VOICES FROM FEMINIST ACTIVISM
Cyber Crime a new form of Violence
against Women: From the Case Study of Bangladesh
Maruf Hosen
Abdullah Al-Mamun
Abdullah Al-Mamun
Student of Daffodil International University
1
Abstract
According to a recent research, the current trend of
cybercrime is largely dominated by the crime against the individual. These
kinds of crime include cyberstalking, fake Id, nude pictures/videos, email
hacking etc. People especially females are more vulnerable to
cyber-attacks. Recently a study shows
that so many underaged and minor girls and other female victims committed
suicide after their private photos and videos were uploaded on the internet.
The paper argues the question is how the diverse concerns of the government
match up with the specialized security needs of their female citizens, who are
the most vulnerable one. This is the high time to initiate and being vocal
against cyber-crime and being more protective on this crime and being aware
against this crime as globally this crime is increasing and has become the most
sustainable and devastating crime against state, individual, mass and last but
not the least mental, socio-cultural and economic stability when the victims
are the women.
Keyword
Cyber
Crime, Violence, Women, Security, Awareness, Public and Private Intervention,
Bangladesh
Introduction:
This paper sets out the key points discussed in the
areas of law, media, technology and women’s rights and focusing on the nature
and scope of online speech and harassment of women and girls in
Bangladesh. The paper
aimed to take stock
of the extent
and types of
online/cyber violence and harassment against women and girls and its
impact on daily lives. The reflections are expected to inform the development
of strategies of response by those dealing with such cases.This paper
further sheds light
on some other
perspectives of revenge
porn, cyber harassment and connecting dots of watching pornography among
the sixty six students from different Universities of Dhaka, as being an
Adjunct Faculty I got the chance to interact in between the students where I
used to teach and rest has been collected through peer processes and
interconnectivity to initiate a social campaign ‚ Youth Against Revenge Porn as
a tool of Pornography and Cyber Crime“. (Check the Annex)
Context:
If we ask anyone what can be an empowering tool and
platform for women but at the same time can also be a platform for abuse? It is
obvious that the answer will be internet and technology. Violence against
women, in general, is not discussed publicly in the name of honor, rather it is
considered as a taboo. Within this context, online harassment is the even
lesser known topic and most vulnerable area due to lack of knowledge. The
interesting fact is day by day we are getting more accustomed to it and again it
is all about victim blaming.
Now a day’s social media has become the platform to
ensure the ability for communicating with anyone through online in the virtual
world. We can indicate, incite, abuse, showoff and harass complete
strangers across the globe to
engage in frequent,
specific and even
pre- motivated violence by lone wolf offender or a group of
fundamentalists.
Over just
two years, from 2013 and 2015, mobile cellular subscription in Bangladesh
increased from 74 to 76 per 100 people1 while the number of internet subscribers reached
56.167 million at the end of January, 2016 .2A high level commitment to creating a ‘digital
Bangladesh’, the proliferation of online news portals, and the enormous use of
social media has resulted in the rapid spread of online communication.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2 http://www.btrc.gov.bd/content/internet-subscribers-bangladesh-january-2016
2
Aims
The paper
aimed to:
• Reshape
the extent and nature of online/cyber violence and harassment in Bangladesh;
• Think
about the challenges faced in defining, reporting and responding to such cases;
• Locate
good practices in this regard;
• Reflect on
the experiences shared
and strategies being
undertaken to address
the issue, including through
proposed law reforms.
Method:
1. Literature Review
2. Survey
When exactly
does a crime become a 'cyber violence’: Does a cyber-attack constitute an act
of violence?
This 21st century’s
way of global communication can be used as form of violence against women being
a part of technological puppet skillfulness when rouge actors flagrantly wicked
to manipulate and abuse particularly vulnerable and minor aged people to act in
ways that are harmful to themselves and others all form the feasible zones of
the actor’s living space.
From cyberbullying to
Gender violence including
ISIS recruitment has
been used to
normalize predatory behavior that would have surprised and shocked our
collective morality and judgment even a
decade ago.
Cybercrime a new form violence would explore that nexus between cyber violence
and
women victims in Bangladesh.
Surprisingly
those who work
at the institutions,
concerned departments as
well as along
with the authorities including
for advocacy and campaign are more often very much familiar with the offline
issues that women face, i.e. domestic violence but not in a position to broaden
the outlook regarding online harassment, violence
and what could
be the effective
measures to tackle
it. The lack
of information, knowledge, cooperation as well as networking along with
the law enforcement agency has made it quite normal to accept, negotiate and
manage it through pressure as well as to withdraw the criminal offenses.
Common Forms
of Cyber VAWG (Violence Against Women):
• Offensive comments and images online targeting women in general or any particular
woman are common.
. • Hate speech is often directed to women who hold particular
ideology in terms of politics, religion, gender or are active in public spaces.
Increasingly social media has been a site for regulating women's bodies and
women's movement. But
hate speech against
women often uses
very particular and
distinctive
language with sexual undertones, including slut shaming, body shaming, the use
of terms
like ‘bad women'.
It has been a useful tool for trolls to harass women particularly those who are
active
either in social media or in outside world so that
people can see it.
• A person may take or use pictures of
another person without the latter’s consent and share them
on social media or through the net or on mobile
messages.
For example, one person's Facebook profile picture was
downloaded and then put on a porn website. When
the woman found
about this, she
reported it to
Facebook and got
a response saying
that no community rules were
being violated. she basically had no recourse. The problem is that anyone's
profile picture is open to the public, or sections of it and the user has
consented to this. But this consent does not mean that she has consented to use
that picture in all circumstances. What actions can be taken against such
activity?
• Malicious impersonation occurs where a person uses someone else’s profile
picture to open a fake
Facebook account and post different
things on Facebook.
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• Revenge Porn is the most effective way of cyber
harassment: Could Pornography and obscenity of the mindset of the youth be
responsible in this context?
Bangladesh
has already a sexually frustrated youth for various reasons, porn gives them
that stimulating push on the path towards cyber violence.
‘In 2015-16
there was a rise in the prosecution of child abuse image offenses from 21,580
in 2014-15 to
22,545
(4.5%), including prosecutions commenced for 16,672 offenses of sexual
exploitation of children through photographs.
There was a rise in obscenity offenses prosecuted from 5,782 to 6,940 in
2015-
16
(20%). There were three prosecutions of
rape pornography and 206 prosecutions commenced of the offense of
disclosing private sexual
images without consent
(so-called revenge pornography).
Case studies within the (VAWG
-Violence Against Women
Globally) data annex
of this report illustrate
prosecutions
of exploitation of vulnerable victims, rape pornography, and offense of
disclosing private sexual images without consent.`
The posting of rape videos and photographs on someone’s timeline or sending messages threatening
a woman
by giving an
impression that the
same could be
done to her
is another common
form of harassment. This can also be a form of blackmail insisting a
woman or girl continue a relationship and
that if she
does not do so, such images would be made public.
Cyber violence:From the Perspectives of Threatening
Factors
At present the most concerning and
burning question is how much safety do we have in a mutual relationship? What
could be the consequences if someone shares the intimates moment of his female
partner?This has become one of the
sensations of media when one actress broke up with her fiancee and later married
someone from the media. The angry fiancee just uploaded the videos of their
intimate moments and later due to the objection and legal procedure youtube was
forced to delete that video. The actresses could return to her regular
workplace but the scratches and defamation through revenge porn never ended,
which she faced somehow being brave and determined. In the end, the fiancee
fled and left for abroad without facing the criminal charges and her marriage
was torn apart But the fact is not everyone is as much luck as like her in
reality.
Now the thing is being in a relationship means more
about security, safety, and sensibility. The questions about sharing
photographs consensually are beyond imagination.Because once the
relationship does not
work for the
privileged gender's favor
or if it
ends or even it might continue the demands starts with
threating part of sharing nude photos and revenge porn.
Once again, the society intervenes where women are not
allowed to speak due to the taboos in the name of so-called honor and family
matter, and victim blaming and shaming starts with the phrases „ Slut‘,
shameless woman for having intimate relationships before marriage. But the fact
is even the married women are not safe as well in this context.
Now the point
is how do
we define about
consensus, consent, permission
and how it is
accepted.There are many cases have been
found that lot many female students who tried to file a complaint either they
faced accusations from the institutions or from the police.In the end, it is
all about women being the culprit and the only one to be blamed.
Even though the High court gave the protection it is
sort of preconceived notion that if she allows someone to take nude photos of
her she must be allowing him to distribute it as well.In the end, the some of
the cases become quite similar to the Korean movie „ Phone".
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The thing is we do need to change the perception about
consent which is not meant to be for all types of actions but must have a
separate criterion to be regarded and it is obvious that has not been
considered to realize it properly.
`Once again
we need to reconceptualize the definition about stigma and gender which is one
of the crucial reasons where single, married, divorced women do not come
forward to take action against this
increasing and
alarming crime at this moment.Again it is the lack of coordinator from the
perspectives
of judgment, ideas as well as from the legal and
health workers. We are just confined to our own ideas but that just refers to
the goodness and badness. Social and cultural context is more concerned about
subjective explanation rather
than focusing on
objectivity which is
surrounded by the
conservative environment.We
just prefer to
encircle the women
within the barriers
and limitations rather
than breaking the glass ceiling.
Assessing
the risk factors in Bangladesh from the perspectives of victims
The common example of most of the
incidents in the rural areas is, where a young man videotaped a girl while she
was taking bath and then started to blackmail her. The girl went to one of
gender-based partner organizations and they took her to police who asked her to
make a general diary (GD). After that, the police arrested the boy and got a
signed bond from him stating that he would not harass the girl anymore. They
also made him delete the video from his phone. However, some teachers of his
college assisted him to secure release on bail. This is one instance where a
girl raised her voice, but there are so many others who cannot share their
problems with anyone. The blackmailing may be so extreme that a girl commits
suicide. There are many examples of abuse of girls through Facebook. For
instance, a girl may accept a friend request coming from a stranger. After some
time, a kind of friendship or relationship develops between the two through
chatting. The blackmail starts when one of them plays on or exploits these
emotions and feelings. In the beginning, the girl does not realize the
consequence of entering into a relationship with a stranger. When this happens,
in most cases the girl doesn't know what to do and where to go. Some girls
don't want to seek help from law enforcing agencies because of the resulting
social stigma. Even lawyers don't know what needs to be done and how to ensure
the protection of women and girls in such cases.
Another interesting fact that has been observed as
well, that the female mobile users do not have any protection mechanism as well
as not being aware do repair their mobile without security check and their
vulnerability and threatening parts become crucial as well through those shop
owners, repair persons, especially
who are living
in the remote
areas as well
as the students
in the city based
universities, colleges, and coaching centers as well.
Lot many rape cases had been reported through
threatening factors of mobile video footages and cyber distribution.s One of
the cases just shook the school going girls and their parents, where one
faculty raped a student for a long period of time while threatening her to
expose all the videos on the internet and that case is related with one of the
reputed school of Dhaka.
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To combat
the inexorable growth
in cybercrime in
Bangladesh and Comprehensive
Strategies
According to the report of BLAST (Bangladesh Legal Aid
Services and Trust)
‘From
28.07.2013 to 10.02.2016, there were 520 cases in Cyber Crime Tribunal where a
number of female victims were
90. Three hundred and 28 cases
were disposed of out of 520 cases during the
mentioned
period.`
The most important thing that we must need to review
is about „ Digital Literacy „ as well as preventive measures through awareness
campaign at the root level.These days number of people can afford digital
devices and do have accessibility on the internet which mostly covers Facebook.
However, people are still now not that much well informed about digital
literacy and that must be regarded with proper action and requirements.In
Bangladesh, till now people perceive Facebook as the internet where they are
not well informed and aware of the privacy settings and security because of a
language barrier which has been mostly written in English.This context must be
regarded as one of the important issues due to the safety and security as well
as awareness through digital literacy.
The other important factor must not be ignored and
that is, while this awareness could be managed at the urban areas as well as in
the educational institutions but the question remains what could be done at
the remote and
rural areas?What could
be the action
to be taken
where people do
have little understanding of
digital literacy?
The interesting observation shows that through the
online based platforms, as being one of the popular apps entitled
with „ Maya
Apa‘ launched by
one of the
leading NGOs BRAC(Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee),
having a female
name and online
affiliation received so
many explicit comments,
confession by the perpetrators and abusers including indecent proposals. Which
shows that even an identical online female figure would not be spared.
The existing laws in Bangladesh under which a victim
can seek remedies are as follows:
Section 57
of the Information
Communication Technology Act
2006 penalizes publishing fake, obscene or
defamatory information in
electronic form. The
Act covers both
men and women.
The punishment under this is a maximum fine of taka one crore and a
maximum jail sentence of 14 years.
Section 500 of the BPC 1860 imposes a penalty
for defaming any person.
Section 8
of the Pornography Control Act, 2012 penalizes the acts of
manufacturing or agreeing to supply participants for the purpose of producing
pornography, or forcing any person to participate in the
production of pornography. This is a
non-bailable offense. The offense is punishable by a maximum of
5
years imprisonment and
a fine of
two lakh taka.
In addition production
of pornography is
also punishable by a maximum of 7 years imprisonment and a fine of two
lakh taka.
Section
69 of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Control Act, 2001 penalizes the
sending of any obscene or indecent message.Section
10 of the Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain 2000 penalizes ‘sexual
oppression' including any indecent gesture, while Section 14 penalizes the
publication in the media of the identity of a victim of any offense under the
Act.Section
76 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976 penalises any person who wilfully and indecently exposes his
person in any street or public place within sight of, and in such manner as may
6
be
seen by, any
woman, whether from
within any house
or building or
not, or wilfully
presses or obstructs any woman in
a street or public
The
drafting of the Cyber Security Act 2015 is underway. This provides punishment
for cybercrimes. However, the Draft Act is being criticised for including
draconian provisions, including a maximum 20- year sentence for
'cyber-terrorism' and allowing for the arrest of the suspects without a warrant
including persons abroad.In its
2009 judgment in BNWLA v. Government of Bangladesh, the High Court defined “sexual harassment" in
the workplace and
educational institutions in
both the public
and private sectors
to include certain forms of online speech. There are 11 directives under
this judgment. In the absence of a statute being enacted by parliament, these
directives are binding on everyone.
The interesting fact is now cyber criminal law
procedure is more concerned about the defamation of the prime minister and the
president rather than protecting the women.The most of the cases and charges
have been decentralized and based in Dhaka rather having an effective mobile
court in the remote, rural areas and suburban.
In most cases, victims do not want to go to the police
who may be reluctant to take up such cases; in such cases, a reference to the
HC directives on sexual harassment and existing laws may be helpful. in most
cases, women, whether married or unmarried, do not seek legal support due to
lojja (shame) and/or fear of further harassment by the police.
Referred by a recent RTI(Right To Information) by
BLAST, which found that less than 5% of cases filed under the ICT relates to
complaints of harassment by women. In some instances, cases are filed under
Pornography Act. The fact that so few people are seeking remedies is indicated
by the fact that none of the participants, who include women active in
addressing vaw, have ever had to deal with such a case going to court.
When we are discussing the penal code of 1860, which
is more than 150 years old, where the latest version of law could replace the
year 2000 to tackle the online harassment, and allow the use of online
devices being more
specific. We just
need to revise
the applicable regulatory
framework through consultation
along with the BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) which
is more powerful to control any website, explicit contents or online based
websites. We need to discuss with the mobile service providers as well as net
providers to form a comprehensive framework. It is urgent to form particular
online based platforms for filing complaints and must have direct access. Once
again whether we like it or not we do need to have greater global cooperation
as cybersecurity does not have any boundaries.
There are measures one can take once an unwanted photo
is circulated online. Online service providers like Google and Facebook are
more amenable to maintaining copyright laws rather than entertaining complaints
of abuse. Therefore, in cases where a person's photo that they took themselves
and published online is used
elsewhere, a complaint
can be filed
with Google and
Facebook under the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (as both these companies are registered
in the US) and they can be requested to take down the photos. The point being, that
there needs to be greater awareness of all kinds of tools to protect yourself,
including but not limited to criminal law
7
Bangladesh
and South Asia
at Article 19
outlined key international
human rights laws
that protect freedom of
expression, focusing particularly on the threats faced by women journalists.
The organization receives lots of complaints about discrimination against women
journalists, as well as about censorship, particularly online censorship. When
women journalists do well at the district level they face a lot of talk about
their characters, but the most common method of stopping a woman's progress is
through online comments
Conclusion
and Way Forward:
In surveys with students conducted formally and
informally, many examples of such online harassment and abuse were identified.
After inviting students in the class to participate in the survey to start an
initiative against revenge porn and cyber harassment interlinked with
pornography habituated mentality, I received intense and diverse accounts. It
turned out from these that too often the perpetrators are not necessarily
strangers, but friends, meaning that violence can be perpetrated by someone we
know, none of us is safe and anybody can be a perpetrator
Coordination
through:
Public-private partnerships; Awareness is
very important regarding the fact that this is common
and more importantly that this is not
the woman’s or girl’s fault. This is not the end of her life.
In technical assistance; and Digital
Literacy
Through the law enforcement cooperation;
These are
just three important examples of the collaboration and coordination that is
required on cyber violence issues.
However, it
is also important
to consider less
traditional approaches to
collaboration (for example,
involving non- governmental stakeholders in
conventionally governmental processes).
We need to ensure digital literacy including by
providing an information package in Bangla for women’s rights groups and the
public at large on privacy settings and security measures, and courses on
digital literacy at school and university level.
We have to
hold more discussions on online
speech and expression and its
possibilities and limits, including on cyber-crimes, successful examples
of dealing with such incidents, as well as positive stories of addressing
issues of pleasure and sexuality as well as do need to consult along with the
teachers, responsible authorities and parents.
We must undertake legal research on the application of existing laws
enabling online expression, and on addressing cyber violence, and examine
comparative experience and have to disseminate among the
potential
stakeholders
We do require to undertake legal research on the admissibility and use
of electronic evidence, including under the Evidence Act 1872, and special laws
where we could insert more information and resources.
We should Call for
public consultation on the Draft Cyber Crimes Act, and the draft Digital
Security
Act to
enhance cooperation between the government and the representatives from
different sectors of academia, civil society, youth led organizations, legal
aid based organizations, cybercrime specialists, law enforcement agency as
advocacy and voluntary services based initiatives to be addressed.
8
Annex:
The below-mentioned survey had been conducted by me
and it is based on the assessment between the Dhaka based public and private
educational institutions and its students regarding their perceptions on
Pornography and cybercrime
and this had
been conducted among
sixty-six participants. Here, Jahangirnagar University is one of the
leading public Universities and rest of the Universities students are from
North-South, which is one of the leading private Universities in Bangladesh as
well as the students from National Universities and also other universities
students who study outside of Dhaka participated in this survey.
While asking
the students “Do
you think Pornography
encourage rape and
violence against women“?
a)
Yes b) No
1.
1If yes, how it is?
1.2. If no, why not?
Pronography encourage rape & violence
Female Male
No
50%
50%
Yes
45%
55%
The
table shows that
55% male and
45% female say
‘Yes' that pornography
encourages rape and violence against women, on the other
hand, 50% male and 50% female say ‘No' on this issue.
When I asked them‚ Do you think
technology has made its access easier?
a)
Yes b) No
If Yes, how
it is? If. No, why not?
9
Technology has made it's access more easier
53.4%
46.6%
Male Female
66.7%
33.3%
75%
25%
Yes
No
No comments
We have observed
that 53.4% male
and 46.6% responded
with yes and
majority of the participants responded who are the male
responded with no comments, on the other hand while we asked about no option
66.7% male responded and 33.3% female responded with no and interesting fact is
25 % female responded with no comments.
One of the questions was based on whether they do think technology has made its access
easier? If Yes, how it is?
Majority of
the respondents both
from Jahngir Nagar University(31) and
other Univeristies (6)responded that
porn is available especially to
the young generation by net, Fb, and social site, negative
effect of uncontrolled
globalization, can easily access
porno site, facilities
to follow these type of western culture, enjoy it from internet,
available in YouTube and other
10
site,11 persons
from Jahangirnagar respondedand
2 from other
Univerities responded „No binding to watch porncan fulfill his or
her demand, cheaply available, 5 from Jahangirnagar and
3 from other Universities
responded Internet has free porn, large
scale of people now has access to vulgar videos.Only 1 responded with no
comments
Interesting observations are:
1.
Available in internet, YouTube & social site
2. No
binding to watch porn
3.
Internet has free porn
While asking the students what could be the best
punishment for revenge porn, personal porn video, and availability to the below
18 age?
Majority of the respondents from both the sides raised
voices against revenge porn and supported the idea of compensation and jail
terms and meanwhile below 18 age persons must be sent to the correction center.
The perception regarding uploaders was to fine up to
500000 maximum and 15 years of jail
term could be the highest punishment and that was supported by the other
universities students as
well. One person
showed particular interest
regarding religious
teaching
and one did not show any interest to make any comments from Jahangirnagar
University.
Revenge
porn= at least 7 years, not more than 10 years. This is the most damaging kind.
Personal porn video= not clear rate enough to answer
Availability to the below 18 age = 6
months to 3 years
11
Best
punishment for revenge
and personal porn
is taking huge
amount of money
as compensation and they should be taken to the rehab and below 18 age
should be taken to the rehab and family should be monitoring
There should be the highest level of
punishment.Some other perspectives as well have been shared.
A strict ICT act
to formulate, long time mental torturing in other institution, not jail
Stop the darkness or bad side of pornography,
i)Firstly family must care about it;
ii) Secondly, our IT sector should take step to impose
restriction,
iii)Thirdly below18 to become aware from the family
and to send them to rehab
While discussing about the punishments some of the
interesting answers were related with,
Public shaming and boycotting the culprits, at least 10 years’ jail, below 18
should be given punishment like jail class, Counseling may be good for them,
Cybercrime should be punished through strict
laws and the
persons who are
engaged should be
given punishment,needful
constitutional amendment against it and if possible to try to stop
it,Punishment according to religion.Death sentence and banning had been
discussed as well and one of the opinion regarded the part
of crime degree
and exemplary punishment as
well as stated
that the Government should raise awareness.
References:
Peterson J, Densley J. Aggress. Violent
Behaviour. 2017; 34: 193-200)
Copyright © 2017,
Elsevier
Publishing.
Report of Expert Consultation “Responding
to Violence against Women and Girls in the Cyber Age“, By Bangladesh Legal Aid
Services and Trust,18 February 2016, https://www.blast.org.bd/ http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.CEL.SETS.P2
http://www.svri.org http://www.cps.gov.uk/publications/docs/cps_vawg_report_2016.pdf https://www.internetsociety.org/chapters/
http://www.thedailystar.net/law-our-rights/cyber-crimes-70592 http://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/digital-sexual-harassment-digital-bangladesh-82480
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