Women - From Survivor's Handbook - Keeping Yourself Safe - Online Tracking

How can an abuser discover your internet and mobile activities?
Spyware is becoming very easy to purchase and install on home computers and mobile phones. You may think that you are safe to access a home computer, not knowing that what you do is being tracked. Find out more about cyberstalking.

Abusers can also look at the history of sites you've visited easily...
You don't have to be a computer expert to track someone's movements online. As a rule, internet browsers will save certain information as you surf the internet. This includes images from websites visited, words entered into search engines and a trail ('history') that reveals the sites you have visited. Below are instructions on how to minimize the chances of someone finding out that you have visited this website.

Warning about deleting cookies and address historiesIt's important to state that there is a risk involved in removing data from your computer. For instance, if your partner uses online banking and has a saved password, then if you clear the cookies on your PC, your partner will realise you've done so, because their password will no longer be saved.  Also, your partner may notice if the address history on the PC has been cleared, and this may raise suspicion. On all browsers you will have a tab called History or Favorites where you can select individual websites to delete, although other traces of sites (eg cookies, passwords) may not be deleted. One way to lower the risk of suspicious history removal is to use Private browsing mode (see below). However the safest way is to use a different computer.

Private Browsing (name varies for different browsers)
This tool prevents websites from saving any data about you which may leave a trail, such as cookies, history or other browser data created or saved in that session. Your history for that session will also be deleted when you close the window.

Not to be confused with Private Filtering, which has another function and will not stop your abuser from seeing your trail! 

Generally Private Browsing can be activated in the Tools bar. This will open a new window. Remember only to use this window for your browsing session, and make sure you close it! Leaving this window open will alert your abuser that you are concerned he is tracking you.
Read more about In-Private Browsing

However, even though it helps, this mode is not entirely safe, and there are some programmes that can recover deleted files, or a determined person could still find traces of your visit if they read enough "tips" online. Again, the only safe way is to use a computer your abuser does not have access to!

Stored passwordsYour browser can store passwords to save you time, but these can also used by someone to access your account. When you first use a password on a site you will be asked if you want the browser to remember it - click no, or browse in Private Mode. However, accidents happen and you may accidentally allow a password to be saved. You can delete saved passwords either as part of your history removal or separately, depending on your browser (see below) - remember that removing all passwords may be suspicious if you share a computer.

Remember toolbars
Toolbars such as Google, AOL and Yahoo keep a record of the search words you have typed into the toolbar search box. In order to erase all the search words you have typed in, you will need to check the individual instructions for each type of toolbar. For example, for the Google toolbar all you need to do is click on the Google icon, and choose "Clear Search History".
 

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Manual deletion of history, cookies etc

How do I work out which browser I'm using?If you know what browser you are using, then skip to the relevant instructions below. If you do not know the type of browser you are using, click on Help on the toolbar at the top of the browser screen. A drop down menu will appear, the last entry will say About Internet Explorer, About Mozilla Firefox, or something similar. The entry refers to which browser type you are using - you should then refer to the relevant instructions below.

Internet Explorer 7 & 8Click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options. In the General page under Browser History, select the Delete... button. Either select and delete each section: Temporary internet files; Cookies, History; Forms data and Passwords; or select the Delete all... button at the bottom to clear everything.

Mozilla Firefox 8Click on Tools and Options. Firefox bundles cookies, forms and history under the heading ‘history’. Click the privacy tab, then on “clear your recent history”. Select the period you want to delete. Click on Details to select cookies, forms etc.

To delete passwords click on the security tab where you can view all the passwords saved when you browse the web. You can delete them here and remember not to allow Firefox to save them in the future.

In Firefox you (or someone accessing your computer) can actually read the passwords saved on your system. If you use the same passwords for many things consider changing them all if you have allowed your browser to save any.

You can also adjust how you want Firefox to store your data under the privacy tab. 

Safari To remove history go to History, and click Clear History.
To remove cookies go to Settings (right hand side), Preferences, Privacy tab and click Remove all Website Data (or Details to select certain sites).

Chrome, Opera and other browsersThere are many new browsers on the market, so it is always advisable to search for advice on your own browser. For example this tutorial shows you various security measures on Opera, or you can see the settings for Google Chrome.

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E-mails

If an abuser sends you threatening or harassing e-mail messages, they may be printed and saved as evidence of this abuse.

Be aware of how records of your emails can be accessed:

• Any email you have previously sent will be stored in sent Items. Go to sent items and delete emails you don't want a person to see
• If you started an email but didn't finish it, it might be in your drafts folder. Go to the draft folder to delete it
• If you reply to any email, the original message will probably be in the body of the message - delete the email if you dont want anyone to see your original message.
• When you delete an item in any email program (Outlook Express, Outlook, Thunderbird etc) it does not really delete the item - it moves the item to a folder called Deleted Items. You have to delete the items in Deleted Items to remove them completely
• If there's a risk that your abuser may know how to access your emails, it's a good idea to set up a new email account. Use a provider like Hotmail or Yahoo for an account you can access from anywhere, and use a name that is not recognisable as you, for example - crispycookies@gmail.com. Keep this email secret.

General security If you do not use a password to log on to your computer, someone else will be able to access your email and track your internet usage. The safest way to find information on the internet, would be at a local library, a friend's house, or at work. 

 

If you do use a password make sure it's one someone who knows you can't guess, such as your pet or birthdate, and change it regularly.

 

Visit The Survivor's Handbook Source - Women UK

Barrie shelter experience gave woman the chance to change her life’s course

The Strength to move on...

The Woman and Children's Shelter of Barrie moved from this Berczy Street location to a new, larger facility in 1991

Jo-Anne David remembers packing her belongings into garbage bags as she prepared to leave her partner two decades ago.

She didn’t know where she was going to go.

She was a francophone who wasn’t originally from Barrie and had two children to take with her.

She just knew she had to leave.

“After years of putting up with emotional abuse and threats … I thought, ‘I’m out of here,’” David said.

As she was throwing the bags into her car, she received a fateful call from a colleague, suggesting she go to the Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie.

Twenty years later, David is now the executive director of the Francophone Prevention Centre for Violence Against Women and Sexual Assault where she works as a partner with the Barrie shelter and helps women like her younger self.

As a former client and current partner, David has seen the shelter progress through an “amazing journey” over the years.

This journey includes the celebration of a 30th anniversary and the launch of a new $3.5-million project called New Beginnings.

The project’s aim is to fund the development a new affordable housing apartment building in Barrie.

It’s expected to be completed within three years.

The apartments will be second-stage homes for families who have either stayed at the first-stage shelter or who have left an abusive situation recently.

Women and families will be able to reside in one of the 20 units for up to a year.

“During that time they can more forward in their lives,” said Heather Croft, the shelter’s community development co-ordinator.

“Whether it’s going back to school, finding a job or having their rent be less so they can put that money towards moving forward.”

Croft said she’s found more families have been staying longer at the shelter, partly because it’s difficult to find affordable housing in Barrie.

“A lot of the time people are feeling like there’s no hope,” Croft said. “This gives us a chance to say … capture your dreams and this community will be behind you.”

David understands first hand the importance of having a supportive community and a safe place to stay. The five weeks she and her children spent at the shelter in 1993 provided her with newfound peace and security.

She refers to the shelter as her sanctuary and to the staff as angels.

“I’d never seen people that calm,” she said. “I came from an environment where everybody screams and yells.”

The staff offered her support and information about practical matters like legal rights. Instead of forcing the assistance, they helped her empower herself.

“They would let us discover and put words to things,” David said.

This is how she began to see her life more clearly. She realized that violence had become her norm.

While she spent time at the shelter gaining a new peace of mind, the clients and staff became her new community and support system.

During the evenings, David would help out around the shelter, just as a family member would at home, and during the day, she continued on with her life, going to work and dropping her kids off at daycare.

When she was ready to leave, the staff helped her prepare for a fresh start. They sent her off with essentials, like dishes, and pocket change for items she might need.

But most importantly, they helped set her on the path to finding peace.

This wasn’t always easy to achieve in the years after she left.

“I did a lot of going into silence and figuring out my life,” David said.

In 1998, she made a five-year plan and decided to pursue her dream of attending university. Still supporting her children,

she knew this would be difficult, but she took a leap of faith.

“It was like jumping off the CN Tower,” she said. “And free falling.”

She landed on her feet. After graduating from York University with a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in law, David was offered her current position at the francophone prevention centre.

For six years, she’s been able to do what makes her happy.

She now calls herself a “welcome wagon for the francophone community” and takes on a supportive approach to helping others. She’s caring, not overbearing — similar to what she experienced at the shelter.

“I love helping people. I’m about empowering them,” David said. “But I’m not a martyr. I’ll give them the tools, resources, references and say, ‘Go girl.’”

Her past helps her relate to the women she assists and she’s also now able to share her new perspectives with them.

“For women it’s often about family, traditional family, and not being a failure. So when you leave a relationship, that’s considered failure,” David said. “But I call it sucking it up. If I create kids and create that environment for them, I’m only creating that for the next generation.”

Today, she’s achieved a peace that the shelter helped her discover 20 years ago.

“I love life. I always did. But it was just being snuffed out,” she said.

“Now, I’m happy.”

For information on the shelter, visit  barrieshelter.com.

The shelter in the 1990s:

• • The early outreach office was small and cramped to the point that one staff member’s office was in the old safe.
• • The shelter moved from Berczy Street to the new, larger facility in 1991.
• • There was little money to purchase furniture for the outreach office so staff begged and borrowed to furnish the space.
• • In 1999 the agency changed its name from the Women’s Crisis Centre to the Women and Children’s Shelter.
• • Shelter staff made a close connection with YMCA immigrant services in the 1990s when the Barrie demographics were changing.
• • The shelter hired a victim services co-ordinator to work with the Simcoe County District School Board and teach principals, teachers and their support staff about domestic violence.
• • In 1995, a young male police officer brought a woman in her mid-70s into the shelter. She was leaving an abusive husband and the officer was very choked up when he told her story. He said the woman reminded him of his grandmother. The woman stayed at the shelter for five months at a time when the average stay was six to eight weeks.

Katrina Clarke, Special to the Examiner

Sunday, February 10, 2013 3:06:05 EST PM