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CYBERCRIME LEGISLATIONS AND GENDER
19 Aug 2008 Flavia Fascendini
GenderIT.org examines the issue
of cybercrime legislation through a gendered perspective and its implication on
women, in collaboration with the ICT Policy Monitor Latinamerica and the
Caribbean team of the Association for Progressive Communications. The focus of
this edition was catalysed by issues and questions raised by our readers on the
increasing pervasiveness of cybercrime legislations in different regions, and
their potential impact on women's communication rights.
As always, we began to investigate the issue with many questions: What is meant
by “cybercrime”? In what kinds of spaces would cybercrimes be considered as
being committed? How do they differentiate and affect ideas of the public and
the private? How can this affect women as users and developers of the internet,
e-mail, cell phones and other information and communication technologies (ICT)?
Can cybercrime restrict the exercise of individual rights to privacy, freedom
of expression and civil liberties? Can the rhetoric of fighting cybercrimes in
effect be used to restrict the exercise of women’s communication rights? How
can the issue of cybercrimes be analysed from a feminist perspective? Is this
issue currently part of the women's movement's agenda? How the criminalisation
of online sexual expression and practices as well as the sex trade affect
the sexual rights of women?
Often when we talk about cybercrimes, the first thing that comes to mind - and
that is stamped on many laws - are crimes such as fraud, theft of credit card
numbers and hacking. Cybercrimes are generally classified into three
categories: crimes against persons (such as cyber harassment); crimes against
property (such as credit card theft); and crimes against governments (by
electronic means used to serve the "terrorism" ).
Women figure significantly in the first category as targets of cybercrimes
against persons: 95% of aggressive behaviour, harassment, abusive
language and denigrating images in online spaces are aimed at women and
come from partners or former male partners [1]. In addition, many ICT tools
such as spyware, wireless technology, webcams etc. are used to perpetrate
violence against women. Despite this alarming reality, cybercrimes seem
absent from the agenda of feminist movements, especially in Latin America.
At the same time, advocating for adequate legal recognition and protection for
these acts of violence against women might mean inadvertently supporting the
call for regulating online action and expression. The biggest criticism made
against many of the laws on cybercrime is the lack of consideration on
their social impact. Often pushed by the private sector to regulate
intellectual property matters, or by the State to enforce control and
surveillance on citizens, it is uncertain whether women's rights stand to be
protected or traded in this debate. Particularly with the acute lack of broader
women's rights engagement, or even awareness, in this issue, claiming the
boundaries and definition of the issues at stake – moving it beyond arguments
of “terrorism”, “national security” and “crimes against capitalism” - can be
challenging. Will cybercrime laws simply be mobilised to restrict communication
rights of individuals and communities?
Some bills in Latin América, as what is happening in Brazil, could criminalise
those who are merely trying to access information on the internet and through
other ICT platforms such as mobile telephony.
For this reason, it
is not only and simply to claim laws. All social and political actors should
assess the impact of each cybercrime legislation on the rights of people at large,
and its impact on opportunities for empowering some of the most
marginalised sections on society. As noted by the key actors working in this
area interviewed by GenderIT.org, is not sufficient to provide laws in this
respect: there is a need to educate all groups about how to exercise and
enforce their rights and create mechanisms for preventative measures that can
be taken by users.
In this edition of GenderIT.org, our team of writers together with the APC
Policy Programme in Latin America Minitor team present the many facets of this
challenging policy area. Their different approaches and stances clearly
demonstrate the difficulty of drawing a clear line between protection of
women's rights from violation and empowering their status as users and definers
of ICT and the information society. The articles portray the current
cybercrime landscape, arising issues and their gendered dimensions in different
regions of the world – including India, Burkina Faso, USA, Chile, Brazil,
Venezuela and Bolivia. We invite your reflections on this subject that remains
contentious and sometimes directly absent.
- Finding a
difficult balance: Human rights, law enforcement and cyber violence
against women
- Cybercrime
laws are not enough, there is also a need for education
- Unequal
protection, cyber crime and the internet in India
- Dealing with
fraud and internet "love": women and cybercrime in Burkina Faso
References:
[1] Rodríguez Calderón, Mirta: “Las TIC: Nuevos escenarios de violencia contra
la mujer”, SEMlac, Cuba, Octubre de 2007.
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