Bytes for All (B4A), Pakistan is a human rights organization and a network of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) professionals and practitioners. It experiments and organizes debate on the relevance of ICTs for sustainable development and strengthening human rights movements in the country. At the forefront of Internet Rights movement and struggle for the democracy, B4A focuses on capacity building of human rights defenders on their digital security, online safety & privacy. Working on different important campaigns particularly against Internet censorship and surveillance in Pakistan, B4A continues to work on cyberspace issues, awareness raising and policy advocacy from civil liberties & human rights perspective. Globally acclaimed Take Back The Tech Campaign is the flagship of Bytes for All, which focuses on strategic use of ICTs by the women and girls to fight violence against women in Pakistan. B4A’s field projects focus on: Strategic use of ICTs for women’s empowerment and combating violence against women; Freedom of Expression; Privacy Rights in Pakistan; Digital Security for Human Rights Defenders; Open Governance; Open Net Initiative; Greening IT; Internet & Human Rights; Global Information Society Watch; Innovation for Development; and Internet Governance; For its work, B4A partners and collaborates with different civil society organizations. B4A’s staff team is totally committed towards civil liberties in Pakistan. More information at www.bytesforall.pk
Current activities
- 'Online Violence: Prevention, Reporting and Remedy"’: https://www.dropbox.com/s/w72ericqj3ge8os/Online%20Violence%20-%20Prevention%2C%20Reporting%2C%20and%20Remedy%20ebook.pdf;
- Guide on ‘social media ethics & etiquette’: www.dropbox.com/s/jr7zfv7s5gfp5gy/B4A%20Social%20Media%20E%26E%20ebook.pdf
- Nine thought-provoking TBTT end VAW cartoons;
- Twelve TBTT end VAW posters;
- TBTT blog on Facebook violence in Pakistan;
- TBTT song/video on child marriage: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=576697479065784;
- TBTT poem on the culture of misogyny in Pakistan: https://www.facebook.com/notes/bytes-for-all-pakistan/woman/576429569092575;
- Digital security and privacy training session for a group from the LGBT community
- Participation in National Conference on Women, Pease and Social Harmony
- Radio show: FM89 Girl Talk
- Open letter to NCSW: http://content.bytesforall.pk/node/117
- Press conference presenting resolutions to end VAW on federal and provincial scales
Local Campaign Website
Previous campaign activities
Violence Against Women (VAW) in Pakistan is endemic. It happens in many forms and in many places. It happens in the home, at work, in public spaces and increasingly via the Internet, mobile phones and social networking spaces. There are many roots, reasons and causes for this. Bytes for All (B4A), Pakistan in collaboration with several women rights organization in the country is engaged in 16 Days, Take Back The Tech Campaign. These activities range from Young Activist Award, where school children create artworks to combat violence against women to Tribal Women in Sindh and Balochistan talking about their problems and issues. Radio shows, celebrity endorsement, tweeting, social networking, hand mapping, video coverage of violence against women issues in the society are the other highlights of this year’s campaign. We will keep you all posted with the developments.
In 2009, Bytes for All, Pakistan, partnered with P@sha to start a Take Back the Tech! campaign in Pakistan. More information on that campaign can be found here. Now Bytes for All leads the campaign.