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پاس ورڈ: اولین دفاع

On By In Blog, Cyber security

پاس ورڈ: اولین دفاع

 

آپ کتنے پاس ورڈ استعمال کرتے ہیں؟

اپنے پاس ورڈز ک بغیر لکهے آپ کیسے یاد رکهتے ہیں؟

کیا آپ اپنے پاس ورڈ اس خوف سے تبدیل نہیں کرتے کہ کہیں بهول نہ جائیں؟

کیا آپ ہر مقصد کے لیے ایک ہی پاس ورڈ استعمال کرتے ہیں؟
 

محفوظ پاس ورڈ آپ کی معلومات کے تحفظ کا اہم جزو ہے چاہے آپ آن لائن ہوں یا آف لائن۔ انٹرنیٹ کے ذریعہ

معاشرتی تعلقات میں اضافہ کے سبب پاس ورڈ کے استعمال کے مواقع بهی بڑهتے جا رہے ہیں۔

آج کل آپ کی معلومات صرف آپ کے اپنے کمپیوٹر تک ہی محدود نہیں، بلکہ انٹرنیٹ پر گوگل اور فیس بک پر بهی

موجود ہیں۔ آن لائن معلومات متعدد خطرات سے دوچار ہو سکتی ہیں۔

 

  • کیا آپ کو یاد ہے کہ آخری بار آپ نے کب پاس ورڈ تبدیل کیا تها؟ 

  • کیا آپ دو یا اس سے زیادە جگہ پر ایک ہی پاس ورڈ استعمال کرتے ہیں؟

  • کیا کوئی استعمال شدہ پاسورڈ آپ نے دوبارە استعمال کیا ہے؟

  • کبهی بهی کسی کو پاس ورڈ بتایا ہے؟

  • آپ کے پاسورڈ میں لغت یا ڈکشنری میں درج الفاظ یا عام معلومات (مثلاً قریبی عزیز کا نام، سالگرہ، گهر کا پتہ وغیرہ شامل ہیں؟

  • آپ کے پاس ورڈ میں آٹہ یا اس سے کم ہندسے ہیں؟

  • کبهی اپنا پاس ورڈ کسی کاغذ پر لکها ہے؟

  • آن لائن سرور استعمال کرنے کے لیے عام انٹرنیٹ کیفے پر کپیوٹر استعمال کیے ہیں؟ وہاں کے تحفظ اور رازداری کے نظام سے آپ مطمئن ہیں؟

 

 

تجاویز\حل

  

  • پاس ورڈ جتنا لمبا ہو گا اتنا بہتر ۔ کم از کم بارہ ہندسے یا زیادہ مثلاً

  • (heer-izIw/12) ۔

  • مذید محفوظ بنانے کے لیے الفاظ کو توڑئیے، ترتیب بدل دیں اور مخصوص حروف جیسا کہ@$! کا استعمال کریں۔

  • نیز چهوٹا جملہ بهی استعمال کر سکتے ہیں مثلاً کسی کتاب کا نام جیسا کہda vinci code’ یا کسی گانے کا 

    نام۔


    ڈاونلوڈ کریں :

    پاس ورڈ: اولین دفاع

    ویبسیٹ:

    https://protect.tacticaltech.org/content/flash-training-materials

     ترجمعہ:

    علی جواد ھنسراج،

    طایر عمران

original

What to do if you are being impersonated online?

On By In Blog, Cyber security

Impersonation is one of the most common tactics used by harassers online. It can be extremely damaging if your organization or campaign is being impersonated. Understanding the repercussion of impersonations we are compiling a step-to-step guide of fighting and reporting impersonation.

Immediate Steps:

  • Issue a disclaimer. Let people know about the presence of an impersonator and request them to report it. Social networks respond quickly to block or spam reports done by multiple people.
  • Do not engage with the troll. These profiles mostly thrive on attention providing them that is only going to make matters worse. Ignore & report.
  • Start writing an impersonation report.

Things to consider when writing an impersonation report/complaint: 

  • Keep you ID handy. Most social networks demand you send them a copy of your ID to report impersonation.[Note: We do not support providing your personal information to any social network.Privacy is Key. If you do it for the sake of proving your ID please demand to know the privacy policy and share minimal information possible]
  • Information is key. Social networks with millions of users get a lot of requests reporting spam, you want to keep your information brief and apt.
  • The key to establish impersonation is through proving that the identity belongs to you. Therefore this format may be helpful: ” Name of Original ID: URL: Date Of Creation, Name of Impersonater: URL: Date of Creation”, this format is usually most helpful as it clarifies instant that your account was created first and the impersonator has since created a fake ID. If someone is impersonating your account on a social network before you created an account, consider adding detail of your other networks or any information that will help establish your or your campaigns identity.
  • Get others to file a complaint as well. This will build pressure and also validate your identity. If you are an organization or a campaign your avid followers will vouch for the fact that you are infact the original representative/source, if it is your personal ID testimony of friends and family is an added benefit.

How to report impersonation on Facebook:

To file a report with facebook go here

Facebook Help Center Lists ways to report impersonation

How do I report a fake account that’s pretending to be me?

Fake timelines created to imitate real people (impostor accounts) are not allowed on Facebook. If someone created an account pretending to be you:

  1. Go to the timeline
  2. Click the 219967728031249 2037024512 What to do if you are being impersonated online? and then select Report/Block
  3. Check the box next to Report this timeline
  4. Click This person is pretending to be someone
  5. Select Me from the drop-down menu
  6. Click Continue
  7. Add a description for why you’re reporting the timeline
  8. Check the box next to I confirm that this report is correct
  9. Click Continue to submit your report

174210519303259 66260082 What to do if you are being impersonated online?

If you don’t have a Facebook account, please file a report here.
If you’ve lost access to an account you created, learn how to secure your account.

 

 

How to report impersonation on Twitter:

Let’s first understand what Twitter considers imperonation according to its policies:

An account will not be removed if

  • the user shares your name but has no other commonalities, or
  • the profile clearly states it is not affiliated with or connected to any similarly-named individuals.
Who can report an impersonation account?

Twitter’s policies require that impersonation reports come from the individual being impersonated or someone legally authorized to act on his or her behalf.

If you are reporting an account that is impersonating someone else, you will need to provide proof that you are authorized to act on their behalf. If you are attempting to report for another individual and you are not their legal representative, we will not take action on your removal request.

If neither of these apply proceed to report to twitter.
  • Report to Twitter here

twitterreport bolo bhi 1 What to do if you are being impersonated online?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more help please read Twitter FAQs here

What information do I need to include when reporting impersonation?
In order to investigate impersonation, we need the following information:

Username of the person impersonating you (or the URL of their profile page):
Your First and Last Name:
Your Twitter username (if you have one):
Address:
Phone:
Brief description of the impersonating content:
If you are not the person involved in the impersonation, but are legally authorized to act their behalf, please include the information above in addition this information:

Your Name:
Phone:
Fax:
Company Website:
Company domain email address:
Your title and legal relationship to the person/entity involved:

You can then file a Ticket Request using this form on the Twitter website.

How to report impersonation on Google+:

Screen Shot 2013 02 15 at 4.09.50 PM What to do if you are being impersonated online?

  • To report impersonation on Google+ go here  
In order to report a profile impersonation you on Google+, you need the following information:

Attach a copy of your ID with your name and photo clearly visible. You can block out other personal information. Your ID will only be used to verify your name and will be deleted after review.

 

 

How to report impersonation on Blogspot:
  • To report an impersonation on Blogger please go here 
How to report impersonation on WordPress:

  • To report an impersonation on Blogger please go here
This is an open resource and we will continue to help more useful information on this post.

 

eff_no_censorship

The debate: What is free internet? Who decides what can be filtered?

On By In Blog, Cyber security, Internet Freedom

Efforts have been made by governments around the world, both authoritarian and democratic, to shut down Web sites, silence bloggers, filter out certain words or censor negative information.In order to highlight the diverse opinions on internet regulations and the concept of ‘Free Internet’ we will be publishing a wide range of opinions to get the debate going. The idea that ‘morality’ and ‘objectionable content’ is subjective, can be seen through these opinion pieces. Here’s one by Dr. Muddassar Farooq,
Professor & Head (Department of Electrical Engineering) FAST-NUCES Islamabad 

Pieces published here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolo Bhi Team, unless otherwise stated. 

 

I– in principle — do not agree with the so-called fancy term “Free Internet” because that does not exist. The word “Freedom” has at least two dimensions: (1) the freedom to access any informaton on the Internet; and (2) the gurantee that my privacy is not breached (while I a surfing) due to evaesdropping. No country (to the best of my knowledge) in the world gurantees both freedoms to its citizens (especially in post 9/11 arena). For example, in Germany nobody can say anything about “Holocast” because it is protected under a Law as an exception.

The constiution of a country defines (at least in the civilized world) everthing — dos and do nots — and our constiution says that “Pakistan is an Islamic Republic”. In other word, our Parliment decided with the needed majority that we are not going to be a Secular country. Those of us who want to make Pakistan a Secular country should keep on following their struggle but until the Constiution is ammended, merely voicing concerns on Secular paradimgs is of little legal value.

Once we want to filter the contents three types of things — based on our religion and culture — come to ones mind: (1) contents related to Blasphemy; (2) pornogrpahic adulat content; and (3) Anti-state content. I belive our constiution allows us to block the first two types because of its foundation in religion; however, the anticiapted misuse (or fear of misuse) is blocking “anti-state content” (recall arena of dictators in Pakistan).

I suggest the following roadmap, if we were to have this system

1. RFP has given approximately 1 month to respond to the call. I have been writing ICTRDF proposal; therfore, rest assured that most of the proposals would be third party vendor solutions or adapting already developed solutions. Writing a knowledge-driven idea cannot happen within a month. This undue haste is creating the impression that the Board wants to favor some company that has already a solution (may be inappropriate for this purpose). If we have lived for 15 years without such a system, we could live for couple of more years as well but let us first develop consensus on the need and requirements of the system by consulting all stakeholders.

2. If we were to have that sytem ultimately deployed, then first bring all stakeholders on a table — Politicians, Religioius Scholars, IT experts, Policy Analysts etc. Since PM is the chairman of the Board, an act of Parilment is the best option to back this solution. The same act could clearly identify a commitee — consisting of 5 judges of Suprement Court nominated by the Judicial Commission — that is authorized to issue an order to block the websites. No body in the establishment (Civil or Military) can be assigned this duty. This would ensure that if some agencies are pissed off with a site, they could not block it. Similary, the people in the government could not arbitrarly delcare a site as “anti-state” if it is criticizing the government.

To conclude, let us not put the “cart infront of the horse”. Once the parliment has an act, I can say with pride that if the Parliment of Germany says “No comments on Holocast” as a Law and everyone respects that then everyone must respect the decision of the “Pakistani Parliment” as well. The technology can be developed later (or in parallel) once we have a consensus-driven legal framework. Last but not least, blocking the websites would not merely solve the problem because of mirror sites. The requirement to detect and classify banned content (an accurate content filtering system) is also needed. Just to highlight the challenge, we were unable to develop an accurate “skin filter” that has high detection accuracy and low false alarms. Such an intelligent system is a true challenge and falls with regular ICTRDF R & D proposals category as well.

I wish you and ICTRDF best of luck. I hope my suggestions would provide a comprehensive review to the problem and might help in developing and refining a better Website Blocking and Filtering law (or policy) and implementaton stratiges.

PageLines- Home-Security-and-Digital-Home-Security.jpg

The Dangers of a Content Filtration System

On By In Blog, Cyber security, Internet Freedom, Privacy

Home Security and Digital Home Security The Dangers of a Content Filtration System

What would happen if a content filtration system such as the one The National ICT R&D Fund has advertised seeking proposals for were put in place? How would it affect the privacy of Internet users in Pakistan and what kinds of abuses would it invite? A discussion by a member on a social networking site sheds light on some of these questions and more….

(published as posted)

“So for all of those asking what is wrong with implementing such a system, let me put a few points out.”

Technical Background:

1. The Government already has a tap on the International Fibers from the two peering points (TWA and PTCL), i.e. the two submarine cable operators in Pakistan.

2. All the traffic to/from Pakistan flows through these peering points and the two taps. The two taps go to “Government” where exactly (PTA? Military? Etc.) No one knows and no one wants to talk about it.

3. What happens with these existing taps? You can very well imagine, they can do DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) of all the traffic. What they cannot open right now are encrypted packets, such as packets by Skype, HTTPS sessions and VPN or other encrypted sessions.

4. Under the guise of blocking grey VOIP (voice over IP) traffic, etc. the various agencies (MI, ISI, IB, etc.) have already managed to get the taps and be able to look at the payload traffic (essentially peer into your traffic) be able to “assemble” your packet-stream and reconstruct your Web or Email or FTP session. This is very easy to do with the right tools, provided you have the ability to tap into the link. Currently Government uses Narus to do this. Remember the official story is that it is to curb Grey VOIP traffic that is supposedly causing loss to the national exchequer in the Million (Billions, etc.).

5. The government has been trying for a long time to tap into the VPN and encrypted
circuits. This they did with a legislation / circular by PTA to register ALL VPN circuits in the country. You can look at the current URL for more information (Virtual watchdog: Internet users banned from browsing privately for ‘security reasons’).

6. Now what remains to reign in the control is – blocking of URLs (porn? anti-state propaganda material, anti-Islam material?) All of these clauses are part and parcel of the various Data Communication Licenses that have been given to the various operators. So the way PTA sees it – this is something long overdue.

7. Under the guise of the URL filtering, HTTPS sessions would also be tapped. In order to do this, all HTTPS sessions would be subjected to something called Man In The Middle Attacks (MITM). This basically says, you proxy the original HTTPS certificate/session (say as given by Gmail) and provides the user a locally owned Certificate (lets call this Pakistan URL Filtering Certificate) and with this, you have essentially been able to now looking into HTTPS (Secure) traffic:

8. This is a huge issue. With all the dissidents, anti-state activists, persons of interests, political figures, etc. The government will be able to see the HTTPS traffic and be able to identify the sources.

9. With Gmail, it currently establishes an HTTPS session and obfuscates the Source IP of the sender of the email. This is a stone in the government’s shoe, they cannot “identify” where these people are, and with this HTTPS peering ability, they will be able to do this just so easily as they can do with HTTP sessions.

How this can be abused and misused:

11. Any blanket privacy you had with respect to HTTPS is gone. So Internet banking secures communication, email, etc. all out of the door.

12. They will be able to capture all your User IDs and Password and specific answers to secret questions that you are suppose to provide in order to recover access to your email accounts.

13. Anyone who is a whistle blower can be identified. Anyone who does not agree with the government can be identified. Anyone can be pressured. Think the McCarthyism – this is where we are heading. Big Brother is always watching and collecting information (personal dossiers) on its citizens. Now they can comfortably collect the “digital” information of its citizens.

14. The state should define and elaborate what it considers as anti-sate content. Is human rights violation in Baluchistan anti-state? Is illegal abduction and torture by intelligence agencies?

15. How does one challenge a wrong decision?

16. What are the repercussions of bypassing and viewing such content? Can it land you behind bars?

17. What / Where is the accountability factor in this?

 

18. How do we ensure privacy rights are not invaded when your conversations are accessible?

19. What about the MISUSE of the information collected? Pressure tactics, blackmail, etc

20. How does one challenge the government’s writ in such an implementation, which is a clear and gross violation of your basic fundamental rights?

21. Who / Where are the definitions of what is anti-state, anti-religious, anti-moral etc? How do you agree on a consensus of what a decision is? How do you challenge it? How do you modify it?

Currently the constitution states that ‘distribution’ of blasphemous and obscene content is illegal. However, such content available on the Internet is not ‘distributed’. The access is voluntary not imposing.

22. What about data-retention and data mining being done on this data collected?

23. What about Court-approved taps (such powers are supposed to be limited and only with a court-approved order are you able to insert taps). Most software vendors who provide such tapping software and reconstructions software for hand-off (technical term used in industry), have appropriate sections for implementing such Court-orders into the software for proper logging.

24. This LI (Lawful Intercept) is no longer lawful nor being monitored by any member of the legislative or court bodies. In fact it is hushed.
25. Such a system will give the government extra muscle to go after “activists” – “liberals” – “troublemakers” – You and I. Anyone who is a hindrance, becomes a target.

26. The proper way is to bring this out to the National Assembly, have it challenged and formulated with limited power, oversight committees, a quasi civilian (rotating) watchdog and with very restricted perimeters.

cleardot The Dangers of a Content Filtration System
censorship

Brief History of Companies Profiting from Censorship

On By In Blog, Cyber security, Internet Freedom, Privacy
Background:

  • ‘Firms Aided Libyan Spies’, Wall Street Journal: August 30, 2011, article here
  • ‘Spy Companies & Their Authoritarian Customers, Part 1: FinFisher And Amesys’, Electronic Frontier Foundation: February 16, 2012, article here
  • FAST COMPANY article
  • ‘The Surveillance Market and Its Victimes’, Bloomberg – Wired for Repression: December 20, 2011, article here
  • “Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries”; Wikileaks – The Spy Files, article here

Snapshot of some companies (and where there from) complicit in selling internet censorship technology to government:

  • USA:
    • NetApp Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. gear to Syria. Blue Coat Systems Inc., McAfee Inc. / Smart Filter and NetApp products to Tunisia
    • Narus in Egypt
  • Finland:
    • Nokia Siemens Networks to Iran, Belarus and Tunisia.
  • Denmark:
    • ETI A/S data interception gear to Tunisia.
  • Ireland:
    • AdaptiveMobile Security Ltd. message retrieval/storage to Iran.
  • United Kingdom
    • Creativity Software Ltd. location tracking gear to Iran.
  • France:
    • Qosmos SA scanning probes to Syria. Amesys technology to Libya.
  • Germany:
    • The former Siemens AG business now known as Trovicor GmbH to nations including Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco and Pakistan. Utimaco Safeware AG to Tunisia, Syria
A List of different companies:


Number Company Contact
1 Cisco John Chambers, CEO
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 West Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134 USA		 Twitter: @ciscosystems
2 McAfee Stuart McClure, Worldwide Chief Technology Office
McAfee Inc., Headquarters
2821 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
USA		 Twitter: @mcafee
3 Netsweeper Perry Roach,
CEO Netsweeper,
Guelph, Ontario N1H 1A7
Canada		 Twitter: ?
4 Websense Gene Hodges, CEO
WebSense
10240 Sorrento Valley Rd
San Diego, California
92121
USA		 Twitter: @websense
5 Smart Filter
6 Blue Coat Systems, Inc Greg Clark, President and CEO
Blue Coat Systems, Inc
420 N. Mary Ave
Sunnyvale, CA 94085		 Twitter:  @bluecoatnews
Sandvine Incorporated Dave Caputo, President and CEO
Sandvine Corporate Headquarters
408 Albert Street
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3V3
Phone: +1 519 880 2600
Fax: +1 519 884 9892		 Twitter: @sandvine
7 Huawei Technologies Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
Ren Zhengfei
Chief Executive Officer
Huawei Industrial Base
Bantian
Longgang District
Shenzhen,  518129
China		 Twitter: @huaweipress
8 Verizon Communication Inc. Lowell C Mcadam
Chairman, President, CEO
Verizon Communication Inc.
140 West Street
New York, NY 10007
United States		 @verizon
9 NetApp Inc.
10 Hewlett Packard Co
11 Nokia Siemens Networks
12 Ericsson AB
13 ETI A/S
14 AdaptiveMobile Security Ltd.
15 Creativity Software Ltd.
16 Trovicor GmbH
17 Utimaco Safeware AG
18 Area SpA
19 Narus
20 FinFisher unit of Gamma International—based in the UK
21 Amesys, unit of Bull SA—based in France
22 SS8
23 Trustwave
24 Crypton-m
25 Thales
internet-privacy-2011

Protecting Your Privacy Online

On By In 16 days, Blog, Cyber security, Privacy

This article was originally published on Newsline’s blog on June 5, 2011

internet privacy 2011 300x209 Protecting Your Privacy Online

Every now and then there’s an uproar about Facebook’s ever-changing privacy policy and how users’ privacy settings automatically change as a result.

Facebook started off with making sure others had restricted access to you. People couldn’t search you if you didn’t want them to. They couldn’t view your profile picture. They could not “friend” you.

But all that has changed.

Now you don’t have the option of disallowing your friends’ friends to try to befriend you, or to make sure nobody can view your display picture (or copy it – yes, all pictures on Facebook can be copied by others if they have access to them). But what is really, really creepy is that Facebook allows random people to poke you!

Well now, here’s another cause for concern.

If your account happens to be temporarily locked, Facebook allows you two options to gain access to it. Here is what I discovered yesterday, after I was locked out of my own account. My first option was to answer my secret question: standard stuff.

The second option was troubling, though. Facebook offered me the option of identifying my friends. A series of three pictures was displayed with the common denominator being friends tagged in all of the pictures. Below each of the photos, in multiple-choice format, were five names. I had to click the right name for each tagged friend. Facebook informed me that it was satisfied with my answers, and I passed. Seemingly, more pictures would be displayed if one of the initial friend questions is answered incorrectly, so as to rule out ‘innocent’ mistakes or alternatively confirm that the person seeking access is not the genuine owner.

However, the images that Facebook displayed were not only pictures from my albums or pictures that I’d been tagged in but also seemingly pictures from the albums of my “friends.” This would make it especially easy for someone I know to pass the same tests.

There is much debate the world over on how companies that own social networking sites (as well as email service providers) use your personal information. As per Facebook’s privacy policy, your information is theirs to use as they see fit. And if you use third-party applications, i.e. if you’re busy farming away using Farmville, you have compromised your information because you have allowed them unfettered access to it.

The business of buying and selling people’s information is huge. And while your account is at risk to the dubious activities of hackers, stalkers and sometimes even people you know, often your personal information is also being mined by the businesses that you have trusted to safeguard it.

There are basic precautions that you can take. Here are some basic dos and don’ts as far social networking goes:

  • Do not make personal contact information (i.e. phone number, address, etc.) available online
  • Do not give your location
  • Do not upload things that would compromise you in any way
  • Do not put information you don’t want others to have access to because, remember, what goes up on the Internet stays up there, even if you delete it.

For more tips on privacy, see Bolo Bhi’s Digital Security Guides 

 

tbtt-t2f-dec2010

The New Face of Activism in the Information Age

On By In Blog, Cyber security, Gender, VAW
This article was originally published on Newsline’s blog on December 9, 2010
tbtt t2f dec2010 The New Face of Activism in the Information Age
Participants at the TBTT! session at T2F on December 2, 2010. Photo: Zaheer Kidvai

T2F played host to an interactive session with Take Back The Tech! activists and campaigners on December 2. The session began with an introduction to TBTT by Jehan Ara, president of P@SHA, one of the core members spearheading the campaign in Pakistan.

Going over the general aims of the campaign (see “Ending Gender-based Violence Against Women”) which involve harnessing technology to empower women and countering harassment, Jehan Ara informed the audience of the activities taking place during the “16 days of Activism” – November 25 – December 10 – and future plans, which include projects undertaken by individuals who have recently been awarded grants through the MDG3 Fund. The heads of two of these projects that are based in Karachi spoke in detail about their initiatives.

The first of them was Nuzhat Kidvai who has been a member of WAF (Women’s Action Forum) for 25 years now and is also the founding member of WAR (War Against Rape). She aims to create an informational website that documents VAW (violence against women). But more than creating a website that documents facts, she wants it to be an evolving database and a portal that holds answers and legal recourses for victims of VAW. Often, due to the simple reason of not knowing the right procedures, women are handed unfair sentences (perhaps they watch as their abusers are let off scot-free) or their cases are not registered at all. The website hopes to detail what is to be done in a specific situation, in addition to providing the expert opinions of lawyers and doctors, and other professionals.

The second of the Karachi-based awardees were Naveen Naqvi – broadcast journalist and blogger – and Sana Saleem – medical student and popular blogger. Theirs is a joint venture called Gawahi.com, a website that will archive stories – both in written and digital (audio/video) format – of women and children who have been subjected to abuse. The stories will not have to be told by the victim herself. Thus, there will be narrations of other people’s experiences. The project arises from a lack of support networks available to victims of abuse, due to which abuse goes unreported. Sana says that telling one’s own story is cathartic, and one is able to look at it from a third person perspective. The collection of stories also aims to provide a very important message to the victims (and eventual survivors): that they are not alone in what they face. Gawahi.com will also act as a portal for NGOs that do not have an online base, reach out beyond the urban centres, and document stories of survival and overcoming – the anonymity of the sources being the top priority.

 

tbtt attiya farieha 2010 The New Face of Activism in the Information AgeFarieha Aziz (left) and Attiya Dawood. Photo: Hira Malik

 

Before breaking into the final session, there was a viewing of a nine-minute clip of Beena Sarwar’s documentary Mukhtaran Mai: The Struggle for Justice. The thought provoking nine minutes quelled the audience into an absolute silence, which was eventually broken by questions and comments for the director / journalist. The concluding session, which I too was a part of, was a moderated discussion between fellow panelists Attiya Dawood and Beena Sarwar, both well-known activists, with T2F’s Sabeen Mahmud as moderator. The discussion centred largely on how social activism in the age of Facebook, Twitter and blogs has withdrawn from the street presence that was once the defining feature of activism and movements of the 70s and 80s. Now, with the click of a button, people would rather sign and send a petition than go out and be a part of a protest or procession.

However, it was agreed that these platforms allow an exchange of views and encourage dialogue between people who harbour completely different views and would otherwise never interact. With a list of pros and cons on both sides of this debate, it remains an ongoing one.


poster tbtt creative 2010 The New Face of Activism in the Information Age

Here’s how you can become a part of the TBTT campaign (it’s not too late):

Create a poster, photograph, song, animation, movie or illustration and join The Creative Coalition Against Gender Violence. Send your entries by December 10 to creative@takebackthetech.pk and your work could be among the few selected entries exhibited at the TBTT meet-up at T2F on December 18.

You can also join the TBTT Pakistan SMS groups.

TBTT is a broadcast group on which the TBTT Pakistan camp will send you messages (notifications) about the campaign to you.

TBTT-Discuss allows you to contribute by sending in messages to the entire network (those part of the initiative and others like you who choose to join). However, the messages must keep to the subject itself (TBTT, gender, ICT, VAW) and no user should be found spamming.

To join the above groups, just send the following:

  • join tbtt

or

  • join tbtt-discuss

to the following numbers:

  • 5566
  • 03124117660-8 (For Mobilink users only)

To send a message on the groups, users have to include the group name with a “dot” -> “.” at the start of the message. For example, to send a message on the group TBTT, use the following syntax:
.tbtt <message>

IMG_3862

Know Your Territory To Remain In-Charge.

On By In Blog, Cyber security, Gender, Privacy

IMG 3862 203x300 Know Your Territory To Remain In Charge. Facebook, twitter and other social platforms are incredible tools to manage our social contacts and keep us involved and in touch with our friends, family and the social causes we care for, it can help extent your support to causes, involve in discussions and extend help and make a difference regardless of the constrains of political boundaries, and distances. It can also help you promote your self, your commercial services or help you vent out your thoughts and concerns.

It all seems fun , and game for some who are still no familiar to this whole whole new world of the new generation internet, but infect it is a serious business specially if you are a women and worst if you are even somewhat popular or known.

A few days back a friend of mine, who is a TV celebrity joint one of the social joint facebook, and since she was new in the game, she thought she could add all of her fans to the page. this is when the trouble started, first there was obscene martial posted on her profile, ( which actually is a seriously punishable crime if taken to the courts ) and later a number of her fake accounts started to appear on the web-sphere. another TV celebrity i know too faced the same sort of issues, her fake Ids tried to fool people she knew into adding her. I have known some cases where their pictures were taken off from their personal accounts and were published under with offensive remarks.

but the victims are not just TV celebrities. a number of groups take pictures of girls from several websites and post them on their own sites with obscene stories , remarks and content.

so how to avoid being a victim of such crime ? now if you are thinking it is best to stay off the internet that too would be a bad idea, because today in this age of technology getting a picture of yours would not be a problem. even someone at a restaurant may be clicking at you completely unnoticed to later put your images somewhere out there.

so the best way to survive and avoid being a victim is to first be active on the internet, know your territory well and include only the people you trust into your network. Keep the your photos locked and visible only to the people you know, who are on your friend list. keep the photos coming, don’t hold your photos from appearing on your profile but make sure the images you put there are publicly displayable, avoid putting up any privet photos on your profiles. Have plenty of pictures so people know who you are, and if someone missuses them they can come and report the issue to you and you can then at least announce it on your profile that your photo is being miss used.

most impotently never give out teh location of your house, your workplace on the internet or on your profile. always make sure you know people you included in your friend circle, confirm them via email or if he/she has a common friends ask those friends if they really know this person before adding them too your profile.

Don’t talk to strangers, don’t entertain them don’t let them walk into your house, that is what we were taught when we were kids, the same rules apply to your life on the internet. verify every person, his/her organization, her/his creditability, before you add them to your friends. Your profile is your space, if anyone is being rude to you don’t think twice, just click the remove button and keep him off your grounds.

Running away or quitting a social network and staying away from the internet will only keep the criminals active only you wouldn’t know of it, but if you are there on the ground you can fight and counter their attacks and stay in safe waters.

in short just don’t quit, face them and fight, and remember they really don’t stand much of a chance unless you give them one.

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