Responsible use of technology including  cyberspace would prevent crimes like cyberbullying, says NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma                        Field Outreach Bureau, Coimbatore in coordination with Press Information Bureau, Chennai conducted a webinar on “Cyber Safety for Women” at 11 AM on 26th February, 2021.

          Shri M. Annadurai, IIS, ROB/PIB, Chennai welcomed all the dignitaries and experts and introduced them on the occasion of the webinar.

He further said that in increasing exposure to internet  underlines the  need  to use it in a secure and safe way.

          While delivering the inaugural address, Hon’ble Chairperson for National Commission for Women, Smt. Rekha Sharma, said that in last ten years,Internet has occupied a lot of space in our lives and thus became a integral part of it. While the cyberspace has eased our lives due to iits benefits, it has also thrown several challenges by way of misuse causing threat to individuals personal safety especially for women.  The unforeseen circumstances like lockdown had further seen the rise in domestic violence including cyber crimes, as per the complaints received by NCW during the period,Smt Rekha added.

          Internet has also empowered the women in many ways like they can share their views and opinions and acquired training and work from homes. This is the positive side of the Internet era but on the other side, they are being targeted in the cyber world and the numbers are increasing. So many people are unaware of the cyber act & laws. Sometimes police also face new challenges. It is very difficult to book and punish them because it is difficult to trace the identity in cyberspace instantly. Cases involving  pornography, morphing pictures, sending malicious links and obnoxious posts and  messages on social media are on the rise.

          Most of the times, the women who were harassed online have been familiar with the person who harassed especially after the relationship goes bad.

         

          Thanks to the notification of the Information Technology and Digital media ethics code) rules 2021, the Prominent Social media platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others have to come up with the reforms and self regulations  for  prevention of their misuse as soon as possible.

          Smt Rekha further said that  NCW is more actively involved in  booking  and punishing  them in coordination with the police department.

          For the last 2 years, NCW has been training women especially young girls from the colleges to make their use more secure on social media in coordination with Facebook and Cyber Peace foundation. More than 63 thousand girls were trained in the first year. More than 1 Lakh of the girls have been trained by the NCW before the deadline in next year and the third phase of the training is about to start on Pan India level.

          Generally Most of the women and girls are unaware on how to keep themselves safe and secure on the social media, Smt Rekha added.

          She also advised the participants on the webinar to not share their personal pictures and videos and upcoming  plans to anyone on the social media platforms so that they cannot be misused and also said that firstly the women and girls need to know the safety features and knowledge before using social media.

          While Internet is seen as a means of  empowerment,  enough caution should be exercised  to not falling prey to its demerits, She urged .

          She also advised to register complaint to the local police station and Cyber cell and NCW against any type of harassments.

          Smt. Dhanya Menon, India’s first woman cybercrime investigator, said in her address that Internet is  a tool created for make our lives better and easier. Most of the people start using cyber space now-a-days without learning the basics.  It is upto the individual's intent to make Technology as good or bad, Smt Dhanya added.

          She also shared that recently the government has announced new rules and regulation for social media intermediaries as well as for digital media and over the top (OTT) content players.

          She further added that most of the crimes like drugs & sex trafficking, human trafficking start on cyber space and end up harming people physically.

She also said that women and girls are more likely to be targeted so they should be more careful when it comes to expressing themselves on social media platforms.

          While concluding, Shri J Kamaraj, IIS, Director, ROB Chennai shared that the responsible use of technology including  cyberspace is the key to safeguarding individual's dignity and identity. Everyone should be aware of all the pros & cons of the social media platforms in this digital era. He hoped that the recently notified intermediary guidelines  might prevent the occurence of  such crimes over cyber space.

          At Last, Smt Kareena B Thengamam, Assistant Director, FOB Coimbatore expressed the gratitude toward the dignitaries for being the part of the webinar and also making it successful and more informative for the people, especially women and girls.

          Smt. P. Baby Shakila, Principal, SKASC, Shri Alagarsamy, HOD, MSW, SKASC, Shri A. Dharmaraj, NSS Coordinator, Shri K Veerasamy, NSS Programme Officer, Karpagam University and Shri S R Chandrashekaran, Field Publicity Assistant, FOB Coimbatore participated in the programme.

          The programme was appreciated by the faculty & students of various colleges.

          The webinar was also streamed live on the various social media platforms of Regional Outreach Bureau, Chennai and Field Outreach Bureau, Coimbatore.

          Q&A-Session and Feedback was the part of the webinar. E-Certificates were provided to the participants for their participation in the webinar.

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