SHIKARPUR: Cybercrime is a global phenomenon. With the advent of technology, cybercrime and the victimisation of women are increasing by the day. Pakistan has 32 million internet users, 12 million Facebook users and up to two million Twitter users. While cybercrime against women is a relatively new phenomenon in the country, it has already reached a peak and has caused some very traumatic experiences for women. Cybercrime against women is defined as follows: “Crimes targeted against women with a motive to intentionally harm the victim, using modern telecommunication networks and social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, chat rooms, emails and mobile phones (SMS/MMS).”
It is shocking that recently a woman attempted suicide in district Dadu in Sindh when her morphed pictures surfaced on the internet. Another case was reported of a 14-year-old girl, who was blackmailed and gang-raped repeatedly after her boyfriend threatened to post her obnoxious video on the internet, which he had secretly shot. Countless such incidents have been taking place against women but complaints have not been registered due to societal taboos. It has been noticed that initially men start chatting with women by praising their beauty. Consequently, to achieve their evil ends, they use tactics of defamation, blackmailing, creating fake profiles with obscene content, disseminating sexual material, gaining unauthorised control and access over a computer system, and sending lewd messages and vulgar photographs via cell phones and personal computers.
Keeping in view this critical situation, the government of Pakistan should take result-oriented and concrete initiatives. In my opinion, there is a need to enact legislation to counter the rising trend of cybercrime against women and to deter cyber criminals from operating in Pakistan.
Sheikh Abdul Rasheed
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2015.
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