START 034amount of Russian porn sites. “We spent
a lot of time trying to figure out who was
behind the websites, which was difficult
because it was on the dark web,” he says.
Eventually, they managed to contact the
sites’ administrators and get the images
removed after highlighting that the girl
was below the legal age of consent.
When launched, Atak’s software,
which is marketed under the brand
SAFEonNET, will run hundreds of word
combinations, trawling the internet
and delving into the dark web to locate
information that is being used to
cause distress to his clients.
“We contact any kind of media or
website that are publishing this infor-
mation, whatever it is, that’s out there,”
he says. “When we figure out who is the
owner of the main web server, we’ll
contact the web server providers, and
inform them that there is infringing,
violating content on their server, and we
want them to shut down immediately.”
If that doesn’t work, Atak’s team
assumes power of attorney on behalf
of its clients, and makes reports to the
police. And if content cannot be removed
from the internet entirely, Atak buries
it, pushing it into the bowels of Google’s
search results until it’s not noticeable.Atak believes there’s a market for
his insurance product. According to
figures from the Pew Research Center
in 2018, he might be right: 59 per cent of
US teenagers have been bullied online,
while revenge porn continues to rise.
“The internet is getting bigger and
bigger, and you’ll always have people
thinking ‘This won’t hurt anyone’,”
Atak says. “People say ‘Words don’t
hurt you’. People have always said that,
for hundreds of years. But they don’t
understand the consequences of how
much they’re hurting people.”
Atak isn’t the first company to offer
anti-cyberbullying insurance. That
honour goes to insurance provider
Chubb, which introduced cyberbul-
lying insurance in 2016. Interestingly, its
product also provides reimbursement
for therapy costs, in addition to offering
PR assistance and scrubbing offending
content from online searches. Chubb
representative Mike Tanenbaum says
that it was important for the package
to include therapy reimbursement, as
“cyber breaches are emotionally tough
situations... the policy creates support
mechanisms to help people navigate
through a tough emotional situation”.
He believes that one day the
cyberbullying insurance industry
could be as developed – and as lucrative- as that for car and home cover. “As
cyber threats evolve, cyber insurance - including coverage for cyberbul-
lying and cyber breach of privacy –
will continue to play a key role in the
awareness, preparedness and resiliency
of individuals and families,” he says.
Two years on from her cyberbullying
ordeal, Silke is doing well.
She’s recently had a baby,
Isaac, and mother and son are
thriving. Meanwhile, Atak is
dealing with a more pressing
matter closer to home: his
five-year-old son has been
caught bullying his class-
mates. Atak laughs grimly
as he tells me about it. “I’m
actually one of Scandinavia’s
most prominent experts in
this, and my own kid is the
bully... It’s crazy.” Sirin Kale
ILLUSTRATION:^ TYLER^ GROSSAPP-ENABLED PEOPLE
POWER: HOW MEXICANS
CLICK TO FIGHT BACK
AGAINST CORRUPTION“Mexico is the world’s 15th
largest economy,” says Ernesto
Peralta. “The problem is that
all our money is going into the
bin.” Peralta is the executive
director of Borde Político, a
Mexico City-based startup
behind the Incorruptible app,
which attempts to address
widespread corruption.
Mexico is currently 138th in
Transparency International’s
2018 Corruption Perception
Index – an annual report by
the corruption-monitoring and
reporting NGO which ranks
countries by perceived levels
of such abuse. (Out of 180
countries, Denmark is number 1;
the UK is 11; Somalia is at 180.)
If, say, a police officer asks
for a bribe, citizens can log it on
Incorruptible. This alerts one
of its partner anti-corruption
NGOs; if a report looks credible,
it’s published in the app.
(Incorruptible plans to enable
reporting via social media.)
The aim is to eventually create
a nationwide map of corruption.
“A systemic problem needs
a systemic solution,” Peralta
says – so, since November
2018, the participating NGOs
have been forwarding reports
to public authorities, which can
take legal steps and post the
outcome on the app.
Despite these steps,
Eduardo Bohórquez, head of
Transparency International’s
Mexican arm, still cautions
Incorruptible users against
complacency. “You want real
change and justice,” he says.
“An app alone can’t deliver that.”
Felix Franz incorruptible.mx‘People say wordsdon’t hurt you,but they don’tunderstand theconsequences’09-19-STCyberbullying.indd 32 10/07/2019 15:01