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What is text pesting? A third of young women experience this type of harassment

In a world where personal data is exchanged at the click of a button, text pesting is a worrying emerging trend.

Emily Keaney, Deputy Commissioner for Regulatory Policy at the ICO, highlights the disturbing nature of this behaviour: "People have the right to order a pizza, or give their email for a receipt, or have shopping delivered, without then being asked for sex or a date a while later," she says. The ICO's proactive stance in addressing this issue is a step in the right direction, but we need to work on building a culture wherein perpetrators don't feel entitled to do this in the first place, wherein they know that misusing personal data in this way is not only creepy, but a violation of trust and privacy. We need a culture in which men step in when their friends admit to behaving like this, and point out that it’s creepy and not OK. And we need workplaces to ensure that they’re hiring employees who aren’t displaying predatory behaviours, so that clients who are women can feel safe as a bare minimum.

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