04 Dec 2018

 Acting President Mr Slumber Tsogwane has advised Batswana to use  digital technology responsibly underpinned by strong morality.

Speaking at the intersection between technology and GBV conference organised  by Hlanganani Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Gaborone on December 4, Mr Tsogwane described the internet as a double edged sword that should be used in a responsible manner.

He said while the internet was a tool for development, it had also become an instrument  for criminal activity as it enabled individuals to access and widely disseminate virtually anything anonymously.

“It lends itself to various criminal activities such as cyber harassment, cyberbullying, cyber hacking and cyber stalking,” he said.

Mr Tsogwane therefore called on attendants to interrogate ways in which cyber technologies lended themselves for use as instruments of violence particularly  GBV as well as  acts of violence motivated by perception of sexual orientation and gender identity.

He also urged attendants to identify how abusers were increasingly using technology as a means to monitor, harass, threaten, intimidate, impersonate, and stalk their victims, making it difficult for survivors to find physical safety and eroding their sense of safety.

“I urged you to interrogate how best technology can be used to combat GBV. I further urge you to deliberate on the costs of GBV to productivity, business and the economy,” he said.

South Africa’s former minister of Home Affairs, Mr Maluzi Gigaba said the advent of technology had caused life to be a complete paranoia.

He said invasion of private communication and information had become the order of the day as hackers intercepted private conversations for various reasons including blackmail, manipulation or compromise for political, business and other purposes.

“The public live in a paranoid environment where even a natural loss of signal of phone can be presumed as an interception, and this paranoia also exists even for ordinary citizen,” he said.

Mr Gigaba said the problem was further perpetuated by the fact that government and oorporations were involved in information gathering using both official and unofficial instruments.

The information, he warned, could easily end in wrong hands and be used for inferiors reasons.

He said social media had complicated matters as blackmailers no longer used old methods of threatening people with brown envelopes, because they simply posted it on a few accounts and one’s life would be destroyed.

“We are all at risk, including those without public profile,” he said.

He said online abuse was further aggravated by enduring effect that the content could be repeated even years after it was first publicised.

Director of Hlanganani ICT, Ms  Boitshepo Bolele, said the organisation organised the conference as a response to 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. 

The gathering brought together panelists from various sectors to discuss the intersection between technology and GBV, in particular digital technologies. ENDS