Parry Aftab is an Internet privacy and security lawyer, considered one of the founders of cyberlaw and founder of the world's largest and oldest cybersafety charity. Named by The Boston Herald as "the leading expert in cybercrime in the world," Aftab wrote the first cybersafety book in the world for parents (in 1996) and has received a long list of honors and has been appointed to the boards of directors and advisory boards of several companies, including TRUSTe, Facebook, MTV and Sesame Street Online.[1] She is a longtime Internet safety expert[2] who founded the Internet safety organization WiredSafety, StopCyberbullying and the consulting firm, WiredTrust. She was "the Privacy Lawyer" columnist for Information Week Magazine for many years. In 2016 Parry Aftab founded Cybersafety India and the StopCyberbullying and sextortion and morphing prevention initiatives for India.[3] She resides in both the US and Canada.
Parry Aftab | |
|---|---|
 Aftab accepting an award from FBI Director Robert Mueller in 2010 | |
| Occupation | Lawyer, author, charity head, board member, speaker, consultant |
| Language | English, Spanish and some Russian |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | US |
| Education | Hunter College (BS) New York University School of Law (JD) |
| Notable works | The Parent's Guide to the Internet, StopCyberbullying Global, A Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace |
| Website | |
| aftab | |
Career
editAftab was appointed by UNESCO's Director General Federico Mayor as the chief of the U.S. National Action Committee for UNESCO's World Citizen's Committee on Protecting Innocence in Danger group in 1999 to address online sexual exploitation of children.[4] She became a member of the Board of Directors for the non-profit, TRUSTe in 2003.[5] In 2005, the United States Congress issued a resolution that recognized her efforts to combat cyberbullying as Executive Director of StopCyberbullying and WiredSafety.[6]
Her organization, WiredSafety, became a member of Facebook's Safety Advisory Board in 2009[7] and in April, Aftab appeared on Good Morning America for its town hall meeting on sexting.[2] In 2010 she received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and[8][9] was one of 28 members in the Online Safety and Technology Working Group of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.[10] She was one of 29 members of the Internet Safety Technical Task Force, run by Harvard's Berkman Center.[11]
She was the co-recipient of the RCMP's Child Recovery Award in 2011.[12] Aftab was the organizer for a 2015 anti-cyberbullying event in Ireland,[13] and has been a member of the advisory boards for MTV's A Thin Line,[14] Fair Play, Sesame Street Online and the Ad Council.[15] Her clients have included Facebook, Disney and Nickelodeon.[16]
Reception
editMembers of groups who disagree with her have "launched a massive Internet harassment campaign" against her.[17] In 2010, she was forced to cancel a Good Morning America appearance (where she would be discussing the cyberbullying campaign against Jessi Slaughter by members of 4chan's /b/ board) due to targeted harassment, which included Google bombing baseless accusations of child molestation against Aftab. In July 2011 her detractors incited a swatting incident at her home when they contacted police claiming her house was the site of murders and hostages. Aftab was on vacation at the time and a local police swat team investigated the false claims.[17][18]
According to the British blogger Katie Jones, Aftab tried to coerce her into releasing control of the domain, Katie.com, which was also the name of a newly published book, Katie.com: My Story. Jones refused and wrote about the incident on her website.[19]
Publications
edit- Child Abuse on the Internet. Ending the Silence, Carlos A. Arnaldo, Ed., Chapter 21: "The Technical Response: Blocking, Filtering and Rating the Internet", pp. 135–140 (2001) ISBN 92-3-103728-5 ISBN 978-9231037283
- Inocencia en Peligro : Conviva con sus Hijos y Protéjalos Cuando Naveguen por Internet (2001) ISBN 970-10-3297-7 ISBN 978-9701032978
- The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace (1999) ISBN 0-07-135752-1 ISBN 978-0071357524
- Parents Guide to the Internet: And How to Protect Your Children in Cyberspace (1997) ISBN 0-9660491-0-1 ISBN 978-0966049107
- Parent's Guide to the Internet - UK edition (2000) ISBN 0077096746 ISBN 978-0077096748
- Ciberbullying, Guia Practica - Spain/Espana (2004) ISBN 84-9726-336-7 [dead link]
- INTERNET con los menores riesgos. Guía práctica para madres y padres - Spain/Espana (2003) ISBN 84-9726-310-3 [dead link]
References
edit- ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg News. May 22, 2023.
- ^ a b Kazdin, Cole and Imaeyen Ibanga (April 15, 2009). "The Truth About Teens Sexting; 'GMA' Holds a Town Hall Meeting to Discuss the Growing Teen Trend". Good Morning America. WABC. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
- ^ "Pioneers of US's anti-cyber bullying movement to launch India campaign | Bengaluru News - Times of India". The Times of India. June 2016.
- ^ UNESCO launches campaign to fight Internet pedophilia. CNN (June 15, 1999). Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
- ^ Execs and Accounts for February 14, 2003. ClickZ (February 14, 2003). Retrieved on December 28, 2015.
- ^ Congressional Record, Volume 151, Part 8, May 19, 2005 to June 6, 2005. Government Printing Office. June 2011. pp. 870–. ISBN 9780160889400.
- ^ El-Rahman, Minara. "Facebook Safety". Find Law. Retrieved December 16, 2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Travers, Bryan L. (November 22, 2010). "Child Safety Advocate and Cyber Law Legal Expert to Be Honored by FBI Director". FBI Press Release. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2010.
- ^ "Children's cyber protector Parry Aftab of Bergen honored by FBI". Cliffview Pilot. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ (June 4, 2010) OSTWG Final Report, accessed December 22, 2015
- ^ "The Berkman Center Announces Formation of Internet Safety Task Force to Identify and Develop Online Safety Tools | Berkman Klein Center". cyber.harvard.edu. September 24, 2010. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
- ^ Forberg, Sigrid (2011). "Finding missing children with Facebook" (PDF). Gazette. 73 (2): 11.
- ^ Danaher, Dan (April 27, 2015). "Experts to draft plan on online bullying". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "About Us: A THIN LINE, MTV's sexting, cyberbullying, digital dating abuse campaign : www.athinline.org". Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ "Parry Aftab: Executive Profile & Biography". Businessweek.com. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- ^ Berger, Rod (December 24, 2013). "Cyberlaw & Education Profiled with Parry Aftab". EdTechReview.
- ^ a b Chen, Adrian (July 25, 2011). "Internet Prankster Sends SWAT Team to Cyberbullying Expert's House". Gawker. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
- ^ Glynn, Casey (July 26, 2011). "Cyber expert Parry Aftab's N.J. home targeted in hostage hoax". CBS News. Retrieved January 13, 2016.
- ^ Rustad, Jr., Roger E. (August 6, 2004). "Interview with Katie Jones of (the Real) Katie.com". GrepLaw.org. Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
External links
edit