Latest news with #eSafetyCommissioner
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- The Guardian
Man who posted deepfake images of prominent Australian women could face $450,000 penalty
The online safety regulator wants a $450,000 maximum penalty imposed on a man who posted deepfake images of prominent Australian women to a website, in the first case of its kind heard in an Australian court. The eSafety commissioner has launched proceedings against Anthony Rotondo over his failure to remove 'intimate images' of several prominent Australian women from a deepfake pornography website. The federal court has kept the names of the women confidential. Rotondo initially refused to comply with the order while he was based in the Philippines, the court heard, but the commissioner launched the case once he returned to Australia. Rotondo posted the images to the MrDeepFakes website, which has since been shut down. In December 2023, Rotondo was fined for contempt of court, after admitting he breached court orders by not removing the imagery. He later shared his password so the deepfake images could be removed. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A spokesperson for the eSafety commissioner said the regulator was seeking between $400,000 and $450,000 for the breaches of the Online Safety Act. The spokesperson said the penalty submission reflected the seriousness of the breaches 'and the significant impacts on the women targeted'. 'The penalty will deter others from engaging in such harmful conduct,' they said. eSafety said the non-consensual creation and sharing of explicit deepfake images caused significant psychological and emotional distress for victims. The penalties hearing was held on Monday, and the court has reserved its decision. Separately, federal criminal laws were passed in 2024 to combat explicit deepfakes. In her opening statement to the Senate committee reviewing the bill in July last year, the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said deepfakes had increased on the internet by 550% since 2019, and pornographic videos made up 99% of the deepfake material online, with 99% of that imagery of women and girls. 'Deepfake image based abuse is not only becoming more prevalent but is also very gendered and incredibly distressing to the victim-survivor,' Inman Grant said. 'Shockingly, thousands of open-source AI apps like these have proliferated online and are often free and easy to use by anyone with a smartphone. 'So these apps make it simple and cost-free for the perpetrator, while the cost to the target is one of lingering and incalculable devastation.'
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- The Guardian
Tracking apps might make us feel safe, but blurring the line between care and control can be dangerous
Who knows where you are right now? Your friends, your boss? Maybe your parents? How about your partner? According to recent research by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, 'nearly 1 in 5 young people believe it's OK to track their partner whenever they want'. As a long-term and stubbornly-vocal privacy advocate, I find this alarming. It's hard to imagine a bigger red flag than someone wanting to keep tabs on my daily movements. It's not that I'm doing anything remotely secretive: my days are most often spent working from home, punctuated by trips to the bakery – scandalous! But it's not about whether I have anything to hide from my partner. Everyone ought to have the right to keep things to themselves, and choose when they do or don't share. After reading this study I became troubled by a niggling feeling that perhaps I'm standing alone in the corner of the party while all my friends share their locations with one another. So I conducted a highly unscientific survey of people in my life. As it turns out, aside from a small handful who share my resistance, lots of people are indeed keeping digital tabs on one another. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Many constantly share their location with their partner, or use apps like Life360 or Find My Friends. Some groups of friends all do it together, and talk of it as a kind of digital closeness where physical distance and the busyness of life keeps them apart (I assure myself that I'm not invited to the tracking party for obvious reasons). Others use apps to keep familial watch over older relatives – especially when their health may be in decline. Obviously this is anecdotal, but it seems people are using all kinds of digital monitoring for all kinds of reasons, not all of them nefarious. Some research suggests the notion of 'careful surveillance' can form intimacy in ways that complicates typical ideas of privacy. It's hard to ignore the gendered nature of all this. The eSafety Commissioner's research specifically highlights that men are significantly more likely to consider intimate partner monitoring as reasonable and a 'sign of care'. Conversely, women tell me they digitally track one another as a safety mechanism while walking home at night, travelling alone or out on dates – specifically as a response to the terrifying state of men's violence against women. Likewise, research shows how some women perceive their phone as a key tool to mitigate safety risk. Perhaps one of the most disturbing notions is that acceptance of digital monitoring is often presented as a way to create – rather than undermine – a sense of trust. When government officials or tech industry bigwigs proclaim that you should be OK with being spied on if you're not doing anything wrong, they're asking (well, demanding) that we trust them. But it's not about trust, it's about control and disciplining behaviour. 'Nothing to hide; nothing to fear' is a frustratingly persistent fallacy, one in which we ought to be critical of when its underlying (lack of) logic creeps into how we think about interacting with one another. When it comes to interpersonal surveillance, blurring the boundary between care and control can be dangerous. The eSafety Commissioner is right to raise concerns that many of these behaviours are characteristic of tech-based coercive control, and to call out that use of digital spying tools by parents on their children has 'anaesthetised young people to the whole idea of being monitored', teaching them that surveillance is a form of love. Just as normalising state and corporate surveillance can lead to further erosion of rights and freedoms over time, normalising interpersonal surveillance seems to be changing the landscape of what's considered to be an expression of love – and not necessarily for the better. Many parents opt to use digital monitoring apps for fear for their children's safety. But this troubled association between surveillance and safety doesn't just come from protective parents: it's a long-held position of police, intelligence agencies and even politicians. It can be found in the repeated attempts to undermine end-to-end encryption, despite secure communications being essential to many people's online safety. It's in the moves to put facial recognition into CCTV cameras throughout Melbourne, despite it being well documented that such technologies demonstrate racial bias and exacerbate harms against people of colour. It's in assuring students that university wifi tracking and campus cameras are for safety, then weaponising it against them for protesting. We ought to be very critical of claims that equate surveillance with safety. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion As is often the case with issues of privacy, the boundaries between what might be OK and what feels intrusive generally comes back to a few key principles. This includes meaningful consent (do you know when, how and why it's being used, and do you have the ability to say no without repercussions?) and purpose limitation (is it for specific situations? Or is it all the time and for any reason?). As always, questions of who holds power and agency are crucial. Maybe these are markers of changing notions of love and care in a time of rampant surveillance, but, as always, we ought to be careful about what we usher in as the new normal. For me, I'll be holding on to a more offline kind of love. Samantha Floreani is a digital rights activist and writer. They are the program lead at Digital Rights Watch
The Advertiser
15-05-2025
- The Advertiser
Dark side of young people's phone habit revealed
For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14 For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14 For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14 For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14
Perth Now
15-05-2025
- Perth Now
Dark side of young people's phone habit revealed
For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14
West Australian
15-05-2025
- West Australian
Dark side of young people's phone habit revealed
For many young Australians, tracking a partner's every move is a normal sign of love and affection, but there is a darker side to the growing trend. Online following and monitoring has become common among family and friends but research published by the eSafety Commissioner on Thursday suggests this behaviour might be spilling over into romantic relationships. Ashton Wood, chief executive of DV Safe Phone, said the trend was concerning and could have harmful consequences. Mr Wood leads the organisation that provides free mobile phones to domestic violence victims across Australia. "In domestic violence, we see lots around technology-facilitated abuse," he told AAP. "It becomes a method of control and before the victim realises it, their partner is watching everything." Mr Wood said it was important to have a safe phone - one that was not tracked or monitored. "It's really critical if someone's in danger to have access to a device that their partner doesn't know about, that can be used without fear of being tracked or monitored," he said. The eSafety Commissioner's research found 18.6 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 expected to track their partner whenever they wanted. The study surveyed 2000 Australians aged 18 to 75, asking whether they agreed with certain harmful expectations and attitudes linked to tech-based coercive control in intimate relationships. Tracking a partner can take many forms, including using Apple's Find My app or third-party apps such as Life360, which is popular among parents. Maneesha Prakash from the Youth Advocacy Centre works with young people and delivers community legal education programs in schools. The domestic and family violence lawyer said it had become widely normalised for people to track friends, partners and loved ones through social media. "Most apps have the ability to share locations," Ms Prakash told AAP. "(Young) people don't blink twice. They think it's normal. They think it's part of somebody caring about them. "That leads to them getting into quite toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects." The prospect of tracking a partner can be a form of tech-based coercive control, which is a pattern of abusive behaviour used to control someone within a relationship. "A lot of young people find it really confronting when you talk to them about coercive control and how it's not normal behaviour to be constantly monitored," Ms Prakash said. "We are seeing quite a lot of DV behaviours stemming from coercive control that comes with locating someone." Ms Prakash said there were significant gaps in knowledge that left young people at a disadvantage. "It's important to keep having conversations around consent and coercive control in schools and at home.," she said. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline 13 11 14
