A/HRC/35/9 empowerment of women (target 5 (b)).29 Furthermore, expanding equal access to ICTs is supportive of many other Sustainable Development Goals, including those related to education, health, jobs and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, and sustainable cities and communities. B. Human rights implications of the gender digital divide 17. The gender digital divide is both a consequence and cause of violations of women’s human rights. It is a consequence, in that disparities in ICT access and use reflect discrimination faced by women in society, be it based on location, economic status, age, gender, racial or ethnic origin, social and cultural norms, education or other factors. The gender digital divide is also a cause of violations of women’s human rights: women without meaningful ICT access are less equipped to exercise their human rights and to participate in public life, the economy and society. 30 The role of Internet access in the enjoyment of human rights has been stressed in numerous reports by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. 31 At the same time, when women access or use ICTs, they may be exposed to potential violations of human rights, which in turn may deter them from using ICTs and effectively limit their access, serving to exacerbate the gender digital divide. Right to privacy 18. The General Assembly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and several special rapporteurs have recognized that privacy is a prerequisite for the full exercise of other rights, notably the right to freedom of opinion and expression. 32 Women’s right to privacy in the context of equal access to ICTs implies the ability to benefit from encryption, anonymity or the use of pseudonyms on social media in order to minimize the risk of interference with privacy, which is especially pertinent for women human rights defenders and women trying to obtain information otherwise considered taboo in their societies.33 19. At the same time, the use of ICTs could result in arbitrary or unlawful interference in women’s privacy, for example through surveillance and monitoring of women’s correspondence and activities, or in targeted attacks on women’s privacy through the publication of personal data and information on the Internet (“doxing”). Big data 34 also poses particular challenges to women’s right to privacy, for example during the collection, storage, sharing and repurposing of large sets of data, which may involve the potential for re-identification, de-anonymization and aggregation of information. 35 Of particular concern is the potential danger posed to the privacy of marginalized women when big data is used for development or humanitarian purposes. While big data may carry benefits for development initiatives, it also carries serious risks, which are often ignored. 36 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 6 The global indicator framework agreed by the Statistical Commission in 2016 includes “Proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone, by sex” to monitor Sustainable Development Goal 5. See, in this connection, A/HRC/30/26, para. 13 and A/HRC/17/27, paras. 60-66. See also Association for Progressive Communications, “How technology issues impact women’s rights: 10 points on Section J” (2015). See A/HRC/17/27, paras. 60-66; A/HRC/29/32; A/HRC/32/38; A/HRC/14/23, paras. 111-112. General Assembly resolution 68/167; A/HRC/13/37; A/HRC/29/32. See also Human Rights Council resolution 20/8. See A/HRC/23/40 and Corr.1, para. 23. See Global Pulse, Integrating Big Data into the Monitoring and Evaluation of Development Programmes, pp. 34-35. Nicole Shephard, “Big data and sexual surveillance”, Association for Progressive Communications issue paper (2016). See, generally, Global Pulse (2016), “Big data for development and humanitarian action: towards responsible governance — Global Pulse privacy advisory group meetings 2015-2016” (2016).