Cyber harassment
Geo-tagging, according to the website Oxforddictionaries.com, is an electronic tag that assigns a geographical location to a photograph or video, a posting on a social media website, etc. Geo-tagging can be used to keep tabs on women online; what their habits are and which places are they visiting on a daily basis and the pattern can be ascertained
Women and privacy on the internet is a very interesting topic to be writing about. In the age of smartphones and tablets, where we have access to every kind of information at the touch of a fingertip, a lot of privacy issues have also arisen. The use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter and instant messaging apps like Whatsapp Viber, Signal, Telegrametc has made connectivity that much quicker and easier for us, but at the cost of our privacy being exposed.
The exploding growth of smartphones and tablets has led to the use of social networking apps which makes it a primary medium of sharing our photographs and data in general. In the fast moving world of technology, where we share our data on the go, we tend to sideline privacy and are quite open about ourselves. The usage of Facebook is considerably popular among women here in Pakistan due to its ease of usage and cross networking with friends and relatives abroad. It is a great way to share photographs and chat at the same time. But the main focus is to highlight the threat that women face by sharing too much of their personal data online. Most of the data shared online by women in Pakistan, whether intentionally or unintentionally, is quite risky. It can have far reaching implications which can result in a lot of trauma and emotional stress for the victim who is being harassed online.
There are women folk from all walks of life, working in different sectors in Pakistan, whether it is banking, telecom, healthcare or ICT for that matter. The rules in respect to privacy online apply in the same manner to all sectors. The nature of the threats faced by each sector are different, but a common factor bind them all; are sexual harassment and being traumatised and coerced or forced into giving information about themselves by being threatened or blackmail. The data that women share online with their peers online can be subject to misuse or misappropriation. For example; sharing of personal photographs via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Whatsapp or Viber can reveal our precise or approximate location by the use of geo-tagging.
Geo-tagging, according to the website Oxforddictionaries.com, is an electronic tag that assigns a geographical location to a photograph or video, a posting on a social media website, etc. Geo-tagging can be used to keep tabs on women online; what their habits are and which places are they visiting on a daily basis and the pattern can be ascertained; raising a privacy specter of unknown proportions. Cyber-stalkers as we term them are criminally adept at these kinds of techniques. They can use this information to keep tabs on the whereabouts of every woman they intend to target. Apps like 4Square on our iOS and Android smartphones used for check-ins can also reveal our exact location where we are visiting; whether it is a restaurant a shopping mall or even our office.
Using instant messaging apps like Whatsapp or Viber, which are predominantly very popular among both sexes for their ease of use and accessibility; can have grave implications. These apps use our mobile numbers to function and help us interact with families and friends alike. Yes the option to block does exist in both these apps; but the person can very easily start harassing a woman by either sending SMSs or giving crank calls and making their life miserable in the process. The fear of being harassed and being threatened online; it can increase stress for the victim whose information is being compromised and be put to wrong use. Alternative applications like Telegram and Signal offer end-to-end encrypted conversations and controls our privacy to a great extent. Whilst using all of these tools hasmade communication easier, it is very important to balance out the fact what details should be shared online. Trusting online can be dangerous and women should consider taking into account; their information and details can be exploited whether it is photographs; phone numbers or anything else.
Facebook and Twitter are rife with impersonation attempts. Impersonators create fake profiles on both social networks using real life display pictures and names to fool people. Common habits of those impersonating women are to share indecent photographs and to use abusive language with the followers or friends of the person being impersonated. It causes commotion and havoc on social media; for the sudden change in behaviour of the concerned person. Reputation can nosedive and for women especially it is imperative to avoid arguments or confrontations with anybody for sake of their privacy and security. As a rule of thumb online, women should not be sharing their plans or thoughts publicly and give any ideas about where they live and work for example. Accept friend requests on Facebook with great scrutiny; audit their accounts for information or try to gauge the person is genuine or not? Is the person known to you personally? Is it safe to be befriending a person you have never met in person? Beware whom you trust online; try to be discrete with your digital footprints online. Do not reveal too much about yourself and your family background. It should only be disclosed to those whom you have known personally for years and have an element of trust in them.
For security purposes; women and everybody online should use random email addresses when considering registering with different social media websites and different passwords should be assigned and used for each website. Always change your passwords frequently to avoid your accounts being hacked; audit the privacy and security features every few weeks of the social media websites you use to keep yourself updated with any changes in privacy policies. Women should lock down their Facebook and Twitter profiles and limit their sharing of personal photographs only to friends on their list and use strict privacy settings to ensure their safety online. Enabling two-factor authentication is highly recommended for your social media accounts, since it doesn’t allow you to login with your password only and need a four to six-digit code sent on your mobile number to verify your authenticity. With a little more awareness; women to a certain degree can avoid their privacy being violated online.
