We provide free and confidential consultations to survivors who:

• Have experienced or are experiencing tech abuse by a known person, such as a current/former intimate partner or family member.

• Are located in Wisconsin, USA

• Are working with a “victim service provider” for domestic or family violence in Wisconsin, USA. This could include social service organizations, law enforcement, or the DA. You can find a list of organizations we have worked with recently here.

No. If you are in immediate danger, please contact 911 or reach out to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (call 1-800-799-SAFE or text START to 887788).

We do not schedule consultations directly with individuals. An advocate or case manager from a “victim service provider” in Wisconsin (e.g., social services organization, law enforcement, the DA) must schedule a consultation on your behalf.

• If you are already working with an advocate or case manager, ask them to email techclinic.madison@gmail.com.
• If you are not currently connected with a victim service provider, refer to the list of providers we have worked with recently and reach out to them about scheduling a consultation with us

If you work with one of our existing partners, reach out to your organization for the scheduling form. If you are not working with one of our partners, please email us at techclinic.madison@gmail.com and we will send you our intake and scheduling forms. You or another advocate from your organization must attend the consultation alongside the client, whether the appointment is held in-person or remotely.

Unfortunately, we cannot serve clients outside Wisconsin or the United States. There are other tech clinics that serve the New York, Seattle, Dallas-Fort Worth and Vancouver (Canada) metro areas. You can find more information about tech clinics in the U.S. here and Canada here. If there is no clinic in your area, please reach out to a local domestic violence program or view our list of online resources.

Consultations are free of charge and last 60 to 90 minutes. A case manager/advocate must join the consultation with the client. We offer both remote and in-person options:

• In-person (Madison area): We hold in-person consultations on Friday afternoons. These normally take place at a case manager’s or advocate’s office in the Madison area.
• Zoom (All of Wisconsin): We hold consultations over Zoom on weekdays with more flexible scheduling.

We start with a quick check to make sure your devices are not recording our meeting (this is very rare, but it’s better safe than sorry). After that, we will ask about your specific tech concerns and work with you to address them. We will examine your online accounts and applications on your devices to see if there are any concerning security issues. Finally, once we understand your situation, we will give you suggestions on how you can make your devices and accounts more secure.

Yes, there can be risks. Changing the settings of your devices may alert your abuser and lead to retaliation. We will make suggestions on how you can change your devices to make them more secure, but the final decision on whether or not you change them is up to you. We will provide the information you need to help you make a decision. We recommend you speak with an advocate to make a safe decision if you are unsure of what you want to do.

Only if you choose to make changes. We will offer suggestions on how you can modify your device to make it more secure, but the final decision is always yours.

Before Zoom consultations, we may ask you to download the Zoom app on your phone or tablet so you can share your screen with us if you are comfortable doing so. You can delete the app right after the meeting.

During in-person consultations, we scan for spyware, but this scan does not leave any trace on your devices. For Android phones, we must briefly change a few settings to run the scan, but we always turn those settings back to normal before the end of the visit.

You may bring any of your phones or tablets and your children’ s phones or tablets. If you are only concerned about one specific device, feel free to just bring that device. Make sure your devices are charged. It also helps to know your account passwords, such as your Apple ID or Google login.

We can check iPhones, iPads, and Android phones / tablets. We also check online personal accounts such as Google, iCloud, and social media accounts for issues that can impact your privacy and security. At the moment, we are unable to help survivors with scanning laptops and smart devices, although we may be able to answer one-off questions about them when making a safety plan.

We are not experts in what makes good evidence for legal proceedings. Our volunteers are not lawyers, and we cannot provide legal advice. We can point out suspicious things in your device or account, and you can decide whether to take a screenshot or document the evidence in other ways. For more advice on collecting legal evidence, please discuss your case with a legal advocate.

No. By our policies, we will help tighten settings on your accounts, check for the existence of spyware on your devices, and give suggestions on how to secure your technology. We will not perform any investigation beyond the boundaries of your own devices and accounts. We will not actively gather information about anyone else on your behalf.