Introduction I nformation and communications technologies (ICTs) have revolutionized societies. They have transformed the way we communicate, socialize, transact business, gather and receive information. For women, ICTs have provided vital spheres where they are able to express themselves, assert their rights and identities, initiate and enhance their participation in political and public life. But with the proliferation and increase in use of ICTs, there is also the risk and, in fact, evidence that violence against women (VAW) involving the use of technology is growing. The harms and violations perpetrated through and within ICTs are in need of serious attention... The harms and violations perpetrated through and within ICTs are in need of serious attention because, for the most part, they are not recognized or are seen as trivial, thus receiving inadequate and inappropriate response from the different actors such as the state, the private sector, civil society, or the women themselves. In the Philippines, there have been several media reports on technology-related VAW, especially the uploading of images and videos without consent. However, there are no government data that point to the extent of these. Furthermore, according to a representative from one government agency, technology in VAW is treated as one of the tools to commit this crime. The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), under its Women’s Rights Programme, commissioned in 2013 a research project that looked into the increasing but largely unreported incidence of technology-related Violence against Women (VAW), the remedies available to those who experienced it and how they addressed the problem. Technology–related VAW is a distinct phenomenon because of the medium, mode and place of its commission. The context in which it manifests remains relatively unexplored and less understood and as such has implications on women’s access to justice. The distinct characteristic of ICT—its borderless nature, the fluidity of digital personhood, the absence of physicality, and the anonymity and intractability it offers—has changed not only the manner by which VAW is being committed and perpetrated, but also its effects and consequences, and its subsequent prosecution or non-prosecution. 1 See UN Human Rights Council Report of the working group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, 2013. Available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/ Session23/A.HRC.23.50_EN.pdf 2 Foundation for Media Alternatives, 2013. Baseline report on VAW and its reporting system in the Philippines. 3 Anita Gurumurthy, and Niveditha Menon, Violence against Women via Cyberspace, Economic & Political Weekly (EPW), Vol. XLIV No. 4 (October 3, 2009). 2 <End Violence: Women’s Rights and Safety Online>