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Digital Security: Drop-in centre of Ugandan sex worker organisation raided

By Frederic Dubois for APCNews

“Sex work may be illegal in Uganda, but providing services for sex workers is clearly not,” reads a stateiment put out on May 9 by WONETHA, a health and human rightsi organisation, in reaction to a serious crack-down on its activities by Ugandan municipal police.

INTERNET & WOMEN’S RIGHTS & ECONOMIC JUSTICE?

May 17 | World Internet Day & IDAHO | What does internet freedom mean to you?

By ES for Takebackthetech.net Global

May 17 marks two important causes: The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO)and World Interneti Day. Join us and play Twitter tag to connect your rights on May 17th. Help activists in your communities - geographically or issue-based - to connect with other activists who might know about IDAHO or internet rights ibut might not see them as interconnected or even know each other. Broaden your community of activist friends on Twitter at the same time.

Anonymity, accountability and the public sphere

By Jac sm Kee

I found myself being confronted with the issue of anonymity and accountability in different ways at the AWID Forum. At the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) and Connect Your Rights events that took place just before the Forum, we discussed about the different and increasingly sophisticated ways that interneti technologies have been used to erode any sense of anonymity online.

Internet governance: If we are not at the table, we will be on the menu.

By Jan Moolman

In 2001, while working at Agenda, a South African feminist academic journal, we produced an edition titled ‘Globalisation: challenging dominant discourses’. The journal problematised the realpolitik of a global neo-liberal economic system that was marked by developing countries’ indebtedness, the rise of the market and the devastating consequences of structural adjustment policies for women of the global South. A quote from Vivienne Taylor, from DAWN – Development Alternatives for Women in a New Era who contributed to that edition – stayed with me. She wrote: “In this era of globalization there have been more rules, standards, policies and institutions for open global markets than for people and their rights”...

Internet & women’s rights: how do they relate to economic justice?

This edition reflects on the feminist politics and practices of technology within the broader debates around economic justice and women’s rights at the 12th AWID Forum that ran from April 19 to 22, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey. GenderIT.orgi's writers and partners report on the opportunities presented by open interneti for women’s organizing ranging from online mapping of street harassment, documenting video testimonies of women or producing powerful infographics. A number of the contributions spell out the challenges. "As we rely more and more on social media for our activism," writes one contributor, "knowing about security and privacy is really key." The authors also question the notion of 'free online services' and critique governmentis and private corporations for censorship, surveillancei and monetization of our relationships, networks and communications for the purpose of profit. This edition is therefore also a call to connect and act. As Jan Moolman highlighted in her editorial:"unless women are at the table where decisions around governing the internet are made by governments and corporations,..., women will be on the menu."

Photo of the photo-art exhibit at the 12the AWID forum honoring and celebrating the lives and work of feminists by AWID. Used with permission.

Who governs the internet

By Jac sm Kee Global

Who governs the interneti? How are decisions made about this key infrastructure and system that seems to support such an overwhelming part of our everyday lives? And what are feminists and women's rights activistsi doing about it? Jac sm Kee scanis through the history of the internet to leave us thinking about who governs that space that can have such an influencing impact on so many areas of our lives.

Bargain basement shopping in the information society

By Erika Smith Global

When I saw this quote on Mozilla's new Collusion website: "If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold - Andrew Lewis." I felt it summed up the economics tool boxi session on Commodification of Knowledge that APC led at the 2012 AWID Forum quite nicely. The session, organised by APC, brought together speakers to spark debate and reflection, but the audience vibrated with insights and was full of feminists eager to deepen discussion on the commodification of knowledge.

Taking street harassment off the streets and off the map!

By Erika Smith Global

I walked in late to the jam-packed session “Bringing Gender ito the Streets: Young Women Amidst the Arab Uprisings” at AWID Forum 2012. This was not a session about technology or the interneti, but it was a common strand running through each presenters' activism and evidence-building for women's rightsi, even and perhaps especially in the midst of revolution.

Privacy and voice

By Erika Smith Global

I'm sure we've all seen amazing testimony videos of incredibly sensitive subjects: of women who choose to have abortion and share why despite risking imprisonment in their country for this act of taking control of their bodies; lesbians who come out fighting against "correctional rape"; rural women living in isolated regions sharing stories of cultural violence. I cringe and wonder - do they know, did they realize - we would see their testimony - way across the world, that anyone close or near could see it. Are they at risk because of this?

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