The repeated instances of violence and threats from government institutions and fundamentalist or conservative groups towards TLGBIQ+ activist groups in Paraguay are taken to the digital world through organized online attacks, harassment, creation of fake profiles, extortion, theft and manipulation of information, and many other dynamics that violate their rights to appear and express themselves in digital spaces in a free and safe way.
Due to this context, TEDIC has identified the urgent need to strengthen digital safety and security practices within the community. With this objective in mind, we launched the website Libres y Segures en Internet, a repository with information about digital security, courses, and general information about the current state of the rights of the TLGBIQ+ community and the history of the conquest of these rights in Paraguay and the world. The content developed for this website was validated by Aireana, Group for lesbian rights, and Diversxs Paraguay, organizations with extensive experience working towards the defence of the rights of the TLGBIQ+ community in Paraguay.
The construction of this online space was not done in isolation. During all of 2021, we worked with the Diversxs Paraguay community in conducting diagnoses of digital security needs, taking advantage of the wide reach of 5 departments around the country that this network has. From these meetings we developed the course “Digital protection for TLGBIQ+ activists”, available on our website. This course, fully self-administered using a Moodle platform, will give participants the opportunity to learn to identify their own security needs in the digital environment and learn about the main care strategies recommended by TEDIC taking into account 5 main axes: Secure Passwords, Secure Communication, Secure Navigation, Digital Hygiene and Social Network Settings.
In addition, seeking to contribute to the generation of content with a TLGBIQ+ perspective, we developed in collaboration with the organization Cuarto Mundo the podcast series Libres y Segures en Internet, a series of 10 episodes with interviews with activists, artists, influencers, lawyers, journalists, technologists and academics from Paraguay and the region, members of the TLGBIQ+ community and/or who work from their particular fields around the issues of gender and sexuality.
It’s time for a law on digital violence against women in Paraguay