當智能家居成爲家暴“幫兇”

SAN FRANCISCO — The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy.

舊金山——給幫助熱線和家庭暴力受害者收容所打電話的人表示，她們覺得自己要瘋了。

One woman had turned on her air-conditioner but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there.

一個女人打開空調，但說它自己關掉了，而她根本沒碰過空調。另一人說她家前門電子鎖的密碼每天都會變，她搞不明白爲什麼會這樣。還有人告訴一條家暴幫助熱線說，她聽到門鈴響，但門口根本沒人。

Their stories are part of a new pattern of behavior in domestic abuse cases tied to the rise of smart home technology. Internet-connected locks, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras marketed as the newest conveniences are now also being used as a means for harassment, monitoring, revenge and control.

她們的故事是家庭暴力案件裏一種新型行爲的一部分，這種行爲與智能家居技術的崛起有關。聯網門鎖、音箱、溫度調節裝置、燈以及攝像頭被宣傳爲給人們提供便利的最新設備，如今它們也被用作騷擾、監視、報復和控制的手段。

In more than 30 interviews with The New York Times, domestic abuse victims, their lawyers, shelter workers and emergency responders described how the technology was becoming an alarming new tool. Abusers — using apps on their smartphones, which are connected to the internet-enabled devices — would remotely control everyday objects in the home, sometimes to watch and listen, other times to scare or show power. Even after a partner had left the home, the devices often stayed and continued to be used to intimidate and confuse.

在《紐約時報》進行的30多次採訪中，家庭暴力受害者、她們的律師、收容所工作人員及急救人員描述了這類科技是如何成爲一種令人擔憂的新工具的。智能手機上的應用程序能夠連接這些通過網絡控制的設備，施暴者遠程控制家中的日常物件，他們有時候是爲了觀看或收聽家裏的情況，其他時候是爲了恫嚇或顯示威力。即使是在伴侶離開家中之後，這些設備也常常留在家中，繼續達到嚇唬和迷惑的目的。

For victims and emergency responders, the experiences were often aggravated by a lack of knowledge about how smart technology works, how much power the other person had over the devices, how to legally deal with the behavior and how to make it stop.

對於受害者和救援人員來說，缺乏對智能科技運作原理、另一個人對這些設備的控制程度有多深、如何合法應對這種行爲，以及如何阻止這種行爲的瞭解，往往使這種經歷惡化。

“People have started to raise their hands in trainings and ask what to do about this,” Erica Olsen, director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said of sessions she holds about technology and abuse. She said she was wary of discussing the misuse of emerging technologies because “we don’t want to introduce the idea to the world, but now that it’s become so prevalent, the cat’s out of the bag.”

“人們開始在培訓中舉手詢問該怎麼應對這種情況，”終結家庭暴力全國網絡(National Network to End Domestic Violence)安全網項目(Safety Net Project)主管艾麗卡·奧爾森(Erica Olsen)提到她舉辦的關於科技和虐待的會議時說。她說對於不當使用這些新興科技的討論，她感到很擔心，因爲“我們不想向全世界介紹這種概念，但如今它已經變得如此常見，已經是衆所周知的現象了”。

Some of tech’s biggest companies make smart home products, such as Amazon with its Echo speaker and Alphabet’s Nest smart thermostat. The devices are typically positioned as helpful life companions, including when people are at work or on vacation and want to remotely supervise their homes.

科技行業一些最大的公司都在生產智能家居商品，例如亞馬遜(Amazon)的Echo音箱，以及Alphabet的Nest智能溫控器。這些設備通常被作爲有用的生活夥伴，用處包括當人們上班或度假期間，想要遠程監控家裏的時候。

Connected home devices have increasingly cropped up in domestic abuse cases over the past year, according to those working with victims of domestic violence. Those at help lines said more people were calling in the last 12 months about losing control of Wi-Fi-enabled doors, speakers, thermostats, lights and cameras. Lawyers also said they were wrangling with how to add language to restraining orders to cover smart home technology.

據幫助家庭暴力受害者的工作人員表示，過去一年裏，聯網的家居設備在家庭暴力案件中突然出現增長。那些在幫助熱線工作的人士表示，過去12個月裏，有越來越多人打來電話，內容是關於由無線網絡控制的門鎖、音箱、溫度控制器、燈和攝像頭失控的。律師們也表示，他們正在就如何在禁制令中增加涵蓋智能家居科技的措辭爭吵不休。

Muneerah Budhwani, who takes calls at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said she started hearing stories about smart homes in abuse situations last winter. “Callers have said the abusers were monitoring and controlling them remotely through the smart home appliances and the smart home system,” she said.

在全國家庭暴力熱線(National Domestic Violence Hotline)接聽電話的穆妮拉·布瓦尼(Muneerah Budhwani)表示，去年冬天時，她開始聽到與智能家居有關的虐待故事。“打來電話的人說，虐待她們的人通過智能家居設備和智能家居系統，遠程監視、控制她們，”她說。

Graciela Rodriguez, who runs a 30-bed emergency shelter at the Center for Domestic Peace in San Rafael, California, said some people had recently come in with tales of “the crazy-making things” like thermostats suddenly kicking up to 100 degrees or smart speakers turning on blasting music.

格拉謝拉·羅德里格斯(Graciela Rodriguez)在加州聖拉斐爾家庭和平中心(Center for Domestic Peace)掌管一個有30張牀位的應急收容所，她說，近期一些住進來的人提到了“讓人發瘋的東西”，比如溫度控制器突然調高到了100華氏度，或是智能音箱開始播放震天響的音樂。

“They feel like they’re losing control of their home,” she said. “After they spend a few days here, they realize they were being abused.”

“她們覺得正在失去對家裏的控制，”她說。“在這裏待了幾天後，她們意識到自己是受到了家庭暴力。”

Smart home technology can be easily harnessed for misuse for several reasons. Tools like connected in-home security cameras are relatively inexpensive — some retail for $40 — and are straightforward to install. Usually, one person in a relationship takes charge of putting in the technology, knows how it works and has all the passwords. This gives that person the power to turn the technology against the other person.

智能家居科技很容易成爲不當使用的工具，而人們這麼做的原因多種多樣。像家中聯網的安全攝像頭這樣工具的價格較爲適中——一些攝像頭的零售價爲40美元——而且安裝容易。通常，處在一段關係中的一方會負責給家裏裝上這些科技產品，這個人知道這些設備如何運作，也擁有全部密碼。這會讓這個人擁有利用這些科技針對另一方的能力。

Emergency responders said many victims of smart home-enabled abuse were women.

應急人員表示，智能家居虐待的受害者多爲女性。

Connected home gadgets are largely installed by men, said Melissa Gregg, a research director at Intel working on the implications of smart home technology. Many women also do not have all the apps on their phones, said Jenny Kennedy, a postdoctoral research fellow at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, who is researching families that install smart home technology.

在英特爾(Intel)研究智能家居科技影響的研究總監梅麗莎·格雷格(Melissa Gregg)表示，互聯家庭設備的安裝者以男性居多。澳大利亞墨爾本皇家理工大學(RMIT University)博士後研究員詹寧·肯尼迪(Jenny Kennedy)表示，許多女性並未在自己的手機上安裝所需應用。肯尼迪正在對安裝了智能家居科技的家庭進行研究。

(One in three women and one in four men have been victims of physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, according to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control report.)

（根據美國疾病控制中心2010年發佈的報告，每三名女性或每四名男性之中就有一名是肢體暴力的受害者，或曾受親密伴侶的騷擾。）

The people who spoke to The Times about being harassed through smart home gadgetry were all women, many from wealthy enclaves where this type of technology has taken off. They declined to publicly use their names, citing safety and because some were in the process of leaving their abusers. Their stories were corroborated by domestic violence workers and lawyers who handled their cases.

向時報報告了有關被人通過智能家居設備騷擾案例的均爲女性，她們大多來自此類科技盛行的富裕地區。她們以安全爲由拒絕公開姓名，且一部分人正在擺脫各自的施暴者。她們的說法得到了家暴工作人員和案件經手律師的證實。

Each said the use of internet-connected devices by their abusers was invasive — one called it a form of “jungle warfare” because it was hard to know where the attacks were coming from. They also described it as an asymmetry of power because their partners had control over the technology — and by extension, over them.

所有人都表示，施暴者對連網設備的使用都是入侵性的——有人稱之爲一種“叢林戰”形式，因爲難以瞭解攻擊者在何處。她們還將其稱爲權力不對稱，因爲另一方擁有技術的掌控權——進而擴展爲對她們的掌控。

One of the women, a doctor in Silicon Valley, said her husband, an engineer, “controls the thermostat. He controls the lights. He controls the music.” She said, “Abusive relationships are about power and control, and he uses technology.”

其中一位女性是硅谷的醫生，她表示，自己的工程師丈夫“控制溫度，控制燈光，控制音樂”。她說：“虐待關係重點是權力和控制，而他用的是科技。”

She said she did not know how all of the technology worked or exactly how to remove her husband from the accounts. But she said she dreamed about retaking the technology soon.

她表示，她不清楚這些技術如何工作，或者如何移除丈夫的賬號。但她說，她夢想着能奪回技術控制權。

“I have a specific exit plan that I’m in the process of implementing, and one of my fantasies is to be able to say, ‘OK Google, play whatever music I want,'” she said. Her plan with the smart thermostat, she said, was to “pull it out of the wall.”

“我有一個正在實施的特別退出計劃，我的一個夢想就是能夠說，‘好，Google，播放我想聽的音樂’，”她說。她表示，她對智能溫控器的處理辦法就是，“把它從牆上拔出來”。

When a victim uninstalls the devices, this can escalate a conflict, experts said. “The abuser can see it’s disabled, and that may trigger enhanced violence,” said Jennifer Becker, a lawyer at Legal Momentum, a women’s rights legal advocacy group.

專家表示，當受害者卸除設備時，衝突可能會加劇。“施暴者可以看見設備被拆除，這可能會使暴力升級，”女權法律倡導組織法律動力(Legal Momentum)的律師詹妮弗·貝克(Jennifer Becker)說。

Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said disabling the devices could also further cut off a victim. “They’re not sure how their abuser is getting in and they’re not necessarily able to figure it out because they don’t know how the systems work,” Galperin said. “What they do is they just turn everything off, and that just further isolates them.”

數字權益團體電子前沿基金會(Electronic Frontier Foundation)網絡安全主管伊娃·加爾佩林(Eva Galperin)表示，關閉這些設備還可能會使受害者進一步遭到隔絕。“她們不確定施暴者是如何登入設備的，也不一定能研究明白，因爲她們不知道這些系統是如何運作的，”加爾佩林說。“她們做的只是將所有設備關機，而這隻會進一步孤立自己。”

Legal recourse may be limited. Abusers have learned to use smart home technology to further their power and control in ways that often fall outside existing criminal laws, Becker said. In some cases, she said, if an abuser circulates video taken by a connected indoor security camera, it could violate some states’ revenge porn laws, which aim to stop a former partner from sharing intimate photographs and videos online.

相關法律手段也十分有限。貝克表示，施暴者已經瞭解如何使用智能家居科技來拓展他們的權力，而他們的掌控方式往往處於現有的刑法範圍之外。她表示，在某些情況下，如果施暴者傳播室內聯網安全監控錄下的視頻，可能會觸犯部分州的色情報復法律，該法律旨在阻止前任在網上分享親密照片及視頻。

Advocates are beginning to educate emergency responders that when people get restraining orders, they need to ask the judge to include all smart home device accounts known and unknown to victims. Many people do not know to ask about this yet, Becker said. But even if people get restraining orders, remotely changing the temperature in a house or suddenly turning on the TV or lights may not contravene a no-contact order, she said.

倡導者已開始教育應急人員，當人們在申請限制令時，他們需要要求法官將受害者已知或未知的一切智能家居設備賬戶包括在內。貝克表示，許多人還不知道如何提出這一要求。她說，即使人們得到了限制令，遙控改變房內溫度或突然打開電視或電燈，可能也並不違反禁止接觸令。

Several law enforcement officials said the technology was too new to have shown up in their cases, although they suspected the activity was occurring.

多名執法官員表示，這些科技太過新穎，他們還未接到過相關案例，不過他們懷疑類似活動確有發生。

“I’m sure that it’s happening,” said Zach Perron, a captain in the police department in Palo Alto, California. “It makes complete sense knowing what I know about the psychology of domestic violence suspects. Domestic violence is largely about control — people think of physical violence but there’s emotional violence, too.”

“我確信這是正在發生的事情，”加州帕洛阿爾託的警局副巡長扎克·佩倫(Zach Perron)說。“據我對家暴活動嫌疑人心理特徵的瞭解，這完全說得通。家庭暴力主要事關控制——人們認爲是肢體暴力，但還有感情暴力。”