online services such as video calls, voice calls, or online conferencing
• Using online platforms such as social media, email, or websites.

For immediate help, survivors of technology-facilitated abuse can:

• Call 911.
• Call a domestic violence hotline
  • The National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233 or text START to 88788.
  • The Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at 877-863-6338 (877-TO END DV) or text.
  • Your local domestic violence victim service agency in the directory maintained by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
• Call Love is Respect's 24-hour hotline at (866) 331-9474 for support and advocacy for teens and young adults. You can also text LOVEIS to 22522 or chat online.
• Contact the Illinois 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988 or use chat.
• Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-8255 for English, (800) 628-9454 for Spanish, or (800) 799-4889 for Deaf & Hard of Hearing. When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer You can also text HOME to 741741 (English). You can reach out online by completing a survey to be connected with a counselor.
• Call The Trevor Project at (866) 488-7386 to talk to crisis counselors who understand the challenges the LGBTQIA+ communities face. You can also text START to 678-678 or chat.

For those who live in Chicago, The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence organization has established a fund that can provide flexible cash assistance for eligible survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, When a person commits an act of sexual penetration by force or threat of force. Done without the consent of the victim. This includes when the victim cannot give consent. stalking, When a person follows someone, watches them outside their home or office, or tells them things they observed them doing or human trafficking. Involves the use of force or coercion to make someone participate in forced labor or a commercial sex act, or luring them into participating if they are under 18.  Learn more about their Survivor Fund.

Technology-facilitated abuse can come in many forms, including:

• Image-Based Sexual Abuse (IBSA)
• Cyberflashing
• Cyberstalking
• Cybersex Trafficking
• Sextortion
• Intimate Partner Surveillance (IPS)

Image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) is an abuse that involves the use of sexual images or videos. Examples include:

• Forcing someone to take or send sexual images,
• Threatening to distribute someone’s sexual images,
• Posting someone’s sexual images online without consent, When someone gives permission for someone else to do something or
• Creating “deepfake” sexual images using someone’s face without consent.

Generally, any abuse that involves sexual images or videos is ISBA. Illinois has specifically made it illegal to distribute someone’s sexual images online without consent or create “deepfake” sexual images using someone’s face without consent.

Cyberflashing happens when someone sends you sexual photos or videos that you didn’t ask for or consent When someone gives permission for someone else to do something to. The person sending them could be someone you know or a stranger. For example, it’s cyberflashing when someone sends an unwanted photo of their genitals.

Cyberstalking is the use of technology to stalk or harass someone, which makes the stalking When a person follows someone, watches them outside their home or office, or tells them things they observed them doing survivor fear for the safety of themselves or some else. Examples of cyberstalking include:

• Repeatedly calling the survivor to bother or annoy them,
• Threatening to expose the stalking survivor’s private information,
• Obtaining the stalking survivor’s passwords through fraud, The deception of someone(s) with intent to cause damage (not including  forgeries and counterfeiting). deception, or force,
• Posting things on social media that hurt the survivor’s reputation, or
• Monitoring the stalking survivor’s online activities after being told to stop.

Yes. Even if the State's Attorney's A lawyer who represents the state in a criminal case office does not file charges against the stalker, the stalking survivor can still request protection by applying for a Stalking No Contact Order (SNCO) or an Order of Protection A document from a judge that tells an abuser to stop further domestic abuse, or face penalties if they are a survivor of domestic violence. Harm by one household or family member against another household or family member. Harm may be an emotional, mental, or physical injury Issued by a judge, this tells a person to stop contacting another person. A survivor can ask the judge to stop the stalker from:

• Following or monitoring them,
• Threatening them,
• Talking or writing to them (by cellphone, computer, mail, phone, text, email, instant message, or social media),
• Interfering with or damaging their property,
• Possessing or buying firearms, as well as confiscating the stalker’s Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card,
• Coming near them in public or on private property, and
• Showing up at their work, home, school, or daycare facility.

Learn more about how to start a case to get a Stalking No Contact Order (SNCO).

Cybersex trafficking is when someone is forced, tricked, or pressured into performing sexual acts on camera, such as through livestreams, video calls, or recorded videos. The people who abuse survivors this way are called traffickers. They often post or sell sexual videos or photos online for money.

Sextortion is the use of sexual images to force someone to comply. Examples of sextortion include:

• Asking for sexual images by offering shelter or drugs, or
• Using someone’s sexual images to pressure them into sending more.

Intimate partner surveillance (IPS) means monitoring, tracking, or spying on an intimate partner without their knowledge or consent. When someone gives permission for someone else to do something Examples of IPS include:

• Using apps or GPS to track location or communications without consent, or
• Doing background checks of the survivor without the survivor’s knowledge or consent.

Yes. Emotional or mental abuse is technology-facilitated abuse (TFA) too. TFA can happen without physical harm. Examples include:

• Making a survivor feel unsafe by threatening to expose the survivor’s sexual images online,
• Making a survivor feel shamed by using the survivor’s face to create faked sexual images, or
• Making a survivor feel disturbed by hacking Gaining access to computer software, hardware, or networks without permission. the survivor’s passwords and using the accounts without consent. When someone gives permission for someone else to do something

Yes. Economic abuse is a type of technology-facilitated abuse, even if no physical or emotional harm occurs. Examples of economic abuse include:

• Posting fake information that hurts the survivor’s reputation, making the survivor lose their job,
• Suspending money or allowance unless the survivor provides sexual images,
• Controlling the survivor’s bank account, or
• Threatening to post the survivor’s sexual images online unless they pay money.

Yes. In Illinois, sharing someone’s sexual images without their consent When someone gives permission for someone else to do something is a Class 4 felony A serious crime that is punishable by more than one year in prison when that person can be identified from the images.

Yes. If the abuser is a family or household member of the survivor, the survivor can apply for an Order of Protection. Otherwise, a survivor of sexual abuse that involves physical contact can apply for a Civil No Contact Order. If the abuser did not physically harm the survivor, the survivor can still apply for a Stalking No Contact Order to keep the abuser away.

Some safety tips and recommendations for survivors of technology-facilitated abuse include:

• Changing passwords,
• Changing to a new device or phone number (an Order of Protection A document from a judge that tells an abuser to stop further domestic abuse, or face penalties can require the survivor's phone number be moved into a different account)
• Setting up new accounts,
• Disconnecting Apple accounts (particularly if you share an iCloud account with the abuser),
• Identifying and removing Apple tags,
• Being careful on social media, such as not including photos of kids as abusers can figure out locations.
• Requesting that friends and family not share information or tag them in any posts.

Learn more about technology safety and tracking safety.

A survivor of technology-facilitated abuse may want to get a lawyer Someone who represents clients in courts or who gives legal advice to help them. A lawyer can help with:

• Helping identify an unknown abuser,
• Assisting with preparing documents, such as filing a petition (noun) A written request to a court (verb) To request from a court for a Stalking When a person follows someone, watches them outside their home or office, or tells them things they observed them doing No Contact Order, Order of Protection, A document from a judge that tells an abuser to stop further domestic abuse, or face penalties or Civil No Contact Order,
• Making sure the survivor does not break the law while collecting evidence Anything used to show that something is true of abuse, or
• Representing the survivor in a hearing When the parties in a case present their sides of a case to a judge or other officer to obtain a protective order.

You can use Get Legal Help to find a free legal aid organization or a private lawyer near you.