(Vancouver) Women’s Shelter Canada is calling on phone companies to adjust how they respond to people fleeing domestic violence, saying the costs of changing phone numbers and the difficulty of leaving a shared plan are major barriers for victims.
The organization released a report Wednesday examining how Bell, Rogers and Telus responded to a victim’s request to change their plan, and is now making recommendations on how they can improve service for these vulnerable people .
Rhiannon Wong, project manager for the Tech Safety Canada group, said their report comes shortly after a national survey in April found harassment was the most common form of gender-based violence facilitated by technology.
Other forms of violence include threats, location tracking, banning of online accounts, surveillance and non-consensual image sharing.
According to Ms. Wong, these types of violence are on the rise, but they are not being recognized because they are not physical violence.
“It’s really important that telecommunications companies are able to respond to this, because illegal acts like harassment and threats through technology, they allow this to happen on their services,” she argued.
The report states that of 204 frontline workers surveyed between 2022 and 2023, 95% reported supporting survivors of these forms of violence. According to the report, 98% of respondents identified smartphones as the primary device used to harass victims.
The survey also indicates that 44 percent of shelter workers reported seeing family cell phone plans misused against survivors.
“Technology-related violence and abuse often prevents survivors from accessing domestic and sexual violence support, or even finding affordable housing or employment due to the abuser’s control over technology.” , Ms Wong said.
“This is because abusers monitor who calls a survivor, control when she has access to the internet, and send harassing and threatening messages. »
To test how the companies responded to requests for help getting off an abuser’s plan, staff members in Ontario and British Columbia contacted customer service agents from Bell, Rogers and Telus .
Wong said the companies were chosen because they are the largest in Canada and are available in all territories and provinces. But, she added, their suggestions also extend to all telecommunications companies, not just those included in their study.
Wong said each company was contacted four times in total – twice via online chat and twice by phone. Each time, Women’s Shelters Canada staff identified themselves and said they were calling on behalf of a domestic violence survivor who needed help changing their phone number or leaving a shared plan owned by the abuser.
The report said staff members all reported issues regarding “access, inconsistency, cost, requiring survivors to involve the abuser in separating from a shared plan, and requiring of credit checks to open new accounts.”
Ms Wong, who was one of the staff members who made the calls, said there were “not a lot of options” available.
“From the research we did, we found that the answers to our questions really depended on the agent who answered our calls,” she said.
“For example, one agent I spoke to spent most of their time trying to convince me to get a credit card, rather than supporting me with an issue I presented to them. »
The organization listed a series of recommendations for companies, including that employees have “a consistent and clear understanding of company policies” and undergo training on how to respond to victims in a “trauma-informed manner.”
It also suggests making it easier for customers to leave shared plans without the account holder’s permission and offering fee waivers in cases of domestic violence, without requiring documentation through a police report.
Wong said Telus, Rogers and Bell were all consulted and their responses were included in the final version of the report. All three companies acknowledged the problems and said they were reviewing processes to better support victims.
Bell said it is “committed to improving the customer experience and ensuring we provide appropriate interactions with anyone who contacts us for support.” The company sent the same response to The Canadian Press when asked for its reaction to the report.
Rogers was quoted in the report as saying it was taking steps to implement a number of the report’s recommendations, “including waiving victim fees and making it easier for victims to opt out of a shared plan.” It said it was also updating training for front-line service agents. It reiterated the same in an email Tuesday.
Telus did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But in the report, the company highlights the various programs it offers for internet safety and mental well-being, and says it is “committed to providing support and assistance to customers in need.”
Although Rhiannon Wong says the goal remains changing protocols for phone companies, governments can also play a role in ensuring security extends across all types of technology.
“There is a lot of attention and pressure from government and the public to protect people from online dangers when it comes to social media, but harms like harassment and threats through other forms of technology, like our smartphones, are just as prevalent and illegal,” she said.
“What we expect from the government is to take all forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence seriously when bringing forward bills and laws. »