CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS
cyber_violence_gender%20report
cyber_violence_gender%20report
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of households using Facebook in the US identified<br />
safety issues last year, ranging from someone<br />
using their log-in without permission to being<br />
harassed or threatened. This increase translates<br />
into 7 million affected households— a 30 per cent<br />
increase over the previous year. 84<br />
• In addition, 5.6 million underage kids have<br />
Facebook accounts and 800,000 minors reported<br />
to have been harassed or subjected to other forms<br />
of cyberbullying on Facebook. 85 Facebook currently<br />
bans users under 13 from joining the social<br />
network.<br />
• In one case in September 2012, a California<br />
lawyer had his Facebook account hacked. The<br />
perpetrator inserted pornographic language into<br />
the fake profile and sent vulgar sexual messages<br />
daily to the man’s friends, family, and business<br />
colleagues. It took more than a month to resolve<br />
the issues. In contrast, when private photos of<br />
Mark Zuckerberg were posted to Imgur, a photosharing<br />
site – the flaw was fixed in a day.<br />
The Internet/cyber industry can also sign up to a code of<br />
practice framed within Corporate Social Responsibility. In<br />
a survey of the UK’s ten leading ISPs, seven had posted<br />
CSR reports and policies on their websites with the<br />
majority of these focusing on sage and responsible use. 86<br />
The UK’s 2008 Byron Review advocates for an industry<br />
role in making the Internet a safer place for children<br />
stating: “We need a shared culture of responsibility with<br />
families, industry, government and others in the public and<br />
third sectors all playing their part to reduce the availability<br />
of potential harmful material, restrict access to it by<br />
children and to increase children’s resilience.”<br />
Highlights on Internet intermediary liability: The South<br />
African, Nova Scotian and New Zealand legislation<br />
all reflect the increasing need for Internet and<br />
communications intermediaries to play a role in preventing<br />
and rectifying [technology-related] violence, harassment<br />
and bullying. The legislation in these three jurisdictions<br />
recognises that electronic communications often facilitate<br />
anonymity, which can be a barrier to accessing justice<br />
for violence against women online. It therefore places<br />
a burden on electronic service providers to respond to<br />
requests for information about the identity of the harasser<br />
(in South Africa and Nova Scotia), to cease providing<br />
service upon the order of a court (in Nova Scotia) and<br />
even to remove offensive content when service providers<br />
35