Digital Safety for Domestic Violence Survivors (2026)

Immediate steps

1. Trust your instincts — if the abuser seems to know too much, they may be monitoring devices, accounts, or location.
2. Seek help from a safer device the abuser doesn't control.
3. Contact the National DV Hotline or a local advocate to make a safety plan before changing settings (sudden changes can escalate danger).
4. With an advocate's help, review devices/accounts for tracking, shared logins, and location sharing.
5. Protect your address (see prevention/follow-up).

Evidence preservation

Where to report

Removal actions

1. With safety planning, change passwords and recovery options from a safe device; enable 2FA.
2. Remove your address/phone from people-search sites so the abuser can't relocate you (most effective if you've moved or the abuser doesn't already know the new address).
3. Remove address-bearing search results via Google 'Results about you.'

Prevention and follow-up

• Enroll in your state's Address Confidentiality Program (ACP). Per the Battered Women's Justice Project / National Center on Protection Orders (July 2023), only five states (Alabama, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Wyoming) and four U.S. territories lack any ACP — i.e., 45 states plus DC have one, typically run through the Secretary of State or Attorney General; you usually apply with a trained local victim advocate who acts as an 'application assistant.' Examples: California 'Safe at Home' (sos.ca.gov) and Washington's Address Confidentiality Program (sos.wa.gov).
• Use a P.O. box or the ACP substitute address for new records; ask friends/family not to share your address.
• Limit personal info given to businesses; remove yourself from data brokers.
• Consider a new device/email/phone number set up safely with advocate guidance.

Legal context

Federal law (VAWA) and the federal stalking statute (18 U.S.C. 2261A) protect against stalking and technology-facilitated abuse, including by intimate partners; the 2022 VAWA reauthorization expanded cybercrime tools. State Address Confidentiality Programs provide a legal substitute address accepted by government agencies. Protective/restraining orders are available through state courts. This is general information, not legal advice; consult a DV advocate or attorney.

Key mistakes to avoid

• Researching escape plans or changing settings on a device the abuser may monitor.
• Making abrupt account/location changes without a safety plan — can escalate danger.
• Assuming blocking stops a determined abuser.
• Sharing your new address with businesses that resell it to brokers.

How Delist helps

Abusers commonly use people-search sites to locate a survivor who has moved. Removing your address and phone from those brokers — alongside ACP enrollment — directly reduces the risk of being found. delist.ai automates and monitors broker removal as one layer of a survivor's safety plan.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• NNEDV Safety Net mission and tech-abuse focus
• Survivor tech safety plan; address protection and broker warning; DV hotline number
• California Safe at Home substitute-address program
• Washington Address Confidentiality Program