How we put this guide together

CHAYN created a set of privacy guides after several interactions with real-life survivors of domestic violence who want to prevent their abusers from finding them, while reading scores of articles on Gamergate and the doxxing of women online, as well as from our very own experiences as women who use the internet. Technology and the internet opens us up to new worlds and provides us information at the touch of a button, but it can also open us up to security risks. The stark reality is that there are people in the world who may be able to do you harm using the very same technology. These people are not extreme hackers nor do they have highly advanced IT skills - they are using the very same tools that you do. This means that you can also learn how to protect yourself using these tools.

CHAYN believes in survivor-led design, which means we listen to survivors, and request them to give us as much feedback as possible. They have also worked on this guide, checked it for accuracy, and told us their real-life experiences to ensure we provide the right solutions.

Using existing online privacy guides tailored for women as inspiration and for reference, CHAYN volunteers began building this guide by crowdsourcing content. There was a lot to cover - technology is vast - but we were determined to build an exhaustive easy-to-understand guide that could benefit all internet users. After we had a Version 1 ready, we sent it out to security experts as well as survivors of domestic violence, and people who have experienced stalking and other forms of cyber harassment to give us their feedback. We then assessed their comments and added information to the guide, making it as inclusive and exhaustive as possible.

Then we roped in Securikitty to help make the guide more user friendly, reminding readers when to take breaks and encouraging them to stay strong through the process of protecting themselves.