May Newsletter 2022: DRF releases Cyber Harassment Helpline Annual Report 2021
June 14, 2022July 2022 Newsletter: NCHR, DRF and CEJ hold Consultation on Challenges faced by Women Journalists in the Media
August 11, 2022
The theme for the first edition was ‘personal is political’ which received an overwhelming number of pitches from women journalists across the country. The articles penned discussed various sub-topics about how personal is political, a rallying slogan from the late 1960s and 1970s still astonishes us. Some articles focused on specific matters such as and domestic violence being the result of deep-rooted political structures and power dynamics that are intrinsically oppressive and patriarchal. These issues can thus not be sidelined using the pretext that they are trivial, unimportant personal matters to be discussed and resolved within the household
Online Campaigns
#WellbeingWeek
DRF held a one week long campaign on account of #wellbeingweek from 27th June till 3rd July. In the one week long campaign posts around the importance of well-being and self care were shared.
#StopCyberBullyingDay
DRF shared posts on #StopCyberBullyingDay and shared the impact of cyberbullying on adults and children.
Policy Initiatives
DRF featured on Heinrich Böll Stiftung’s Feminism and Gender Democracy blog
Illustration by Bushra Saleem.
DRF, in cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, conducted a series of focus group discussions with researchers from across the globe in order to deconstruct ‘gendered disinformation’, understand existing work on the subject and identify areas for future interventions. Employing feminist methodology on drawing from lived experiences, the resulting series of policy papers take these experiences to build to definitions, theories and policy recommendations from the ground-up.
Read the blog here.
International Day for Countering Hate Speech
On this International Day for Countering Hate Speech we pledge to make Hamara Internet a safe space for all and not target anyone on the basis of their religion, race, colour, gender or ethnicity. DRF also released research on Religious Minorities in Online spaces highlighting the experience of religious minorities online and making Hamara Internet a safe and inclusive space for all.
Link to research: https://staging-m.digitalrightsfoundation.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Religious-Minorities.pdf #NoToHate
Study on Healthcare Data Privacy in Pakistan
DRF is conducting surveys on the healthcare data privacy in Pakistan with patients and doctors has designed a survey for it which is being shared online.
If you’ve ever been a patient in the hospital fill the survey below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYtJfdIZllFo8f5NgFNE1AlJQJpPsHGvW8gQ5A_JufQ9XJSw/viewform
If you’re a healthcare worker in Pakistan fill the survey before:
Events
RightsCon 2022
Session on Digital Apatheid and Social Media Algorithms on Humanitarian Crisis
DRF hosted a panel on RightsCon on Digital Apartheid and Social Media Algorithms on Humanitarian Crisis in which the panel discussed how some crises are more important for big tech companies than others. The panel was an attempt to interrogate this bias. The panelists on the panel were Mona Shataya from 7amleh, Nighat Dad from the Oversight Board Member, Tanzeel Khan from Kashmir Digital Rights and Seerat Khan Programs and Comms Lead at DRF.
Session on “Content moderation in the Global South: a rock and hard place”
DRF hosted a RightsCon panel to explore the complexities of content moderation in the Global South by big tech and the alternative visions of regulation that can be brought into these subjects. The panels included Victoire Rio from the Myanmar Internet Project, Raghav Mendiratta from Justitia, and Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei from Meta’s Oversight Board.
The discussion can be accessed here.
Democracy Game Changer: Ending Violence Against Women Online
DRF’s Nighat Dad spoke on the 360/Open Summit on the panel Democracy Game Changer: Ending Violence Against Women Online on the 7th of June. The panel shed light on the experiences of women in South Asia and the need for a collective approach to tackle those issues.
LIRNEasia discussion series: “Tackling the Information Disorder in Asia”
DRF’s Shmyla Khan participated in the session on Laws and Regulations as part of LIRNEasia discussion series on “Tackling the Information Disorder in Asia” on June 9. The discussion, moderated by Gehan Gunatilleke and panel was attended by Jo-Ann Ding, Mong Palatino, Juni Soehardjo and DRF’s Shmyla Khan to discuss cyber laws in the Asia-Pacific region.
The report launched at the event titled “Meeting the challenges of information disorder in the Global South” can be found here.
Training on Online Safety
DRF held a training with Simorgh on online safety with journalists and activists. The training was an advanced online safety training focusing on secure communication and tools.
Digital skills for journalists session in Islamabad
On 21st June, DRF held a workshop for journalists in Islamabad on digital safety issues. The workshop was attended by 20 journalists. Topics covered included safe and efficient use of social media, digital devices and other communication tools particularly when dealing with vulnerable sources.
Social media platforms and the legal landscape in Lahore and Islamabad
On 15th June and 22nd June DRF held two sessions for journalists in Lahore and Islamabad to build their capacity in the legal landscape that governs the digital spaces where they perform their professional duties. A total of 50 participants attended the two workshops. The workshop was attended by many professionals from the urdu media as well, some of whom said that they were not well-wersed in using digital technologies for their work while others were not aware of the laws that apply on them and the knowledge of which can keep them safe in digital spaces.
Digital safety sessions for Home-based Workers in Sukkur
At the invitation of the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), supported by JICA, DRF’s trainers conducted two sessions with home-based workers and rural audiences in Sukkur, Sindh on June 22 and 23. The sessions were a greatly rewarding and learning experience for our team.
DRF at Nur Foundation holding a session with students
DRF held a session at Nur Foundation at Fatima Memorial Medical College focusing on online harassment and how to create safe spaces online. The session was attended by students of O’Levels from across Lahore.
Digital Media Society’s seminar on “Rights & Responsibilities of a Digital Citizen
DRF spoke about the importance of digital rights and aware citizens at Digital Media Society’s seminar on “Rights & Responsibilities of a Digital Citizen” on June 28. The seminar was attended by digital media journalists and experts from across the city.
‘Cyber Security and Data Protection Laws and Regulations’ session at UCP
DRF conducted a session with the law students at University of Central Punjab hosted by the UCP Law Society on June 6. The session focused on the data protection law, the need to be mindful of privacy and security while conducting legal work, and what constitutes cyber harassment.
DRF Updates
Cyber Harassment Helpline now 7 Days a week
DRF’s Cyber Harassment Helpline is now switching to 7 days a week. You can now call us on 0800-39393 Monday till Sunday, 9 am to 5 pm.
May Statistics of the Helpline
https://twitter.com/DigitalRightsPK/status/1534173335608627200?s=20&t=Hhhc-fi-tqxjWXyW4eTwcw
In May, the Cyber Harassment Helpline received 232 complaints from across Pakistan. The helpline received the most complaints from females, which were about 63%.
June Statistics
https://twitter.com/DigitalRightsPK/status/1544278069040631818?s=20&t=rZUbtgwcitC7oN9-wTNI0Q
In June the Cyber Harassment Helpline received 234 complaints from across the country. Most complaints were by women on the helpline.
IWF Portal
DRF in collaboration with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and the Global Fund to End Violence Against Children launched a portal to combat children’s online safety in Pakistan. The new portal allows internet users in Pakistan to anonymously report child sexual abuse material in three different languages- English, Urdu, and Pashto.
www.report.iwf.org.uk/pk
StopNCII.org
Meta along with Revenge Porn Helpline (RPH) has launched a portal to support victims of Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse (NCII). NCII is a free portal for reporting cases of sensitive or sexual content existing online. Once you report a case, the necessary steps will be taken to block the images from the platform.
https://stopncii.org/
