Twitter Creeps Are Making Jakarta Even More Dangerous For Women

It's already pretty hard being a woman in Jakarta. The city's public minivans (angkot) aren't safe. Sexual harassment and groping are shockingly common on the commuter trains and buses. And the streets… don't even get me started on the streets.

So the last thing we need is another, new form, of sexual harassment. But that's exactly what we've got here. An anonymous Twitter account was just banned for uploading secretly recorded images of videos of women riding the commuter train, shopping, walking, changing in the fitting room, you get the idea here. The Twitter account, which violated women's privacy to satiate a bunch of creeps online, had been active for more than a year and had amassed more than 70,000 followers by the time it was finally shut down.

The account, NyolongFoto, or steal photos, was shut down after a woman found a video of herself on the Twitter account. She had fallen asleep on the commuter line to Depok, West Java, when some asshole decided to record her for two whole minutes, zooming in on her body as she slept. The woman's complaints quickly went vital, and calls for Twitter's admins to ban the account started to mount.

NyolongFoto is gone, so war won right? Wrong. That Twitter account was sadly just one of the countless others out there. In just five minutes, the VICE Indonesia staff found plenty of other similar accounts, some of which were even worse, focusing instead on underage junior high school girls, close up photos of women walking around the market, or stolen smartphone nudes.

NyolongFoto advertised itself as "no nudes," but the account's focus on violating women's privacy in public spaces, of sexualizing women and posting the images online without their consent makes it feel even more insidious. It makes the entire city, from the ritziest mall to the humblest traditional market, feel unsafe.

"My biggest concern is people thinking what the accounts do is normal, that sexual harassment is normal and since it's being done discretely, that it's not a crime," said Maesy Angeline, a co-owner of Post Book Store and an active voice for women's empowerment in Indonesia. "I'm afraid that people will think consent is not important, or that women are 'asking for it.' That the culprits can just get away without suffering any consequences."

The police should investigate these accounts to send a message to creeps everywhere that this kind of stuff isn't OK, Maesy said. Indonesia already has laws regulating those who "discreetly take pictures of someone." Under the law, photographers need to get the permission of their subjects before they snap a photo. Those caught snapping unlawful candids can face up to two years in prison if convicted.

But most don't see privacy as that big a concern, explained Enda Nasution, a prominent blogger and social media expert. People are only starting to take these kinds of accounts seriously after they see words like "pornography," "threats," and "intimidation" in headlines.

"Protection of one's privacy is a new thing in Indonesia," Enda said. "Many don't even realize that privacy is something to be protected. A lot of the time, the victims didn't realize what had happened and they suddenly find their pictures posted online."

And others just don't feel any sympathy for the victims of these accounts. Tammy Tjenreng, an editor at a fashion magazine, says people need to hold these accounts, and their followers, accountable.

"We should contribute to mold our society into a better place," she said. "It's as simple as reporting an inappropriate account, or starting in your own peer groups If you have male friends following these accounts, scold them.

"My biggest fear is for the next generation to simply consume and laugh at these accounts. They objectify the content without an ounce of care of criticism."