Illustration by Fernanda Serejo
Digital forensics became especially relevant for the team at MariaLab when they faced the challenges of creating Maria d’Ajuda, a feminist helpline to address digital security emergencies. Their work experience and interaction with other feminist helplines led them to identify a common problem: the limitation of resources – human, financial and technical knowledge – that often restricts helplines in supporting harm-reduction actions and digital care. This research report, Feminist digital forensics: A study and a proposal for development, unfolds their incursion into the field of digital forensics. Starting with the investigation of what they call traditional forensics, a technical field deeply connected to the criminal justice system, where forensic experts and other actors, such as lawyers and police officers, work together in legal investigations.
Their research questions inquired how forensic analysis can be a tool to advance the fight against technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). They started with the hypothesis that improving their knowledge for the identification and collection of evidence for forensic analysis would improve their collective capacity to generate data about digital threats from an intersectional and feminist perspective. The central objective of this research is to boost the development of feminist helplines through the systematisation of information and the development of knowledge in digital forensics.
This work forms part of the third edition of the Feminist Internet Research Network (FIRN) project, supported by the APC Women’s Rights Programme and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).