David Albert Mitchell, 42, a man with a violent history of sex crimes, is accused of raping a 73-year-old woman in Central Park, Wednesday. The alleged rape happened in broad daylight near Strawberry Fields, a section of the park named for John Lennon and a destination of countless tourists and peace activists looking for a tiny bit of tranquility in a noisy city.

Both Mitchell and the woman he is accused of beating, mugging and sexually assaulting had become known for their encounters with others in the area. A park worker nicknamed the frequent birdwatcher "Moms" and recalled her frequent requests for to pick up more litter; meanwhile, others have described encounters with Mitchell as menacing. And, in those moments before the assault, as the woman told police, Mitchell allegedly asked her a chilling question – "Do you remember me?" – it was clear that they weren't quite strangers, either.

Last week, the woman had snapped a photo of him as he masturbated in a forested area of the park.

Hours after police recognized Mitchell from surveillance footage and he was dragged, spitting, into a police precinct, the woman told reporters that she believes her rape was a retaliatory attack because she had refused to give him her camera's memory card. Since the news broke, the language used to describe what happened in online comments and tweets has grappled with whether or not the woman should have snapped his photo at all – and whether or not she "provoked" the violence.

The answer to the first issue must be yes. As more women use technology to document egregious behavior, the more they ensure that the offenders could be brought to justice. The answer to the second is no: rape is rape, and shouldn't be framed as a consequence of a woman's actions.

Emily May speaks for many who believe that women have speak up for their rights in order to live safely in their cities to inspire others to take action. In those situations, "there's no right response to what you do or what you don't do," May, who founded the online street harassment documenting site Hollaback in 2005, told the Guardian, Friday.

"But we live in a world where people aren't always believed when they tell stories of sex violence. Having that bit of evidence is helpful, to be honest."

Hollaback was started in 2005 after a woman snapped a picture of a subway masturbator and was told by police that the offender was probably already long gone and impossible to prosecute. The woman then uploaded the photo to Flickr – igniting a conversation about street harassment in New York City that rippled to other locales and has not stopped since. In 2010, a video of a woman who confronted a man masturbating in a New York City subway car reached YouTube and went viral.

May said Friday that a photo snapped in a quiet area of Central Park this week can't be compared to public masturbation within the close confines of public transit, but the ability to snap digital photos have changed a woman's ability to share a story about a crime committed against her, sparking a sense of urgency that might not have been there before. Hollaback's NYC arm logs some 500 stories of sexual harassment, and roughly one in 15 of those contain picture evidence of the aggressor, said May. She can't remember a single case resulting in retaliation.

But in the case of the woman raped in Central Park, asking whether it was the photo she'd snapped that led to a violent act against her is the wrong question – because it implies that this woman was somehow "asking for it". In the end, the woman's photo will almost certainly be used as evidence assuming the case against Mitchell goes to trial. Police found the image on her hard drive and are presumably able to compare it with the surveillance photos that led to his arrest.

Using digital photos, tweets, blogs, hashtags and even apps to document injustices, crimes and harassment makes the women who are brave enough to use these tools safer. They can even help bring a criminal to justice – and certainly spark a larger conversation about sexually offensive and violent behavior in general. (For instance, Jezebel thinks that maybe it was strange that this man was allowed to be in public near elderly birdwatchers at all. In the circumstances, a valid issue.)

"This woman didn't make the photo that she took public, but a lot of people do," May said, "and I think that's really starting to create an intolerance in our society to what's happening. Instead of thinking 'I'm the only one,' they think, 'This is messed up, this is my park, too. I pay taxes, too. I also deserve a safe park."

And as for the victim of this crime, she told New York news outlets Thursday night that she won't be deterred from returning to her spot in Strawberry Fields to resume her hobby.