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Paper Details
Paper Code: AIJACLAV3RP2024
Category: Research Paper
Date of Submission for First Review: May 16, 2024
Date of Publication: December 11, 2024
Citation: Ann Johnson, “Breaking the Barriers Online: Surfing for Gender Justice in the Cyber World", 4, AIJACLA, 32, 32-39 (2024), <https://www.aequivic.in/post/breaking-the-barriers-online-surfing-for-gender-justice-in-the-cyber-world>
Author Details: Ann Johnson, Student, Government Law College Ernakulam
Abstract
The advent of technology has led to the evolution of a complex digital world. The platform is being used by a massive population across the world regardless of gender. However, the ratio of cybercrimes happens to vary severely on the basis of gender and unfortunately women are the victims in the cyber world as well. As the digital landscape expands, so do the challenges faced by women in cyberspace. Despite the promise of connectivity and empowerment, women encounter severe injustice in the cyber world. The purpose of my research paper is to examine the challenges faced by women in the cyberspace, reasons behind the escalating cybercrimes against women, to evaluate the efficacy of the existing legal framework in addressing the issue and to suggest a few measures for ensuring justice to women in the cyber world. The paper majorly relies on secondary sources of data for information. News reports, statistical data, research reports, case based data, articles and law related websites have been referred for procuring necessary information. The research leads to an implication that the gender injustice in the virtual world if left unattended may pose a major threat to the real world as well. This calls for a need to tackle the issue at the earliest and to ensure a safe domain for women through measures like new and effective legislations.
Keywords
Women, Cyberspace, Gender Injustice, Cyber Crime
INTRODUCTION
Technology in the past thirty years has played a notable role in shaping the whole world into a global village and has also heavily influenced each person’s lifestyle. It has introduced mankind to a new realm known as “the cyberspace”. Cyberspace simply refers to a virtual world created by links between computers, Internet-enabled devices, servers, routers, and other components of the Internet’s infrastructure.[1] It is an interconnected digital environment and human beings are trying to adapt to this new environment.
The arrival of COVID 19 had an inevitable impact on both technology and humans. As per the latest Annual Survey for Education Report (ASER), in 2018, around 36 per cent of households had a smart phone, and it shot up to 74.08 per cent in 2022. The hike in smart phone holders and accessibility to Internet increased the participation of both men and women in the cyber world. Research from Global Web Index (GWI) reveals that the typical global internet user now spends almost 7 hours per day on internet.[2] Also as per reports 61.45% of global population in the world uses social media.[3]This reveals how significant the virtual world has become to the present generation. The cyberspace definitely is a boon if utilised in the right way but can also be turned into a bane and lead to terrible consequences if handled carelessly. The cyber world can be treacherous for some even if used in the right way. Women unfortunately fall under this category and are the major victims in the cyber world.
Several nations across the world legislates laws to eradicate the cyber crimes. The existing legal framework does help in fighting the cyber crimes but fails in specifically addressing the gender injustice occurring in the virtual world. It is crucial to note that the events in virtual world has an impact on the physical world too and hence should be addressed rightly. The objectives of this research paper is to uncover the challenges faced by women in the cyber world, the reasons behind their victimization, to evaluate the efficacy of the existing legal framework and to recommend a few measures to ensure gender justice in the cyberspace.
WOMEN IN CYBER WORLD AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THEM
In January 2023, the share of women worldwide using the internet was relatively low compared to men but as per the latest data, 63.5 per cent of women in the world accessed the internet, while the share of men going online was 68.8 per cent. Overall, as of the measured period, the global internet penetration rate was 66.2 per cent.[4] Since more and more people can easily access the internet and social media, cyber violence against women and girls is a growing concern. EU estimates show that one in ten women have experienced some form of cyber violence since the age of fifteen[5] and also reveal that 73% of women have experienced online abuse. The United Nations estimates that 95% of online aggression, harassment, abusive language, and denigrating content are directed at women.[6] As per reports released by the National Crime Records Bureau, in India too, the number of cybercrimes against women has increased by 28 per cent in 2021. 20.272 per cent of the Cyber Crimes in India are against women.[7] The barriers that women stumble upon in the cyber world are numerous. Some of the regular cybercrimes against women includes:-
· Cyber Pornography – It means an act by using cyberspace to create, display, distribute, import, or publish obscene materials. It is a non-consensual activity and women often falls prey to it.
· Cyber Stalking - It is one of the most intimidating challenges faced by today’s women in the cyberspace. Cyber stalking refers to the use of the Internet or other electronic means to stalk or harass an individual, group or organisation. It includes defamation, slander and libel. It may also include monitoring, identity theft, threats, vandalism, solicitation of sex, doxing or blackmail.[8]
· Cyber Bullying - Cyber bullying refers to the act of harassing or bullying another using electronic means i.e., on internet and particularly on social media. The Cyber bullying Research Centre has found that adolescent girls are more likely than boys to have experienced cyber bullying in their lifetimes.[9]
· Sextortion - It is a form of online abuse, wherein the cybercriminal uses a variety of channels such as SMS, social media platforms, online dating apps, etc to lure the users and make them pose nude and later use these revealing pictures to harass, embarrass, threaten or blackmail them.
· Phishing – It is a form of social engineering and scam where attackers deceive people into revealing sensitive information.[10]The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown has led to a spike in the number of phishing attacks. It is the most common type of cybercrime, with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Centre reporting more incidents of phishing than any other type of computer crime.[11]
· Hacking – It simply means the unauthorised access to or control over computer network security systems for some illicit purposes.[12]Approximately around 30,000 websites get hacked each day globally.[13] Thus, it may loot women’s confidential information as well.
· Morphing – It refers to the altering or changing of pictures of a person using morphing tools available online. Young girls and women usually fall prey at the hands of the online criminals, who use their photographs posted online and misuse these images by morphing it.[14]
REASONS BEHIND THE VICTIMISATION OF WOMEN IN CYBER WORLD
“Rising cybercrimes that target women tend to affect their self-worth.”[15]
- Justice S Ravindra Bhat
Cybercrimes against women can induce in them a mental trauma and may sometimes lead to worse conditions such as depression. ‘Prevention is better than cure” and hence, such gender injustices must be prevented at the earliest. To remove them completely we have to dismantle them from its roots. So it is highly necessary that we find the reasons first. Some of the prominent reasons for the soaring rate of cyber crimes against women are –
· Patriarchy – The place where women empowerment can bloom unfortunately gets transformed into a breeding ground for harassment as patriarchy lays its roots in the cyberspace. A tendency to subjugate women does exist in the virtual world just as it exists in the physical world and this is the one of the major reasons for the rising number of cyber crimes against women.
· Lack of awareness about cyber laws – The absence of adequate knowledge among the public regarding the existing cyber laws is another reason. In most of the cases due to obliviousness regarding the cyber laws, women fail to report it to the concerned authorities. Also some of the perpetrators are unaware of the gravity of the crimes they have committed and they continue to do so. This callowness regarding cyber laws is a significant factor contributing towards the increasing gender based crimes.
· Anonymity - Easy availability of internet and anonymity offered by it leads to an increase in the overall number of cybercrimes. Anonymity offered by the cyberspace aids the perpetrators in evading from the social standards of behaviour. Also they make use fake identities for the commission of their evils.
· Lack of enforcement- There are many restraints while approaching to the implementation of cyber laws. For instance, lack of technical knowledge among police and other people concerned with investigating cybercrimes may be obstacles in the proper enforcement of cyber laws. Such constraints in practical application may hinder the true effectiveness of the existing cyber laws.
· Lack of regulation – There might be several laws to prevent the cyber crimes in general, but there is lack of laws to address the gender-based cyber crimes in specific. Also, the perpetrators might take advantage of the gaps and ambiguities in the existing cyber laws.
· Failure in reporting cases – In most cases women fails to report it to the concerned authorities. Unawareness regarding the cyber laws is not the only reason. Fear of victim blaming and the social stigma that they may face also demotivates them from reporting such abuses. This not only lets the culprits to escape from the punishments but also motivates them to do more.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Cyber violence is not an act that is constrained geographically. It dives beyond all geographical and political boundaries and hence, it is a requisite to analyse the efficacy of international legal framework in dealing with the issue.
There is no any international legal framework that specifically governs online violence against women, but there are a number of instruments that have recognised the intensity of the issue and addressed the need for clear laws and guidelines for prosecution. Chief of them is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Though violence against women was not explicitly mentioned in this convention, in its interpretation the CEDAW Committee has made it clear that violence against women is a human rights violation and a severe form of discrimination against women that is prohibited under international law. International and regional human rights mechanisms have relied on this important instrument to develop jurisprudence on new forms of violence that have emerged long after CEDAW was created and this mainly include digital forms of violence against women and girls.[16] Recommendation 35 of the CEDAW extends the definition of violence against women beyond the physical space to include “technology-mediated environments,” thereby addressing online and ICT-facilitated violence against women.[17]
Most economies haven’t realised yet the need for protecting women from gender-based violence in the cyber world and therefore, most of them lack legislations to protect women from cyber crimes. Only 58 of 190 economies analysed have enacted some legislation on this topic, meaning that worldwide only 47 per cent of women are protected by provisions on cyber harassment.[18] This reveals that only limited attention has been given to the matter so far globally.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK IN INDIA
India has erected a set of legal regulations with an aim to ensure legal safety to its citizens in the cyber world. The Information and Technology Act of 2000 and certain provisions of the Indian Penal Code 1860, which is now replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023(in effect from 1 July 2024) tries to provide protection to the public from cyber crimes and to maintain peace in the cyber world.
(i) The Information Technology Act, 2000
The Act passed in 2000 is the primary law in India dealing with cyber crimes. It provides a legal framework for electronic governance by giving recognition to electronic records and digital signatures. Following provisions of the IT Act shields the women from cyber crimes to an extent:
· Section 66C – provides punishment for identity theft. As per the section, any fraudulent usage of electronic signature, password or any other unique identification feature is punishable with an imprisonment which may extend to three years and will also be liable to a fine upto one lakh.
· Section 66E – provides punishment for violation of privacy. It states that the publication of any picture of any private area of a person without the consent of the person is a punishable offence and can result in an imprisonment upto three years or a fine upto two lakhs. The section has also specifically stated that it includes buttocks or female breasts.
· Section 67A- provides punishment for publishing or transmitting materials containing sexually explicit act, etc., in electronic form. The punishment includes an imprisonment which may extend to five years or a fine extending upto ten lakhs.
· Section 72- provides penalty for breach of confidentiality and privacy. The section says that, if any person who, in pursuance of any of the powers conferred under this Act, rules or regulations made thereunder, has secured access to any electronic record, book, register, correspondence, information, document or other material without the consent of the person concerned discloses such information to any other person shall be liable to penalty which may extend to five lakh rupees.[19]
(ii) The Indian Penal Code 1860 – Now replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, (BNS) 2023 (in effect from 1 July 2024)
Prior to 2013 there wasn’t any provision in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, directly dealing with online harassment against women? The 2013 Criminal Amendment Act introduced Sections 354A to 354D to the Indian Penal Code. The arrival of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS) has now replaced the Indian Penal Code and it has brought changes to these sections as well.[20]
· 354A of IPC – provides punishment for sexual harassment. According to the section, any person demanding sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks or showing pornography against the will of a woman shall be punished with an imprisonment that may extend upto 3 years or with fine.[21] It has now been incorporated in Section 74 of the BNS.
· 354C of IPC – Voyeurism. As per the section, an act of capturing the image of a woman engaging in a private act without her consent is punishable with an imprisonment of 3 to 7 years and shall also be liable to fine. It has now been incorporated in Section 76 of the BNS.
· 354D OF IPC - Stalking. As per this section, contacting a woman online and sending irrelevant email, messages or monitoring her electronic communications despite a clear indication of disinterest by such women is a punishable offence that may result in an imprisonment upto 5 years and also be liable to fines. It has now been incorporated in Section 77 of the BNS.[22]
LANDMARK JUDGEMENTS
· Yogesh Prabhu Vs. State of Maharashtra - It was the first case involving a conviction in cyber stalking in the state of Maharashtra. As per the judgement the person was punished with an imprisonment for a period of three months for sending obscene pictures and videos via email to a women he met on a social networking site. He was convicted under section 509 of the IPC and section 66E of the Information Technology Act.[23]
· Suhas Katti Vs. State of T.N - It was the first case in India that resulted in a conviction for posting obscene messages on the internet under the controversial section 67 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. The case is also notable for the fact that the conviction was achieved successfully within a relatively quick time of 7 months from the filing of FIR.[24]
· Avnish Bajaj Vs. State[25] – The case is relevant for the reason that it upheld the liability of third party on the virtual medium. The case involved a student capturing obscene act and uploading it as an MMS for sale in a site. It held liability on the CEO of the e-commerce as well since he failed in preventing the act.
GAPS IN THE PRESENT SYSTEM
The existing legislation indicates that although India has certain legal provisions for fighting cyber crimes it lacks a robust framework to prevent the gender-based cyber crimes against women. The Information and Technology Act is in short of gender specific crimes. The existing laws emphasises on public morality rather than women safety. Also the present laws in its practical application replete with loopholes. For example, in most of the cases the victim faces a difficulty in proving that the act of the perpetrator is without her consent. Such lacunae in the existing legal framework further deprive the law from achieving its true objective.
SUGGESTIONS
· The existing international legal framework does not explicitly address the issue of gender-based cyber-violence aimed at the subjugation of women in the cyber world. Therefore a new convention is required to holistically acknowledge the varied forms of it. The new convention may guide national legislations as well.
· Necessary rules and laws should be formulated to ensure a better control over the Internet Service Providers (ISP). They should be made bound to report any suspicious activity that has began in an online platform in its budding stage itself and this will help to prevent the crime at the earliest.
· Awareness regarding the existing cyber laws should be transmitted into the minds of the public. They should be aware of their rights as well as duties in the cyber world.
· Police and other officers involved should be adequately equipped with technical knowledge. Training programmes can be organised for the purpose. This prevents the perpetrators from escaping to a large extent.
· The nations who haven’t adopted legislations on this matter must introduce it and those with legislations must formulate more laws to address the cyber crimes against women specifically.
· New facilities have to be introduced that allows women to report a case easily. E-PORTAL services can be introduced by all economies as it can help women report such crimes with ease.
· Confidentiality of the case reported must be preserved and ensuring the anonymity of the victims can induce confidence in them to report such cases.
· Public campaigns has to be initiated to educate the public on keeping safe passwords, rejecting spam mails, etc, as it can prevent the cybercrime from happening largely.
· A necessary arrangement has to be instituted to address the mental traumas caused by the cyber crimes on victims.
CONCLUSION
“The only thing that does not change is change itself.” Human beings have always been subjected to several changes and now have been witnessing a remarkable and irreversible change in the past few decades with the evolution of technology. The introduction to internet, computers, smart phones and the access to them all happened in lightening speed. The emergence of COVID-19 further accelerated the ingress of technology into our lives. The newly introduced cyberspace enriched humans with profound opportunities. It offers a platform for informational resources, entertainment, and social networking and people have now begun to adapt themselves into this new virtual world. But it is also important to note that ‘with change comes a challenge.’ The surging cyber crimes are the current pandemic that has evolved along with the outbreak of COVID 19. The most drastic thing to be noted here is that the cyber crimes are not gender–neutral; rather they are targeted against a particular section-‘the women’, thus causing severe gender injustice in the cyber space. The space that can be a platform for women empowerment unfortunately is turning into a pitfall for women. Although there are legislations to fight cyber crimes globally, there isn’t still an entrenched system to specifically address the gender injustice happening against women in the cyber world. Also the existing laws employs lacunae in its implementation, thus fails in achieving its true objective. This leads to an implication that a robust legal framework to address the gender-based crimes in the cyber world is the need of the hour. Ensuring gender justice in the online world is equally significant as that in the offline world since the consequences of the acts in virtual world is visible in the physical world too. Hence, effective measures should be taken to overcome this new age challenge.
[1] Jennifer Bussell, ‘Cyberspace’ (Britannica) < https://www.britannica.com/topic/cyberspace> accessed 8 March 2024
[2]‘Digital Vs.Traditional Media Consumption’ (GWI)
< http://www.gwi.com/hubfs/Digital_vs_Traditional_Media_Consumption.pdf> accessed 5 March 2024
[3] Brian Dean, ‘Social Media Usage and Growth Statistics’ (Blacklinko) < https://backlinko.com/social-media-users> accessed 5 March 2024
[4] Ani Petrosyan, ‘Internet penetration rate worldwide 2024, by gender’ (Statista) < https://www.statista.com/statistics/1387693/penetration-rate-of-the-internet-by-gender/> accessed 8 March 2024
[5] EIGE, ‘Cyber violence against women and girls’ (European Institute for Gender Equality, 23 June 2017) < https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/publications/cyber-violence-against-women-and-girls?language_content_entity=en> accessed 8 March 2024
[6] Isabel Santagostino Recavarren & Marina Elefante, ‘Protecting women and girls from cyber harassment: a global assessment’ (World Bank Blogs, 27 November 2023) < https://blogs.worldbank.org/developmenttalk/protecting-women-and-girls-cyber-harassment-global-assessment> accessed 8 March 2024
[7] Navitha P and Dr.M Jagadeeshwaran, ‘An Empirical Study on Cyber crimes against women and children in India’ (2023) 3(2) IJARSCT < https://ijarsct.co.in/A11327.pdf> accessed 2 March 2024
[8] ‘Cyberstalking’ (Oxford Dictionaries) < https://web.archive.org/web/20160614113108/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cyberstalking> accessed 2 March 2024
[9] EIGE, (n 5)
[10]K. Jansson & R. Von Solms, ‘Phishing for phishing awareness’ (2013) 32(6) Behaviour & Information Technology < https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0144929X.2011.632650> accessed 4 March 2024
[11] ‘Internet Crime Report 2020’ (Internet Crime Complaint Centre) < https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2020_IC3Report.pdf> accessed 29 February 2024
[12] ‘What is Hacking?’ (The Economic Times) < https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/hacking> accessed 9 March 2024
[13] ‘Hacking statistics to give you Nightmares’ (DataProt) < https://dataprot.net/statistics/hacking-statistics/> accessed 7 March 2024
[14] ‘Morphing scams targeting women: What are they and how to stay safe’ The Times of India (2 November 2023) < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/morphing-scams-targeting-women-what-are-they-and-how-to-stay-safe/articleshow/104855130.cms> accessed 5 March 2024
[15] Abraham Thomas, ‘Cyber crimes against women leads to loss of self-worth, Justice Bhat of SC’ Hindustan Times (7 May 2023) < https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/supreme-court-judge-unveils-book-critiquing-indian-courts-handling-of-rising-cybercrimes-against-women-and-inadequate-laws-101683449217583.html> accessed 2 March 2024
[16] ‘Using the international and regional legal framework to stop all forms of violence against women and girls’ (United Nations Human Rights, 08 March 2022) < https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/03/using-international-and-regional-legal-framework-stop-all-forms-violence-against> accessed 1 March 2024
[17]‘Protecting women and girls from cyber harassment: A Global Assessment of Existing Laws’ < https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099456506262310384/pdf/IDU0c7c3a5a70b56a04b250a31b0b32b8f5cd856.pdf> accessed 4 March 2024
[18] ibid
[19] ‘The Information and Technology Act, 2000’ (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) < https://www.meity.gov.in/writereaddata/files/ITAct_0.do > accessed 10 March 2024
[20] ‘The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023’ (PRSIndia) < https://prsindia.org/files/bills_acts/bills_parliament/2023/Bharatiya_Nyaya_Sanhita,_2023.pdf> accessed 20 May 2024
[21] ‘The Indian Penal Code’ (Legislative Department) < https://lddashboard.legislative.gov.in/actsofparliamentfromtheyear/indian-penal-code> accessed 18 May 2024
[22] ‘BNS IPC Implications of Revision’ (National Law School of India University)< https://www.nls.ac.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IPC-BNS_Table.pdf> accessed 20 May 2024
[23] ‘35-yr-old first convict in a cyber-stalking case in state’ Hindustan Times (4 July 2015) <https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai/35-yr-old-first-convict-in-a-cyber-stalking-case-in-state/story-sjIiVKJOGxwwUdr4UYyz6O.html> accessed 1 March 2024
[24] ‘Important cyber law case studies’ (Cyber Laws & Information Security Advisors) < https://www.cyberralegalservices.com/detail-casestudies.php > accessed 1 March 2024
[25] (2005) 3 CompLJ 364 Del