Whois & Analysis for thehotline.org

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is a 24-hour, confidential, toll-free hotline created through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in the United States.

Hotline staff immediately connect the caller to a service provider in his or her area.

Highly trained advocates provide support, information, referrals, safety planning, and crisis intervention in 170 languages to hundreds of thousands of domestic violence victims.

As of October 2013, the hotline offers services via online chat during selected hours of the day.

This livechat service has been said to break down some of the barriers victims of domestic violence face through its anonymity.

Users whose abusers might monitor internet history are encouraged to call via a friend or family member's phone or an alternate computer to protect their privacy and safety, however.

Instant messaging (IM) is a type of online chat that offers real-time text transmission over the Internet.

A LAN messenger operates in a similar way over a local area network.

Short messages are typically transmitted bi-directionally between two parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select "send".

Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which transmits messages character by character, as they are composed.

More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat.