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The phone user needs to retain the power to choose what happens. Every domestic violence and sexual assault situation is different, and the phone won't know if the abuser suddenly re-enters the room, grabs the phone, or starts listening in. It's tempting to say that the phone should automatically dial 9-1-1, but that could lead to an increase in the number of accidental calls, limit emergency services' capacity to respond to actual urgent calls, and worst of all might tip off the perpetrator that his or her victim is trying to get help.