Women more affected by Cyber Crimes, Digital Rights Foundation Report

As the first year of Cyber Harassment Hotline completes, Digital Rights Foundation has come up with a report on Cyber Harassment Complaints in Pakistan. The report tries to gather and analyze insights on data gathered through different cyber crimes reported through their helpline.

Interestingly, this is the first and only hotline in Pakistan that works 7-days a week. The report “Cyber Harassment Helpline: One-Year Report” notes that out of 1,551 complaints received on the helpline, amongst them 67% were reported by women. All of these cases were reported through social media, emails and direct calls between December 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017.

Cases of fake profiles, non-consensual sharing of information, blackmailing, bullying and unsolicited messages remained the most complained about issues in the year. Digital Rights Foundation takes extreme measures to maintain the secrecy of their user’s personal information. 19% of the callers didn’t disclose their location at the time of the complaint. Punjab led with 50% of the complaints reported from there. Followed by Sindh which made 18% of the total complaints.

As the unconnected populace of Pakistan is being connected to the internet, the complaints of cyber harassment and crime have increased as well. In the times, when people aren’t sure of what to do in case of online theft of identity or blackmailing, the help from Digital Rights Foundation comes as a guiding light for the troubled people.

The report of Digital Rights Foundation also sheds light on how better protocol and policies can improve the institutional response to cyber harassment.