privacy and security

Fraud, data piracy, seeking partners on the internet: women in Burkina Faso are as much victims as perpetrators. From Ouagadougou to Banfora via Bobo-Dioulasso, and from Ouahigouya to Dori, all towns with an internet connection are affected by this phenomenon. However, the fight against this crime is in the tentative stages, if not altogether non-existent. Legislation is still under development.

The different forms of online violence against women should be covered by criminal legislation to provide adequate protection and redress. However, laws are not enough. There is also a need for education, prevention, the development of defence mechanisms and a legal system that is capable of addressing these issues without subjecting the victims to further victimisation. Carlos Gregorio, a…

Are you troubled by pornographic materials on the internet? Do you consider it damaging? Or is it a valid expression of fantasy orof diverse forms of sexualities? Have you been harmed by sexually explicit and/or violent content through information and communications technologies? How have you dealt with this in your own use of the internet, mobilephone etc.?

The BC Rural Women’s Network, sponsored by the Vernon Women’s Centre Society, announced a new project addressing Online Safety for Women. Funded by Status of Women Canada and the National Crime Prevention Strategy, this 12-month third phase project will address women’s safety when using the internet and email communications.

Delivering care to pregnant women and newborns in Lusaka is on the verge of becoming easier and more efficient, thanks to the advent of Tele-health — which is simply the use of information technology to deliver health services and information from one location to another.

This paper was presented at the "

Cristina Peralta examines the situation in Argentina, where few cases of VAW using ICTs have been denounced. One study found that a small percentage of young girls had been contacted by unknown people via chat or Facebook before disappearing. Cell phones are also used for controlling women's mobility and have become one of the first artifacts to be destroyed by the partner during violent…

Lucy Niño and Lida Nuñez look at how the Colombian government has paid special attention to ICT policies, offering ICT literacy programmes and ICT inclusion in marginalised areas, while at the same time ICTs are used to promote prostitution and pornography produced in the country via the internet and cellphones. Government has produced a campaign to foster a “healthy use” of internet and to…

Jac SM Kee and Sonia Randhawa highlight forms of VAW that have received recognition in Malaysia and provide the context of ICT development and national policy objectives in this paper. It is not an exhaustive assessment of the current state of VAW, but rather aims to surface some of the interconnections between ICT issues and VAW and areas of potential opportunities for advocacy, as well as…

Two key debates are examined in the paper by Shereen Essof: censorship versus freedom of expression and privacy versus surveillance. She looks at the practices of VAW in a country with the world's highest reported rate of femicide and where there is little understanding of the strategic use of ICTs to support combating VAW as well as recognizing new avenues for perpetrating violence against women.