Bangladesh Girls Get Online Safety Lessons

As more and more citizens get online, the risks involving cyber crime are also on a surge. According to The Guardian, a lot of Bangladeshi teenagers feel entrapped by the proliferation of social media and smartphones. A whopping 70% of cyber-crime victims are women, says a report.

In order to deal with the situation, the Bangladesh police decided to sensitize women and girls about the defensive techniques that can be used to safeguard oneself from such crimes. Around 10,000 girls have attended the workshops during April and May. The main focus of all these workshops was "Facebook safety".

Another problem that these women are grappling with is the revenge porn-style attacks that is grave enough to ruin marriages. Fearing humiliation from society, a lot of girls in these cases, take the extreme step of taking their own lives

Talking about the ugly ways cyber crime takes place in Dhaka, Mishuk Chakma of Dhaka police’s cyber-security and crime division, said: “Sometimes, the criminals superimpose faces of the girls … on to the bodies of nude models or adult films stars to blackmail and defame them."

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He also narrated an incident wherein some hackers from Naogaon district hacked the Facebook IDs of some girls by phishing. Later, the men demanded money from the girls to return their IDs to them. The police managed to catch hold of them.

As part of the training, the girls are being taught to scrutinise people before accepting their invitations on the social network. “They taught us how to identify fake Facebook accounts and keep a distance from them,” 15-year-old Oishee said. Besides this, they were also advised not to share too much personal information.

Another problem that these women are grappling with is the revenge porn-style attacks that is grave enough to ruin marriages. Fearing humiliation from society, a lot of girls in these cases, take the extreme step of taking their own lives.

The police helped these women battle their insecurities by assuring them that they weren't alone.

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This is not the first time that the government has taken such an affirmative measure. In 2013, Bangladesh set up a cyber tribunal to try online crimes, especially those with a communal dimension, that might spark religious or political violence. Lack of manpower and clogging of cases in the system thwarted the initiative from becoming successful.

A lot of other countries too are trying to curb the menace of cyber-crime by conducting workshops and training. In India, Delhi, for instance, has started training its students for ensuring safety on Whatsapp and Facebook.

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Charvi Is An Intern With SheThePeople.TV