“This stuff just wouldn’t have cause to enter your mind”: Technologists’ perspectives on smart home technology-facilitated abuse

This work examines the neoteric threat of smart home technologies being (mis)used in the perpetration of domestic violence. For the past decade, domestic and family violence advocates, service providers, and victim-survivors have been pushing for technology-facilitated abuse to be recognised as a significant form of harm. Distinctively, using technology as a tool for surveillance, intimidation, coercion, and humiliation is an increasingly cited tactic of abuse within intimate relationships. This work examines the perspective of technologists in relation to the (mis)use of smart home technology and addresses potential methods to reduce harm associated with this form of domestic violence.