Online Safety Tips

Everyone has a right to exist safely in digital spaces 

  • Challenge cyber violence and cyber harassment as soon as it comes up in your online spaces.
  • Challenge violence safely. There’s more than one option to intervene. Do something that you feel comfortable doing.
  • Never share potentially harmful posts on social media. You can report it, flag it, delete it and tell someone you trust. You can even post a separate message highlighting positive resources to support someone who is being harassed online.

 

Click here to read Hollabacks! Technical Safety Guide! 


 

Your data is not safe online

  • If your Internet activity is not encrypted, it is NOT private and you should assume that someone or something could see it.
  • Encryption is a way to cover important information using a code before it is sent over the Internet.
  • Left unchecked, your cookies will feed personal data to private companies.
  • Public wi-fi is extremely insecure.
  • Do not trust apps that require access to your accounts.

 


 

Take extra steps to protect yourself

  • Beware of Geotagging. Many sites offer an option to disable Geotagging in their privacy settings.
  • Look for an option to disable your location on any site you post content or media to.
  • If you have files, pictures, or any kind of media that is not encrypted, it is NOT private. You should assume that someone or something could see it.
  • Phones will never be secure but you might as well try! Just as you can encrypt your computer so no one can dig around on your hard-drive.
  • Use SSL & HTTPS connections whenever possible.
  • SSL (or Secure Sockets Layer) is a security technology that established an encrypted link between a website and a browser. HTTPS (or Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure) helps to encrypt all communications between your web browser and the website you are visiting.
  • Every social media site has different security capabilities, and some are better than others. You should Google different social media privacy guides to understand which tools you have at your disposal.

 


 

Adapted resources from:

Take Back the Tech!

Safe Hub Collective

Draw-the-Line

 


 

Want more online safety resources? Check these out! 

CYBERVIOLENCE RESOURCES

 

Draw-the-Line

Engaging Ontarians in a dialogue about sexual violence.

Hollaback! Staying safe on social media- We’ve got your back!

Introducing our new Social Media Safety Guides for Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and Youtube! We have worked hard alongside each of these platforms to make the process of understanding online safety a priority.

Every guide gives user friendly information on how to best use reporting and privacy tools on each platform, and for the very first time all of this information is located in one nifty location!

Take Back the Tech

Take Back the Tech! is a collaborative campaign to reclaim information and communication technology (ICT) to end violence against women (VAW).

Safe Hub Collective

Safe Hub Collective is a group of people working to make all public spaces safer and more accessible for everyone in the Greater Boston area through collective action and community-based solutions.

Crash Override Network

Online Abuse Crisis Helpline, resource center, and advocacy group. Staffed by survivors, trying to make the internet a safer place.

Women, Action & the Media

Reporting, Reviewing, And Responding To Harassment on Twitter: Recommendations. 

WAM! launched a pilot project to support Twitter users experiencing gendered harassment and abuse on the platform, including abuse that intersects with racial, LGBT, and other kinds of oppression.