Abuse Using Technology

One way you can document your evidence is to keep a record (log) of the details of each incident as the incidents occur. You can download a sample technology abuse log to help with this.

Another important part of documenting evidence is storing the evidence in a safe location. For instance, if your phone is not safe, you may be able to store evidence such as voicemails, call logs, emails, or text messages in a cloud storage account, like Dropbox. You can also take screenshots or photos of the phone or computer screen and store those in a safe location. Be sure to capture as much information as possible. For instance, you will want to show the phone number of the person who is sending harassing messages, not just the contact name you assigned to that person in your phone. Multiple screenshots may be necessary for each item. For instance, you could take one of the message with the contact name, and another of the contact name and phone number. With screenshots of social media posts, be sure to include the full URL web address that is in the bar at the top of the window as well as the abuser’s profile page.

To document emails, print them with the full header information included. If you do not know how to do this, you can Google “[your email provider, like Gmail or Outlook] + get header information.” This preserves details such as the date and time of the email and the IP addresses it passed through to get to you. In some cases, it may even show the sender IP address, though this is less common nowadays. It is important to only document this from the original email. If the email has been forwarded, it will not have the same information.

Many social media sites and apps allow you to download the data on your account. If you have filed criminal charges or are involved in a court case, law enforcement or your lawyer may be able to send a letter or subpoena to the social media company or website to preserve and produce the account information.

Sometimes people find evidence that they are being stalked or monitored through a hidden camera, microphone, or GPS tracker. If this happens, you may want to think through the impact of removing or interfering with the equipment. Removing it could impact your safety, if the abuser knows that you found it, as well as interfere with your ability to document it. One option is asking the police to document the evidence before removing it. Before taking any action, you may want to work with a domestic violence advocate to think through how removing the equipment may impact your safety. The abuser may escalate his/her violence if s/he realizes you have discovered it.