Online safety

In his Budget speech, Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan made specific reference to creating safer communities.  While we welcome the increases to the budget allocation, we await to see how the department of Police and Justice and Constitutional Development will spend it. With the technological revolution, we are fast becoming “online communities” and we are also seeing more crimes perpetrated using advanced technology. As  online spaces are also becoming unsafe (a reflection of what is happening in our society), especially for young girls and women, we need our police and justice system to respond to the challenges. Perpetrators of gender based violence are increasingly using technology to lure, track, monitor and stalk women and girls.

Online safety has become a contentious issue due to the increased popularity of social networks and instant messaging. Because cyberspace has no borders, textual harassment and exposure to inappropriate content amongst children have become popular and thus putting children in danger. On May 15 Girls'Net, a daughter project of Women'sNet launched an online safety campaign for young people, titled "Keep Your Chats Exactly That!".