Two smartphone apps were created to "establish signs of consent" and reduce sexual assault on America's college campuses, The Appalachian reported.
The two apps, We Consent and What About Now, which were designed to be used on college campuses, allow students to record or take note of whether or not someone gave consent.
We Consent, will be used by students to "record their consent," and What About No, will be used to express "lack of consent," Campus Reform reported. The apps would "essentially serve as official record of consent to sexual activity," The Appalachian explained.
"What is needed is a way for affirmative consent to be recorded and stored as potential exculpatory evidence," app creator Lissack told The Appalachian, Appalachian State's newspaper. "If there is a record of consent, that record can be used to rebut a claim based on changed minds or next day regrets... No one should allow false accusations to happen."
What About No, which is currently available at the Apple App store, has both free and paid versions. We Consent will be available soon. The free version brings up a video recording of a police officer repeating the word, "no," expressing the user's lack of consent.
The paid version, which costs $5.99 per year, "goes a step further than just giving a warning. It records a video of the person watching the message and sends it to the cloud and off-line servers. After that, the videos can only be viewed by law enforcement, upon judicial order or as evidence in a university disciplinary proceeding," The Appalachian reported.
The apps aren't perfect, Lissack explained.
"If [the offender is] drunk, excessively violent, or just already intent on rape, it will do nothing. If the person has any sense of sanity, it acts as a strong reinforcement," Lissack said.
The We Consent app records video "that can only be viewed in judicial settings," The Appalachian reported.
Lissack stress that only law enforcement or campus disciplinary boards should have access to the videos after they have been recorded to avoid "tampering or privacy invasions."
"The mere fact that people have this app changes the discussion," Lissack said. "It can act as an insurance policy or safety measure, should you need it."
