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September 15, 2014 - Comments Off on Week of Action: A World Without Mass Surveillance

Week of Action: A World Without Mass Surveillance

Cross-posted from Jasoosi Band Karo

Many of us, no matter where in the world we live, are a target of mass surveillance, one way or the other. Either by our own government or by the governments of other countries where our Internet communications reside or pass through, or by both. Is it really necessary to surveil everyone? How does the human right to privacy hold up? Shouldn’t this be public knowledge if blanket mass scale surveillance is being carried out on our communication?

Questions like these made Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to lead a global effort to apply existing human rights laws in the context of this age of surveillance that we live in. The collective effort, comprising of “over a year of consultation among civil society, privacy and technology experts,” resulted in the publication of International Principles on the Application of Human Rights to Communications Surveillance. Called the 13 Principles for short, the document which lists a set of rules for the world governments to adhere to if they must engage in mass surveillance, was formally launched in September last year.

Today marks the beginning of a week dedicated to the anniversary of the publication of the principles. Digital Rights Foundation is also one of the signatories of the 13 Principles. As a signatory, we want to take this opportunity to share the principles with the broader public in Pakistan. Every day from today, Sep 15, till Friday, Sep 19, we will be speaking about the principles in the Pakistani context. The aim is nothing but to secure the privacy that you, us, and everyone deserves. You should follow the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook feeds, if you don’t already.

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September 10, 2014 - Comments Off on Turkey with its 29 Tweeters Still Behind the Bars Makes IGF ’14 Quite an Ironic Event

Turkey with its 29 Tweeters Still Behind the Bars Makes IGF ’14 Quite an Ironic Event

As we close off the Internet Governance Forum 2014 here at Istanbul and as I leave for Lahore, I can’t help but feel that this year's IGF kept on with its tradition of being a "talk-house" since past few years, creating no tangible actions. Sponsored by the United Nations, IGF hosted some 3,000 government, corporate, and civil society leaders and representatives making it a perfect venue for talking about difficult challenges, moving forward and making decisions. The event is organized every year to help shape the future of the Internet, however, it feels as if this reunion every year is drifting away from the actual problems concerning the people of the Internet especially in the authoritarian countries.

IGF certainly retains its singular prestigious place for highlighting challenges in an open-ended consultative process, enabling civil society and individuals voice their perspectives and concerns during the conference. However, it was felt throughout the civil society community that government officials weren’t keen on engaging in the dialogue discussing serious concerns about unfortunate events that have happened in their respective countries.

Being hosted in Turkey, it was an important place to discuss internet governance where government officials could have set a precedent for digital governance elsewhere. Turkey’s prosecution of 29 Twitter users has been a global example for the repressive regimes. Government prosecuted these tweeters who are being tried in Izmir facing up to three years in jail for posting critical tweets during last year’s protests. This case was charged by the Turkish officials as the one to “incite the public to break the law”. It is this stark hypocritical stance of the government to host one of the most important internet governance events in the country all the while censoring and harming freedom of speech online domestically.

To talk about repressive regimes’ ruthless behavior towards human rights activists and the hush by the government officials at the IGF, a group of civil society members and individuals hosted another conference during the IGF week. Titled as Internet Ungovernance Forum, the conference was organized to demand a free, secure, and open internet with fundamental freedoms, openness and net neutrality. Proving to be a vivid example of the increasing lack of empathy on the IGF forum, this group of Turkish activists weren't allowed to attend the conference. Ungovernance Forum's stakeholders believed that due to the representation of various governments that “don’t deserve” representation at a forum like IGF, ungovernance forum is designed to talk about the most important issues, create a space to raise voices of civil society members and common people, and then solve these problems while working towards a path for action.

Participants at this year's IGF also felt an evident gender gap especially during the opening ceremony. Freedom House presented this statement about the lack of gender equality at IGF 2014:

The 2014 IGF included numerous workshops on topics of human rights, including freedom of expression, gender, privacy, and access. Yet the value of this enterprise is undermined when governments can use the IGF to promote themselves, but civil society groups are forbidden by the ad hominem principle from criticizing them. Likewise, gender equality cannot genuinely be discussed when the vast majority of individuals at high-level meetings, delivering speeches, and participating on workshop panels are men. Access also cannot be addressed when remote participation fails to adequately provide two-way discussion from those who cannot attend in person. The IGF should include these voices not only to promote multistakeholderism and inclusion, but also to improve the quality of discussion and the prospects for solutions.

Active participation of civil society members and individuals in the Ungovernance Forum shows sheer disappointment that was felt in the fraternity having attended the IGF in Turkey which failed to acknowledge its own domestic internet governance challenges. While we may dream of creating better future for Internet and its citizens, it is of the utmost importance to talk about the most pressing issues when it comes to online freedom of dissidents and common people. Failure of the host country by ignoring hard questions put up by the journalists only undermines the importance of freedom of speech online. Unless repressive regimes aren’t ready to talk about their internal issues and lack of empathy towards their own citizens, it is only but ironic to see such states having an incredible part in the future of the Internet. God forbid how oppressive and censored that future is to be.

 

September 5, 2014 - Comments Off on Taking Back the Internet!

Taking Back the Internet!

Internet Access

Free access to the Internet is a fundamental human right.

Rebecca MacKinnon in her speech at TED, talks about how in the past, our sovereignty was determined by the boundaries set by nation-states. But today in an age of technological innovation, the new sovereigns are not the nation-states but rather the ones who control the world’s technology. And so companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple can decide what we can and cannot do in the digital space.

The question is; how can we balance the need of security and law enforcement without compromising free speech? We can start by understanding that the whistleblowing by Wikileaks was not a crime, but a necessary curtain-raiser. If private data of the government needs to be protected, then so does the private data of every citizen. This is where we take back the Internet; this is where we realize that we cannot let the digital media be controlled the way the mass media has been.

Individuals should have free access to use and create anything on digital media, especially in developing countries like Pakistan where the traditional media is often either censored or tailored to suit the need of political and social mafias. In an age where digital media has allowed everyone to have a level-playing field, we must not let the referees favor any one side.

September 4, 2014 - Comments Off on DRF condemns the gang rape of two women in Faisalabad

DRF condemns the gang rape of two women in Faisalabad

Online Abuse

In an age where a person’s hard-earned reputation can easily be destroyed with the click of a button, one doesn’t need to hire an assassin to do the job. This is what happened when the rape of a young girl was being filmed by the rapists and the film is threatened to be uploaded online if the girl tries to tell anyone. First you rob a woman’s soul, and then you take away her voice too. Digital Rights Foundation has been campaigning for the last few years  to make women who suffer such abuse speak out against it and stand up against online sexual exploitation.

Women in Pakistan have also been susceptible to legal manipulation simply because of political inertia. Many of the laws designed during the time of President Zia-ul-Haq like the Zina Ordinance hugely favored the men, but have continued to be wrongly justified in the name of Islam ever since. A woman’s report of her rape in a police station is taken as her confession of adultery, and she is given the death sentence. But the man escapes free. There are hardly any legal remedies in Pakistan that women can subscribe to. They are not allowed to use their right to divorce in many courts even though they have been allowed to use it by their religion. Women are also not given much protection under statutory law and are rather victimized more often than not than being treated as the victim. Unfortunately, women suffer the same lack of protection online that they do offline.

With its latest campaign ‘Hamara Internet’, DRF aims to protect women against cyber abuses amongst its many other objectives. The Internet should not be a place where nothing is private anymore, but a place where an internet user can protect his privacy and yet have absolute freedom to enjoy the resources available due to an open web. With social networks like Facebook & Twitter and video sharing platforms like YouTube quickly turning any popular content viral, it needs to be ensured that such content does not make something public anything that promotes violence.

Recent digital security breaches have confirmed just how vulnerable the Internet is. With Facebook accounts routinely hacked in Pakistan, women and young girls  are the most vulnerable internet users and often made to suffer from cyber abuse with their private pictures being photoshopped deceptively into erotic poses and sometimes even total nudity.  Women, especially in a closed and patriarchal society like Pakistan, need to be aware how they can protect themselves against heinous cyber abuses.

Many people see restricting the access to the Internet as the only solution . They only need to ask themselves one question first; when their body gets dirty, do they go take a shower and wash their body or do they dig up their grave and bury themselves? We can’t criticize the medium for the fault of its users. This is what DRF aims to achieve with its campaign ‘Hamara Internet’ - ‘Our Internet’, The web Pakistani women want - an Internet for everyone to freely enjoy and take benefit of equally irrespective of whether they are men or women.

September 4, 2014 - Comments Off on Massive Uproar in Pakistan due to Instagram’s Ban

Massive Uproar in Pakistan due to Instagram’s Ban

Instagram

Instagram was banned in Pakistan for a short while on 29 August 2014.

For photographers, photojournalists and digital media marketers, whose bread and butter was Instagram, it appeared to be a nightmare. At first it appeared to be server error, but when Twitter users were confirmed by PTCL that the unbelievable really has happened, the online community burst into total fury.

While YouTube had a reason to be banned because of the controversial anti-Islamic film, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority gave no reason why the Instagram ban was necessary.

Concerns over whether Facebook was going to be targeted next by the censorship police hit the social media community as they vexed their frustration online.

For some reason the PTA believes that banning the medium is the only way to stop a message from proliferating. What if some day you got to know that the television has been banned because of some controversial channels? What if some day you are told that the entire newspaper industry is banned because of one contentious article in a newspaper? Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?

Although Instagram was restored a few hours later, what really happened is still a mystery. Whatever was the case, the only question is; is Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest coming up next? Will this bombardment on social networks by the PTA ever stop?