24 Jan 2014 | Digital Freedom, News and features, Religion and Culture, United Kingdom
Illustration: Shutterstock
I had arranged to meet ‘Emma’ in a cafe, at the behest of a mutual friend. As a student of forensic computing informatics, I was asked to help educate Emma about online privacy, a particular passion of mine.
Emma is an unassuming 24-year-old. Nothing about her physical appearance or mannerisms would divulge anything of the abuse she was subjected to at the hands of a former boyfriend.
She explained that she had experienced on-going violence while in a three-year relationship. Her partner had physically, verbally and emotionally abused her. In addition, her former boyfriend monitored and restricted her access to the Internet.
“I didn’t have anything private. I couldn’t do anything without him asking something about my behaviour, or my intentions, or whatever else I was doing. It was physical and psychological entrapment at its worst.” she said.
For Emma, our meeting was about learning to use tools to take control of her privacy in an age of mass monitoring. She was taking back the capabilities that were torn from her by her abusive boyfriend, by becoming empowered to protect herself in the on-line sphere.
During our conversation, I shared various techniques and tools she could use to browse sites anonymously, and I explained the concepts and principles of privacy-enhancing technologies – software including Tor and I2P (Invisible Internet Project), which would enable her to protect her identity.
Unsurprisingly, Emma has become extremely protective of her access to the Internet; a residual scar of the control she found herself being subjected to.
I was mindful also that it was the first opportunity I’d had which humanised a subject I’m deeply passionate about – often ascribed crypto-anarchism – to effect meaningful, beneficial change to someone else’s life. It also acted as a sobering realisation of the technological capabilities and opportunities available to ordinary citizens to thwart mass surveillance perpetrated by the National Security Agency, GCHQ and their ilk.
Technology has shifted traditional notions of personal privacy in unforeseen ways. We’ve entered a new world order, in which tools of oppression and exploitation are often pointed inward by a state acting as the abusive partner.
I couldn’t help but be reminded of Duncan Campbell’s Secret Society episode We’re All Data New: Secret Data Banks, broadcast 26 years ago. It detailed swathes of information being held on the entire populace of Britain in private sector databases; specifically I recalled the horror on the faces of unwitting participants, as Campbell accessed sensitive personal information from a computer terminal with minimal effort.
Councils sell copies of that data for a pittance nowadays; it’s the electoral register. In comparison to today’s data brokers, behemoth custodians of in-depth data held about each and every one of us, the private databases of yesteryear seem almost quaint. Surveillance is as ubiquitous as ever, and so pervasive that it is has merged into an almost indecipherable cacophony from data-mining business models to gluttonous mass surveillance by the government and its agents. Each has a thread in common, a fundamental component.
You.
Or, of most concern to me during our meeting, Emma.
Often the stakes and associated risk of using modern technologies are magnified considerably for those suffering from physical harm, psychological abuse or harassment. This is especially true in those fearful of seeking information or resources in genuine confidence – a capability cherished by those in such strained circumstances. As I listened to her experiences, I grasped from Emma’s tone she was afraid of exposing herself to potential further abuse.
“In some countries,” I told her, “I’d be considered dangerous. The skills I’m teaching you wouldn’t be tolerated, much less encouraged.”
In the aftermath of Edward Snowden’s disclosures, spearheaded by Glen Greenwald, Laura Poitras and The Guardian, of the activities of the United States’ NSA and United Kingdom’s GCHQ, it has become imperative that the sociological impacts of surveillance be recognised and addressed directly, if societies are to protect each and every one of its participants from such endemic spying.
But, too often, the insipid encroachment is interpreted solely as a technological problem, by which it is assumed surveillance must be countered wholly by the same. While technology is a component of a solution, it cannot derail the potential for abuse on its own.
Ultimately, the answer to surveillance on a personal or societal level demands a radical overhaul of attitudes and perceptions. People must share information, techniques and tools to help one-another protect their civil liberties. People must encourage each other to cherish their online and offline privacy. Technological mutual solidarity if you will. Ecosystems and privacy-enhancing technologies such as Tor and I2P, amongst a plethora of others, cater for this exact idealism; privacy by design, rather than by public policy.
Because it isn’t just about personal privacy anymore; nor was it, in fact, ever. It too is about dignity, morality and using technology as a vehicle to emancipate, to facilitate, and to embellish an underlying respect for individuals as citizens, and – especially in Emma’s circumstance – their sanctity as human beings.
Actively manage YOUR online privacy
Tor Project
Privacy-enhancing technology ecosystem, which enables users to communicate and browse anonymously, and circumvent internet censorship by routing traffic via intermediate nodes before transmitted to the intended site; prevents third parties from discovering a user’s location or their browsing habits.
I2P
Software that has similar capabilities to Tor in permitting anonymous or pseudonymous browsing. Can be used as standalone or in conjunction with other pieces of software to enhance a user’s ability to ensure communications remain as confidential as possible. Also contains web-based email among other features within its operating environment, which is accessible only via I2P itself.
TAILS
A Live CD-based operating system, comprising of an entire operating environment, and contains both the aforementioned tools and additional software without disclosing evidence of its use, as it is self-contained on a DVD-R and operates in RAM, erasing evidence of its presence once a machine is switched off.
Off-the-Record Messaging
An instant messenger plug-in, and cryptographic protocol which is used to create secure instant messaging sessions between users in such a manner that conversations are plausibly deniable and affords for confidential, private communication between participants.
This article was published on 24 January 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
24 Jan 2014 | News and features, Pakistan, Religion and Culture
Hindu women protest in favour of Rinkle Kumari who was forced to convert to Islam in 2012 (Image: Rajput Yasir/Demotix)
December 21 will forever be etched on the memory of Sapna and her family. Belonging to a poor Hindu family, Sapna and her older sister Sabita were teachers in a neighbourhood school in Paharipura, Peshawar, the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. They were the sole breadwinners for the family after their father, who worked for Radio Pakistan, retired four years ago.
On that cold wintry day Sabita stayed after school to give extra tutoring while Sapna walked home alone. During her walk a car suddenly pulled up alongside her- out jumped a man who placed a cloth doused in an unknown chemical over her face. Sapna passed out.
When she regained consciousness she found herself in unfamiliar surroundings. A man, whom she had never seen before, asked her to marry him. But first Sapna would have to convert to Islam.
On her refusal, the man placed the intoxicant-doused cloth over her nose and she fainted once again. This routine carried on for 16 days.
Sapna narrated her account of the kidnapping to the judicial magistrate earlier this month after she was rescued.
“The police traced her through a phone call she made to us asking us to rescue her,” Ramesh Kumar, her brother-in-law told Index on Censorship during a phone interview. He, along with his wife, Sapna’s older sister, had accompanied the police and found her in a village in Bahawalpur, in Punjab province some 680 km from Peshawar.
“Unfortunately, the person who kidnapped her, Zahid Nawaz, got a tip-off and escaped,” said Kumar. Nawaz wasn’t a complete stranger to Sapna. Kumar believes that his sister’s kidnapper had managed to ensnare Sapna by calling her a few times before the snatching took place.
“When he learnt that she was a Hindu, he told her that he didn’t have a sister and looked on her as one,” he added.
Despite being the first case of its kind in the area Sapna’s kidnapping has spread fear among the Hindu community in Peshawar- since the day her sister was abducted Sabita has not been allowed to step out of her house.
However, the kidnapping of Hindu girls is nothing new in other parts of the country. According to Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, head of the Pakistan Hindu Council and a legislator: “We hear of three to four such cases every month from Sindh [province].”
More worrisome to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) is the forced coercion of these Hindu girls to Islam before marriage takes place. The majority of these cases have been reported in the Sindh area with the HRCP calling it one of the “most outrageous human rights violations one has to deal with.”
I.A. Rehman, of the HRCP, blamed both the state and society for the escalation: “Both are getting more and more caught in the frenzy of religiosity, a process accelerated by the increase in Al-Qaeda/Taliban/Salafi influence on Pakistan’s Muslims.
“Hard-line Islam is supposed to liquidate non-Muslims and Shias and people belonging to other sects, such as Barelvis who enjoy music and visit shrines,” referring to the recent killings of devotees at a sufi shrine in Karachi earlier this month.
At the same time, he pointed out, the “zealots” among the society hoped to secure a “place in paradise” by converting non-Muslims to Islam. Hindus account for just over one per cent of the Pakistan’s population of 180 million.
Rehman deplored how the judiciary had been unable to intervene in such cases, noting how such lack of action reassures the culprits and depresses the communities of the victim.
Most religious minority members sitting in the assemblies are selected, as opposed to elected, and are therefore not the true representatives of their communities. Instead, they often toe the party line that has given them the ticket to their seat.
For their part, people like Vankwani say: “The main political parties pay lip service to our problems but have consistently failed to protect our lives or our rights,” arguing that until fair representation of minorities occurs in the assemblies their issues will never be resolved.
Amar Guriro, a journalist from a Hindu community, had a different take on the issue of coerced conversion. “There are cases where girls have converted of their own will or have eloped because, unless their parents can pay the heavy dowry that is demanded by the groom’s side, they cannot be married off,” he said.
Muslims have often been accused of preying on Hindu girls of marriageable age, forcing families to marry off their daughters at an earlier than desired time. “If they don’t there is a danger they may be kidnapped and asked to renounce their religion,” Guriro reported.
According to Amarnath Motumal, a lawyer with the HRCP, young Hindu girls may easily get “influenced” by their Muslim paramour: “In a country where even in schools Islam is the only religion taught and where religious freedom is negligible, young minds can easily be moulded.
“In Pakistan a Muslim woman cannot be married without the consent of the waali (her guardian — a father, uncle, or brother). Why didn’t the same hold true for the Hindu girl who had converted?”
Motumal has appeared in several cases of forced conversions. He told Index that during these hearings there is immense pressure on not just the young girls but also the judge as hundreds of protesting clergy can gather outside the courtroom. “The girls often do not have the courage to speak how or what they feel about the predicament they are in. And if the woman converted of her free will, why is she not allowed to meet with her parents?” he asked.
In 2012, the cases of Rinkle Kumari from Ghotki and Dr Lata Kumar in Karachi were taken up by the court after concerns arose in the media that they were forcefully converted to Islam.
Today, Motumal said, both women live with their respective Muslim husbands, but, he added: “They may be apparently happily married, but who knows what is going on in their hearts. They know what their fate will be if they have a change of heart and mind — they may be shunned by their own community and never find a match!
“Most believe themselves to have been polluted beyond redemption and prefer to stay with their abductors to returning home.”
This article was posted on 22 January 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
23 Jan 2014 | News and features, Religion and Culture, United Kingdom
A Bible-based play by acclaimed comedy group The Reduced Shakespeare company has been pulled from the stage after protests from Christian fundamentalists.
According to UTV, the company was due to perform The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), at the Theatre At the Mill in Newtownabbey in Northern Ireland next week at the beginning of a UK tour. The RSC is famous for its fast-paced irreverent shows based on great texts. The group describes the Bible adaptation as “an affectionate, irreverent roller coaster ride from fig leaves to final judgement.”
But local politician Billy Ball, of Reverend Ian Paisley’s ruling Democratic Unionist Party, had called for the irreverent show to be banned. Ball is reported as saying:
For Christians, the Bible is the infallible word of God and it’s not something to be made fun of. These people are treating something sacred with irreverence and disrespect”
Mr Ball recently told the Belfast Telegraph:
“My wife, councillor Audrey Ball, has recently been put on the artistic board, so I know in future she will speak up for Christianity.
“Those against her strong beliefs better watch out.”
Today, the theatre announced via Twitter that the performances, scheduled for next weekend had been cancelled.
The theatre could not be contacted at time of publication. Alderman Ball confirmed to Index that the theatre had been in contact with him about the play, but declined to comment any further on the issue, saying he would make a statement at a council meeting on Monday after it had been cleared with his party.
UPDATE (16:oo). Newtownabbey Borough Council has issued a statement confirming the decision to cancel the performances:
At the Council’s Policy and Governance Committee on Monday 20 January concerns were raised by Elected Members who had received complaints from the general public about the content and nature of the show.
Yesterday the Council’s Artistic Board held a planned Away Day, to plan and develop a strategy for the Council’s future Arts Programme. During the day, next week’s performance of ‘The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) at the Theatre at the Mill was discussed by the Board.
Subsequently, the Chair of the Council’s Artistic Board, Councillor Billy Webb, has written to the Council’s Chief Executive, to confirm that, with great regret the Board has taken the decision to cancel next week’s production.
In taking this decision, the Board wishes to confirm its commitment to deliver on the agreed Council’s Artistic Policy “to deliver the highest quality performing arts programme, offering a diverse, socially relevant and enriching experience to as many citizens as possible”.
800 seats were available over the two nights and 150 tickets were sold , a 19% take up on tickets.
The approximate net costs of cancelling the show are £2000. Box Office staff are contacting ticket holders to advise them of the show’s cancellation and to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
This article was published on 23 January 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
23 Jan 2014 | Europe and Central Asia, News and features, Ukraine
This video from YouTube shows a protester abused by police in Kiev.
As the conflict in Kiev continues to unfold, Ukrainian civil society activists tell Index negotiations and urgent reaction of the international community are vital to resolve the crisis.
Severe clashes between the riot police and protesters have led to at least three deaths; two of the protesters were shot with firearms on Wednesday. One more activist was found dead after unidentified people kidnapped and tortured him. Hundreds of protesters were injured as the police used flash grenades and other weapon (along with firearms, as it appeared) against the Euromaidan demonstrators.
The Institute of Mass Information reports at least 42 journalists were injured by the actions of the police.
Index joined 25 other organisations, united in the Civic Solidarity Platform, a coalition of human rights groups from Europe, Asia and North America, in a call for an immediate end to violence and dialogue between the opposing sides, to reach a peaceful resolution to an “acute human dimension crisis in Ukraine.”
“Developments in the situation in Ukraine are critical for the whole post-Soviet history and for the issue of human rights in the OSCE countries. This is why stabilisation of the situation in Ukraine – not in an authoritarian, but in a democratic sense – is crucial for the whole OSCE region,” the joint statement reads.
The protest in Ukraine started last November as it became clear the authorities refused to sign an Association Agreement with the EU.
“Now the protests are not about the European integration. It is all about the right to live in a free country, the right to speak out, to unite and defend our freedoms,” says Maryna Tsapok, an expert from the UMDPL Association, an NGO that monitors the activities of law enforcement.
She refers to a new law adopted in Ukraine on 16 January 2014 that seriously restricts freedoms of expression, assembly and association in the country.
“The authorities say this law and the actions of the police are aimed at restoring of the rule of law. But you cannot restore the rule of law by breaking the Constitution and international treaties. The escalation of the conflict should be stopped immediately by negotiations. But while the government is talking with the opposition, the police continue to use severe force against people in the streets, and the death toll is counting.”
“The authorities of the country have crossed the line,” says Olexandra Matviychuk, the Chair of the Centre for Civic Liberties. “It is almost impossible to predict the development of the situation. But what’s clear is that real and immediate measures from the international community are needed.”
“Serious escalation of the situation in Ukraine is the direct effect of the fact that from the very beginning of the protest movement the government has not taken any single step to build a comprise, but instead made a whole range of steps to suppress the protestors. They include attempts to forcefully disperse peaceful protestors and then to persecute them, violence against journalists, threatening of activists in the regions and, finally, adoption of the draconian legislation curtailing human rights and freedoms in the country,” says Antonina Cherevko, a media lawyer.
She adds: “The Ukrainian issue today can potentially create security problems not only for the country itself, but for the whole region. In this situation, a strong reaction and action from the established democracies is highly needed.”
This article was published on 23 January 2014 at indexoncensorship.org
