Awareness-raising Seminar on the Online Spaces: Challenges & Opportunities under “Hamara Internet Program”

U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water at Mehran UET Jamshoro and Digital Rights Foundation Lahore, organized an awareness seminar on Online Spaces; Challenges and Opportunities in collaboration with Student Welfare Office at MUET for the students of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro, in the auditorium of USPCAS-W, here on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. The session was conducted by Seerat Khan, Program Manager at DRF and Barrister Jannat Ali Kalyar.

Ms. Seerat Khan emphasized on the importance of the digital security, safe online spaces, online and offline harassment and protection of personal data of citizens. She quoted real-time experiences and news reports to explain the online behavior that citizens experience regarding their personal data and how important their data is. The aim of the session was to increase awareness regarding data protection, online and offline harassment, the right to privacy and digital security amongst the participants.

Barrister Jannat Ali Kalyar explained the current legislation in Pakistan regarding cybercrime and the need for a data protection bill in the country. She also emphasized on the workplace harassment act and how the university falls under this act.  Throughout the session, the students were encouraged to participate in an interactive discussion that helped to strengthen advocacy efforts to reform data protection laws and the workplace harassment act in Pakistan. Ms. Janat also discussed the importance of privacy settings online and other online tools that need to be used in order to stay protected online.  She also briefed the participants regarding data posting, installation of apps, use of camera and other features and their legal protection.

Before that Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari Project Director USPCAS-W welcomed DRF delegation at Mehran UET and appreciated the efforts made for the awareness about digital privacy and related issues. “Engaging academia and youth in a dialogue on digital security and privacy in Pakistan is need of time”, he added.

At the end of the session, Dr. Tanvir Hussain, Assistant Professor, and Student Welfare Office Advisor at MUET and Mr. M. Shahid Panhwar, M&E Specialist USPCAS-W at MUET Jamshoro presented souvenirs to the DRG delegation. There were a total of 150 students of Mehran UET Jamshoro in the awareness workshop.