Statement of Support #RecoverAishaAndAlyaan
June 21, 2017
The Internet as a Forbidden Library: Pakistan’s Clampdown Against Data Freedom
July 10, 2017PRIVACY UNDER ATTACK: WikiLeaks Reminds Us of the NSA/GCHQ Theft of Official Pakistani Citizen Data
On June 6th, The Intercept and other news outlets reported on a leaked National Security Agency report that analysed Russian military intelligence’s attempts to hack electoral systems days before the United States Presidential Election in 2016. According to WikiLeaks and Assange, both the GCHQ and the NSA acquired access to the database of Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to get hold of the identification records of Pakistani citizens, in order to be able to track anyone that they may suspect to be involved with terrorism. Read More…
Shmyla Khan Talks About Cyber Harassment on FM91
Shmyla Khan, represented the hardworking team of the Cyber Harassment Helpline on FM 91’s “Pakoray and Patakay” with Ahmer Naqvi on June 16, 2017. The discussion created awareness about online harassment and tips about digital security–followed by a quiz for the audience. Thank you to the team for supporting DRF!
Data Protection & Privacy in the Digital Age – Part 1: “You Are Being Watched”
We live in what cyber space specialists call the “Golden Age of Surveillance.” As our lives become increasingly digitalized, our privacy is proportionally threatened by the onslaught of data-hungry marketers and companies interested in snooping on our behavioural preferences. Not all of us realize that with or without our consent, our lives are being tracked and gathered in a massive database of personal information by companies and government agencies. But what can we do about it? Read More…
Statement of Support #RecoverAishaAndAlyaan
Digital Rights Foundation and Girls at Dhabas condemn the attack on Asma Jahangir’s associates from AGHS Legal Aid Cell – comprising a female lawyer and two male lawyers – inside a courtroom at the Lahore High Court yesterday morning, i.e. June 20, 2017, by a large group of about 60 to 70 lawyers. Asma and her team have been representing a poor woman who filed a petition to find her missing daughter, 26-year-old Aisha, and grandson, Alyaan. Read More…
Social Media Crackdown in Pakistan
Crackdown of social media activists continues as a Pakistani journalist, Zafar Achakzai, was arrested on June 25, 2017 in Quetta. Zafar has been accused of writing against “national security institutions” on social media and charged under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. Read More…
Taimoor Raza Sentenced To Death For Blasphemy on Facebook
Courtesy of Guardian.
Photograph: Faisal Mahmood/REUTERS
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced a man to death for allegedly committing blasphemy on Facebook, the latest step in an intensified crackdown on dissent on social media, reports Guardian. Read More…
IFEX At 25: Strategy Conference & General Meeting, Montreal, Canada
June saw IFEX, the international freedom of expression network, mark its 25th anniversary in Montreal, the city in which it was founded, with the 2017 IFEX Strategy Conference and General Meeting. The theme of this year’s conference were the 3 ‘Rs’ – Rights, Resistance, and Resilience – to quote Cathal Sheerin of IFEX, “In other words, what our members fight for, the way they fight and how they endure the often relentless attacks on their work and organisations promoting our rights.”
Given the worsening state of rights across the globe in 2017, with growing repression and travel bans preventing some delegates from being able to attend, the 3 Rs carry more weight than ever, and were a recurring theme during the workshops held during the three day conference.
Digital Rights Foundation was able to to share our experiences in the struggle for digital rights, transparency, privacy and freedom of expression in Pakistan, our cyber-harassment helpline, and to present our thoughts on the Open Government Partnership that Pakistan has recently joined.
We not only established possible collaborations with potential partners, but Digital Rights Foundation is also pleased to report that we were voted to become full members of the IFEX network – a new role that will help us in our fight for digital, privacy and freedom of expression rights in Pakistan.
Access Now: How the Digital Rights Foundation is empowering women to defend their rights
In a world where people struggle for basic human rights and are put behind bars when they fight for those rights, they confront countless challenges every day. And if they happen to be from an oppressed or minority group, those struggles grow exponentially. Individuals and organizations are working beyond borders, day in and out, to make this fight easier for those who don’t have the information or capacity to fight for themselves. DRF focuses on the right to data privacy, and the issues pertaining to gender in technology — particularly the internet. Read More…
The Rights of Pakistani Citizens in the Digital Realm
Free speech on social media is being actively stifled by the government. Many people have received telephone calls by the Federal Investigations Agency (FIA), requiring them to present themselves at the FIA offices. People have received notices too. There have been detentions and seizures of people’s personal electronic devices. Most alarmingly, criminal proceedings have been instituted against an individual for expressing opinions critical of the country’s armed forces. In such circumstances, it is essential that citizens know exactly what the limits of their freedom of expression are. Read More…
Intercepting phone calls is legal, Senate body told – July 2017
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom Division on Monday informed the Senate Committee on Delegated Legislation that intercepting telephone calls is lawful and should not be taken as a serious matter because it is practiced worldwide. Read More…
