Apps Against Abuse Challenge

Convened by the US White House (OSTP), HHS, and the Office of the Vice President · 2011

Summary

“Apps Against Abuse” was a US federal technology challenge launched in July 2011 by Vice President Joe Biden, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, as part of the 1 is 2 Many initiative against dating violence and sexual assault. It called on software developers to use mobile technology to keep young adults connected to trusted friends in real time and to provide fast access to help (local police, abuse hotlines).

The framing was explicitly bystander- and prevention-oriented: because many incidents of dating violence and sexual assault involve an acquaintance isolating a target, the envisioned app would let someone reach trusted friends before harm occurs. In November 2011 two co-winners were announced — Circle of 6 and On Watch — and the Vice President urged college and university leaders to make students aware of them.

Connections

Winning apps assert won::[[Apps Against Abuse Challenge]]; see this page’s backlinks for the full list.

Sources

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1is2many/apps-against-abuse

Tags: #initiative #policy #government

Backlinks

Linked Pages

1-is-2-many

1 is 2 Many

Convened by the US Office of the Vice President (Vice President Joe Biden) · launched 2011, active through the Obama Administration (~2011–2016)

Summary

“1 is 2 Many” (styled 1is2many) was a US federal initiative launched by Vice President Joe Biden in September 2011 to reduce dating violence and sexual assault among teens and young adults. Its name reflects the data driving it: women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rates of relationship violence, and Biden framed even a single case as one too many. The initiative used technology, public-service announcements, and outreach to engage young women and young men in preventing violence in the places they live, work, study, and socialise, while also acknowledging male survivors.

As its technology arm, 1 is 2 Many launched the Apps Against Abuse challenge in July 2011 — a national developer contest, run with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and HHS — that produced winning apps to help young people quickly reach trusted friends and call for help. The effort sat alongside broader Administration work on the same problem, including the 2014 White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault and its companion “Not Alone” initiative.

Connections

Sources

Tags: #initiative #policy #government

intimate-partner-violence

Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined by the WHO as behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm — including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours. It is the most common form of Domestic Violence and is best understood not as isolated assaults but as an ongoing pattern of domination; the surveillance, isolation and monitoring of Coercive Control are often the core of the abuse rather than incidental to it. This is also why Tech-Enabled Abuse is so potent in IPV: an abuser with shared accounts, devices and location data has ready-made tools for control.

IPV is strikingly prevalent. WHO estimates that about 25.8% of ever-partnered women aged 15–49 have experienced physical and/or sexual IPV at least once in their lifetime, making it the most widespread form of Gender-Based Violence against women. The Lancet’s 2018 global analysis similarly found roughly one in four ever-partnered women affected over their lifetime, with around 13% reporting partner violence in the past year. IPV is also a leading context for femicide: a large share of women killed worldwide die at the hands of an intimate partner.

In this vault

Subtype ofGender-Based Violence
Related toCoercive Control
Related toDomestic Violence
Manifests inTech-Enabled Abuse

Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)02664-7/fulltext

Tags: #concept #violence

sexual-violence

Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is defined by the WHO as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting. It spans a wide continuum — rape and attempted rape, sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, and the denial of contraception or sexual-health protection. Because consent is central, the defining feature is the absence of freely given agreement rather than the presence of physical force. It can be perpetrated by an intimate partner — overlapping with Intimate Partner Violence — or by acquaintances and strangers (non-partner sexual violence).

It is a major and persistently under-reported form of Gender-Based Violence. WHO estimates that about 8% of women aged 15 and over (roughly 263 million) have experienced non-partner sexual violence at least once since age 15, and that around 31.6% of women worldwide have experienced partner violence or non-partner sexual violence over their lifetime. Children are also heavily affected: a 2023 global analysis estimated lifetime prevalence of childhood sexual violence at about 18.9% for girls and 14.8% for boys. Stigma, fear and disbelief mean recorded figures substantially understate the true scale, shaping how survivor-centred Reporting and Disclosure tools must be designed.

In this vault

Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12100463/

Tags: #concept #violence

bystander-intervention

Bystander Intervention

Bystander intervention is a violence-prevention approach that equips the people around a potential victim — friends, peers, colleagues, communities — to notice, interrupt and prevent harm before it occurs, rather than placing the whole burden on the person at risk. In safety tech it shows up as tools that lower the friction of reaching trusted people: Circle of 6, Círculo, On Watch, and the federal Apps Against Abuse Challenge that promoted them were all explicitly bystander- and prevention-oriented.

Insight Exchange’s Responders Lab extends the idea beyond the crisis moment, framing everyone as an ongoing “responder” whose interactions matter.

In this vault

PreventsGender-Based Violence
Related toTrusted Network

on-watch

On Watch

On Watch · iPhone · Free · circa 2011–2012

Summary

On Watch is an iPhone personal-safety app built for college students. It lets a user transmit critical information — by phone, email, text, and social media — to a chosen support network. Two touches can call 911 or campus police; “check-in” messages keep friends informed; and countdown timers automatically send a message with GPS coordinates if an activity does not go according to plan (for example, a walk home that runs long). It also connects users directly to sexual-assault, dating-violence, and domestic-abuse hotlines.

It was named alongside Circle of 6 as a co-winner of the federal Apps Against Abuse Challenge, whose brief was to keep young adults connected to trusted friends in real time and to provide fast access to help.

Recognition

WonApps Against Abuse Challenge
- Co-winner with Circle of 6, announced November 2011.

Safety features

ImplementsPanic Button
- Two-touch call to 911 or campus police.
ImplementsLocation Sharing
- GPS sent automatically on a missed check-in / countdown.
ImplementsTrusted Network
ImplementsCrisis Hotlines and Resources

circle-of-6

Circle of 6

Tech 4 Good (Nancy Schwartzman, Christine Corbett Moran, Thomas Cabus) · iOS (Feb 2012) / Android (Sept 2012) · Free · Active (founding lead developer departed 2015)

Summary

Circle of 6 is a bystander-style personal-safety app for preventing dating violence and sexual assault, built on the premise that the fastest help is often a trusted friend. A user picks six people for their “circle”; from then on, two taps sends those contacts a pre-set message together with the user’s GPS location — for example “come and get me,” “call and interrupt me,” or a request for advice. The app also links directly to reputable domestic-violence and national hotlines, and originally invited contacts to take a Facebook pledge to help stop violence before it happens.

It was co-created by filmmaker and activist Nancy Schwartzman with developer Christine Corbett Moran (lead developer / CTO until 2015) and Thomas Cabus, under the umbrella “Tech 4 Good.” A university edition, Circle of 6 U, customised the trusted-resource links per campus; the team ran a two-year pilot with colleges including Williams. The app reported over 15,000 downloads within its first months and wide press coverage.

Recognition

WonApps Against Abuse Challenge
- Co-winner with On Watch of the White House / HHS challenge, announced November 2011.

Safety features

ImplementsTrusted Network
- Exactly six pre-chosen contacts — small, intimate, low-friction.
ImplementsPanic Button
- Two taps to send a pre-set message.
ImplementsLocation Sharing
- GPS location attached to the alert.