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November 11, 2012 - Comments Off on A Short Interview with Emin Milli, an Azeri Blogger & Activist

A Short Interview with Emin Milli, an Azeri Blogger & Activist

Emin Milli, an Azerbaijani blogger and youth activist, spoke to Nighat Dad at 7th Internet Governance Forum in Baku. Emin Milli and his fellow activist were arrested in 2009 over a video which mocked government’s reported decision to import donkeys at ridiculous prices http://t.co/h0VYP2q4

Emin also wrote an open letter to President of Azerbaijan ahead of IGF while citing that the internet is not free in Azerbaijan.

“People in Azerbaijan live in fear. We fear for our lives, we fear for our jobs, we fear for the lives and jobs of our fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, we fear for our friends. We fear every time when someone close to us dares to disagree with you. We also pay a high price when we dare not to fear”

Here is the link to the video:

November 10, 2012 - Comments Off on Women of Azerbaijan on Internet: an Interview with Arzu Geybullayeva

Women of Azerbaijan on Internet: an Interview with Arzu Geybullayeva

Nighat Dad spoke to Arzu Geybullayeva - a regional analyst and blogger from Azerbaijan - during Internet Governance Forum 2012 at Baku. Arzu here shares the key regional issues faced by women in the country and discusses how people harass women rights defenders online.

 

November 7, 2012 - Comments Off on DRF Signs Civil Society Unity Statement on WCIT

DRF Signs Civil Society Unity Statement on WCIT

The world's leaders are going to meet and update a key treaty of a UN agency called International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Some proposals from different governments intend to extend the ITU authority on Internet governance in a way that could threaten freedom and online openness, along with a threat to privacy and human rights online.
Digital Rights Foundation, being the part of international coalition for Internet freedom, signs the Civil Society Unity statement to oppose such proposals on WCIT:
Internet governance decisions should be made in a transparent manner with genuine multistakeholder participation from civil society, governments, and the private sector. We call on the ITU and its member states to embrace transparency and reject any proposals that might expand ITU authority to areas of Internet governance that threaten the exercise of human rights online.
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November 1, 2012 - Comments Off on Pakistan Needs Comms Security Not Restrictions

Pakistan Needs Comms Security Not Restrictions

The Internet is becoming essential to modern life in Pakistan. These days, the loss of network access, whether for telephones or internet connectivity, soon starts to affect people's ability to do business or interact socially - and in the longer term is directly affects citizens' self-expression and self-determination. This is why we all saw such serious attempts by the governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya to cut off their people's access to the Internet.

In recent years the Government of Pakistan has repeatedly placed restrictions on the use of the Internet. Technically mediated services have been often subjected to restrictions ranging from government regulation, intervention, censorship and outright blocking.

In 2006, the Pakistani government imposed a blanket ban on the Blogspot platform (comprising around 10 million individual websites), after several hosted blogs posted images of the controversial Mohammad cartoons originally published in the Dutch newspaper Jyllands-Posten. The same year, the entire Wikipedia domain was blocked because one article (of approximately 3.5 million) contained information about the cartoons. This was only the first step of many. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has consistently banned Baloch news websites, and since July this year the Rolling Stone website has been blocked after it published a short blog post entitled ‘Pakistan’s Insane Military Spending’.

It is unfortunate that we have seen arbitrary decisions based on political and religious grounds that do not justify disruption of free flow of data affecting millions of lives from a diverse range of perspectives. We have seen a correspondingly severe approach when it comes to internet surveillance. Recently, the government declared its intention to ban the use of data encryption.  This has now left millions of citizens vulnerable to widespread cybercrime (against which encryption and VPNs provide effective shielding) in order to allow the government unfettered access to user data, ostensibly for ‘security reasons’.

This means that while the government sifts through user data looking for potential terrorism links, millions of citizens remain vulnerable to widespread cybercrime, against which encryption and VPNs provide effective shielding.

There are other worrying communications surveillance initiatives and plans.  The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has been a loyal customer of Narus, a company specializing in “dynamic network traffic intelligence and analytics software”, since 2007. Amongst other services, Narus helps its clients gain network control and data-interception abilities; its technology was apparently used during the ‘Arab Spring’ by the erstwhile governments of Egypt and Libya, who attempted to defeat the pro-democratic revolutionary movements by suppressing internet communications.

Going forward, the Government of Pakistan has to ensure that it is not going to spy and silence its citizens like the recently ousted governments of Mubarak and Gaddafi. It is the duty of the Government to ensure that there are effective laws that protect the rights to privacy, security, freedom of expression and unrestricted access to online content.

If national law does indeed dictate that Internet access be regulated, then it must be undertaken judiciously and with restraint. Sadly, this has not been the case so far.

 

Written for Privacy International.

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November 1, 2012 - Comments Off on Acid Prevention Bill Consultation

Acid Prevention Bill Consultation

Organized by ASF (Acid Survivors Foundation), a committee was invited to discuss and propose the Acid Prevention Bill to the government in 2010.

It was quite a historic moment in December, 2011 when the Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill were passed in parliament along with The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Bill.

The Acid Control & Acid Crime Prevention bill recommends 14-year to lifetime imprisonment sentences to the perpetrators and fines up to Rs. 1 million.

 

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October 31, 2012 - Comments Off on Kabul like you’ve never heard it before…

Kabul like you’ve never heard it before…

With all the grim stories and news we see coming out of Afghanistan, I’m sure you’ll already have an idea of what life there must be like – violent, repressive, fearful. Right? Well, think again, it’s time to challenge your preconceptions…

While some women around the world were getting praise for their work on International Women’s Day, passionate Afghan women celebrated it by learning new technological skills to combat gender-based violence and promote women’s rights at the first ever Feminist Tech Exchange held in Kabul.

These women activists from all across the country made inspiring digital stories of their own lives in an effort to raise awareness about women’s rights and affirm gender equality. The FTX was an open forum where activists and trainers were able to come together and discuss and present stories on diverse issues, deepening their understanding of an issue by examining it from various perspectives.

Workshop in Kabul. Photo taken by Nighat Dad

The Feminist Tech Exchange workshop was held in Kabul under the umbrella of the Take Back the Tech! Campaign, and focused on digital storytelling. For four days from 5 – 8  March 2012, this women-only workshop focused on all the issues Afghan women have to face.

Valentina Pellizzer from OWSEE (One World South East Europe), Bosnia Herzegovina and myself traveled to Afghanistan to help trainees bond together and bring them to a comfort level where they could share their heartening stories with others. Eleven women activists of all ages and educational backgrounds, from Mazar Sharif, Herat, Kandhar and Kabul took part in this digital storytelling workshop.

A few of them were quite wary of technology, some of them had never even touched a computer and yet, when they left the workshop they had the enthusiasm and confidence needed to play with technology and use it as a powerful tool giving them a real sense of empowerment.

Taking Back the Tech!

In their own different ways information & communication technologies and violence against women both affect a woman’s capacity to fully enjoy her fundamental human rights. Take Back the Tech strongly believes in the power of ICT to provide us with critical tools to reach out for help and take action against violence against women.

TBTT is a collaborative campaign that takes place every year (25th November – 10thDecember) for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence. TBTT is a wake-up call to everyone, especially women and girls, to take control of technology and make it a tool to end violence against women.

Self-Control & Empowerment through Storytelling

Digital storytelling has always been the basic and most remarkable catalyst of FTXs . Typically, women are the subjects of many stories, research projects, movies, and news items, but rarely do they have any say in how they’re being portrayed by their story-makers.

In digital storytelling workshops, it’s women themselves who control and manipulate the technology and present their own stories in their own words, in their own voices and with their own images. It is a documentation method that enables the storyteller to conceptualize, direct and produce her own stories with all technological tools right at her fingertips.

This process works as a powerful healing mechanism for those who have experienced and witnessed violence in any shape or form. This approach has been used by the APC WNSP(Association for Progressive Communications – Women’s Networking Support Programme) and its member body Women’s Net for documentation as a healing and evaluation tool for advocacy.

Storytelling has profound impacts on the tellers as it enables them to trust others, tell them their own stories and ultimately weave together individual stories to frame a collective picture of community or shared value.

Activism beyond age & education!

These eleven ardent Afghan women made eleven powerful and inspirational digital stories focusing on issues ranging from motherhood to women’s education and clothing. Those stories were presented on 8th March at an event attended by 25 other people.

Few things can illustrate the huge impact that these bonding sessions had on the women better than these remarks that I received from participants:

“I personally feel that FTX has changed my life in a big way, that the process of sharing and making our stories for each other gave me a feeling that I am not alone, that there are many others who are suffering like me and that things happen which are sometimes totally out of our control but there are people who have managed not only to survive them but have come out stronger because of them, and are now prepared to help others face similar challenges and issues head on. And this shows that digital storytelling and the process involve in making it can be life-changing and transformative” — Anonymous

“…sharing our stories and our experiences is  a way of healing but also helps others in coming forward and sharing their stories. Our story is an act, in some way, saying that ‘bad experience does not define who I am’. The decisions we make in terms of what to include in the story and how to say it are all important decisions” - Anonymous

Another participant commented, “I have taken part in several workshops but never attended training like this before. I feel that now we have a powerful bond with each other and I found a true, strong network of support through this training. Also I feel I have a warm relationship with trainers which we call sisterhood!”

I will never forget the brave women I met during FTX, Kabul for the trust they showed me and Valentina, for their love and the enduring bond that we were able to build up during those four days.

It definitely proved to be a space where women could express themselves, and this is particularly important in Afghanistan where there are limited opportunities to do so. We hope this will inspire more women to join the Take Back the Tech! Campaign and we look forward to many more such training events happening in Afghanistan and elsewhere. I certainly believe those eleven inspiring women will be able to pass on their inspiration to the women around them, empowering them with the influential tool of technology and sisterhood!

(Note: Storytellers retain all the rights over their stories and FTX only shares the stories with their explicit permission.)

 

Originally written for Future Challenges.

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October 31, 2012 - Comments Off on Attack on Pakistani Youth Activist Will Not Shake Women's Rights Activists

Attack on Pakistani Youth Activist Will Not Shake Women's Rights Activists

Malala Yousafzai is also a strong advocate for communication rights and is a keen supporter and promoter of APC’s local Take Back the Tech! Campaign in Pakistan after attending workshops in Swat and Peshawar.

An exceedingly sad, insensate and astounded feeling comes to mind while writing this piece about an innocent 14 year-old activist Malala Yousafzai shot in Swat, Pakistan earlier today. This young girl who exemplifies active participation in the Take Back the Tech! campaign in Pakistan.
Across the globe, countless women and human rights defenders risk harassment, torture, family kidnapping and even death threats. Women activists keep breaking cultural taboos and make efforts to lead an exemplary life – not only so their own lives can be better, but also to help other women have an independent and inspiring life.

Malala, our young activist was attacked while she was going home from school with other girls in a school van in the country’s northwest, a region of the country that is known for its political unrest. The unknown assailants shot several bullets to her vehicle, injuring her and the other two school girls. Malala received two bullets to the head and neck, and is currently in critical condition in a hospital in Peshawar.

She started receiving death threats soon after her identity went public as the author of the BBC’s Diary of a Pakistani schoolgirl, in which she denounced the atrocities that took place during Taliban rule under the pen name Gul Makai. In March 2012, shortly after Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced that she, and another social worker (Shad Beghum) where on the militant’s hit list, she was provided with unarmed security by her school.
Hailing from Mingora Swat, this 14 year-old girl fought to restore peace and promote girls’education in Swat during the stronghold of Taliban in 2008. She was awarded National Peace Award by the former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani for her outstanding and ardent efforts under extremely hostile conditions. She was also bestowed with Sitara-e-Jurrat by the Government of Pakistan acknowledging her courageous services to promote peace. She was the first Pakistani to be nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by children’s advocacy group Kids Rights Foundation.

Like many other girls, Malala is a victim of the ban imposed by Taliban on girls’ education during their stronghold of Swat in 2008. The teenager kept encouraging her fellow students to continue with their schoolwork despite of militants’ threats before the Pakistan Military launched an operation and flushed out the militants.

The attack on a children rights activist is an unmistakable indication that the Taliban is not a group that is willing to negotiate girls’ education and women’s rights.

It is not the first case of attacking human rights defenders (and particularly women’s rights activists) in Pakistan. The famous Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has been getting such threats for years. The daring lawyer, Asma Jahangir, is also one of the many who keep receiving threats from miscreants. Adding to this, women’s rights defender Farida Afridi was ambushed and shot dead outside her house on 4th July in Hayatabad, in the tribal agency of Khyber.

Be it in Pakistan or Afghanistan, the efforts and contributions of these activists has been under constant attack by the Taliban. The need of the hour is for the international community to force the State to be responsible and take appropriate measures to protect women and children rights defenders in hostile regions. Activists’ spirit will not wear falter from such attacks, but it will surely affect the peace process in the region.

It is the State’s responsibility to take the activists along the road of peace and make policies, programmes in a closer collaboration and consultation with the human rights defenders. They are the ones who are suffering and helping the victims and survivors on the ground. Designing policies in conflict zones will only be successful and bear long term fruits, when governments take women human rights defenders together in the peace process.

 

Originally published at Association for Progressive Communications.

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October 31, 2012 - Comments Off on Building the Great Firewall? Just Follow the Masters!

Building the Great Firewall? Just Follow the Masters!

 

Governments worldwide are trying to introduce legislations for cyber censorship, curbing the privacy of internet users. And it’s no different here in Pakistan. In fact the government of Pakistan is way ahead of many others when it comes to escalating internet censorship in the name of “national security”.

A division of the Ministry of Information, the National ICT R&D Fund, has published a Request for Proposals for a National URL Filtering and Blocking System. This proposal seeks to build a central database that would monitor URLs and handle a “block list” of over 50 million “undesirable” URLs.

At present if the government wants to ban any site it sends notice to that site’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) but with this system, when realized, the government will be able to shut down any site it wants without recourse to any intermediary and for whatever reason it sees fit.

With its Request for Proposals, the current democratic government of Pakistan is actually following the footsteps of those totalitarian regimes that block the highways of global connectivity for their citizens for their own spurious reasons. The Great Firewall of China operated by Ministry of Public Security China is one prime example. And Pakistan as the “higher than mountains, deeper than oceans” friend of China is only too proud to mimic China whenever possible for the benefit of the government or army.

The Request for Proposals claims that “Internet access in Pakistan is mostly unrestricted and unfiltered” and goes on to demonstrate the need of central blocking mechanism:

“The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and backbone providers have currently deployed manual URL filtering and blocking mechanism in order to block the specific URLs containing undesirable content as notified by PTA from time to time.

Many countries have deployed web filtering and blocking systems at Internet backbones within their countries. However, Pakistani ISPs and backbone providers have expressed their inability to block millions of undesirable web sites using current manual blocking systems. A national URL filtering and blocking system is therefore required to be deployed at national IP backbone of the country.”

This is not the first time that some sort of internet ban is being proposed in Pakistan; we have a long history of cyber censorship. The Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) blocked thousands of websites in 2007 in response to the Supreme Court’s order for “banning blasphemous” sites. In 2008, PTA blocked Youtube after the site hosted “Fitna”, the film by Geert Wilder.

Then, in May 2010 courts in Pakistan gave the government orders to ban the social networking site Facebook after some user started the controversial contest “Let’s Draw Muhammad”. Netizens of Pakistan had to use proxies to reach to their favorite social media site.

Recently, in November last year, PTA sent a notice to all cell phone companies to block some 1,600 terms and phrases deemed to be obscene from text messages or they would face stringent legal action. The directive wasn’t only hegemonic and unconstitutional but also supported the culture of moral policing in the country.

As can be seen, most such moves draw on the same tired old indefensible excuses of religious moral policing, the danger of terrorism and national security to justify themselves. The mass of the people become a puppet when the name of religion is invoked. Countrywide protests about the drawing competition moved the courts to take the decision to ban Facebook in May 2010 and now the blanket ban of URLs has the front banner claiming to ban pornographic sites “for the sake of our next generation”.

This seems to be the general reason but once it’s started who knows which sites we will be “allowed” to browse and which sites will be banned. As in China it could well be any site that carries the slightest criticism of the government or army. The envisaged plan with the capacity to block 50 million URLs with a delay no longer than one millisecond is not only deeply worrying but also indicative of the scalability of the government’s plans.

Information and communication technology is the driving force of today’s world. Rather than impinging on citizens’ privacy, the government of Pakistan should focus on training people in digital security to enable them to protect themselves and their children. Religious and cultural intolerance can only be increased by cutting people’s access to communication with the rest of the world. Enriching inter-cultural, inter-ethnic programmes and investing taxpayer’s money in basic education and health will give us much better long-term results. Banning what it deems to be “pornographic” sites only shows that the government considers the people to be infantile, vulnerable and stupid.

 

Originally written for Future Challenges.

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October 21, 2012 - Comments Off on Digital Rights Foundation Launches

Digital Rights Foundation Launches

Digital Rights Foundation is a research based advocacy organization focusing on ICTs to support human rights, democratic processes and digital governance. It is a start-up not for profit advocacy organisation founded by acclaimed lawyer, Nighat Dad in 2012 to help women make use of ICTs to fight for themselves.

DRF aims at empowering the community, especially women and girls through ICT education and helping them being a part of positive development without any threats or gender discrimination.