Safer Online Sex: Harm Reduction and Queer Dating Apps
summary
Harm reduction frames concrete failures and fixes: researchers find dating apps used for entrapment, images and screenshots used as legal evidence, and many apps use no HTTPS or certificate pinning so media leaks are exploitable. Users value geolocation and sometimes GPS‑spoof (sometimes via risky root/jailbreak). Recommendations lead to implemented changes: app cloaking on iOS, transport security hardening, plus localized legal and sexual‑health fact sheets — measures that reduce real-world arrest and blackmail risks.
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chapters (17)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:52Who is thinking about the users in tech?
- 4:00Who is thinking about the users' safety, security, and privacy in tech?
- 7:56How can tech/security better support user safety?
- 11:50Harm reduction recognizes the power of pleasure
- 12:46Examples of harm reduction programs
- 20:28Harm reduction is inherently radical
- 21:20Individual tech choices and harm reduction
- 33:04Key result: Typical approaches to security were not addressing participant needs
- 33:20Key result: Primary risk was other users on the platform
- 36:36Understanding digital evidence used was essential to understand adversary methods
- 39:21Security, privacy, and safety are not binary
- 39:40Focus on understanding and humanizing users
- 40:47Move away from stigmatizing user activities
- 41:13system design should include user safety, not just system risks
- 41:29Who should 'own' user-centric safety, security, and privacy?
- 42:35What would it look like to bring harm reduction to your work?
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