Nighat Dad ( ur, ; born ) is a
Pakistani lawyer and Internet activist who runs the not-for-profit organisation Digital Rights Foundation.
Her work in the field of
IT security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...
has earned her many international awards.
Early life and education
Dad was born in 1981 in Lahore.
She hails from a village in
Jhang
Jhang (Punjabi language, Punjabi, ur, ), ) is the capital city of Jhang District, in the central portion of the province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Situated on the east bank of the Chenab river, it is the List of most populous c ...
,
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
. She received her education from the
University of the Punjab
The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...
,
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
from where she has received a degree of the Master of Laws.
Her marriage lasted only 18 months, and as a single mother, she had to wage a legal battle to win the custody of her child. During court proceedings she met many single mothers involved in legal battle to gain custody of their children, and she has been helping such women.
Work
Dad is a lawyer by profession and practice criminal and
family law
Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations.
Overview
Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include:
* Marriage, ...
.
In 2012, she set up the Digital Rights Foundation where she was executive director, educate Pakistani internet users, particularly women to protect themselves from
online harassment
Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital s ...
.
Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever
Nobel Prize laureate
The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second Pak ...
has also attended workshops of Dad, before being shot by the Taliban in October 2012.
Dad led campaigns to protect online freedom of speech in Pakistan as well campaigns against legislation that gives the government broad powers of surveillance online, most notable one is the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015.
She also contributed in the draft of Acid Prevention Law 2010 and the Domestic Violence Bill of Pakistan.
In 2015, she was named in the
TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
magazine's list of
Next Generation Leaders, for helping Pakistani women fight online harassment.
In 2016, she was awarded the Atlantic Council Digital Freedom Award and Dutch government's
Human Rights Tulip
The Human Rights Tulip ( nl, Mensenrechtentulp) is an annual prize awarded by the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs to a human rights defender or organisation who promotes and supports human rights in innovative ways. The Human Rights Tulip was est ...
award. She is also one of the 25 leading figures on the Information and Democracy Commission launched by
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
.
In November 2018 she joined
The Tor Project
The Tor Project, Inc. is a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) research-education nonprofit organization founded by computer scientists Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson and five others. The Tor Project is primarily responsible for maintaining software for ...
's board of directors.
On 6 May 2020,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
appointed her to its
content oversight board.
See also
*
Internet censorship in Pakistan
Internet censorship in Pakistan is government control of information sent and received using the Internet in Pakistan. There have been significant instances of website access restriction in Pakistan, most notably when YouTube was banned from 2 ...
References
External links
Digital Rights Foundation
1981 births
Living people
Pakistani lawyers
Pakistani activists
Pakistani women activists
Internet censorship in Pakistan
University of the Punjab alumni
People from Jhang District
Facebook Oversight Board members
20th-century Pakistani women
21st-century Pakistani women
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