The woman behind the most up-to-date interactive map of Femicides in Mexico

The interactive Femicides in Mexico Map, the most comprehensive and up-to-date of its kind in the country, is – according to its fundraising page – a “citizen-led, civic, independent initiative based on open data which, using geographical coordinates, has been mapping cases of femicide since 2016″. So far, it has recorded 2,355 cases.

The map's creator uses the practical definition of the United Nations model protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women, which defines “femicide” as:

the murder of women because they are women, whether it is committed within the family, a domestic partnership, or any other interpersonal relationship, or by anyone in the community, or whether it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents.

Her sources are newspaper reports and official statements on femicides, and her motivation is simple and clear: to name every single one of the women so that they are not forgotten.

She uses the pseudonym “Princesa” (“Princess”) to conceal her true identity so as to ensure her safety. Princesa says she became aware of community affairs through her mother, now 80 years old. Her mother, originally from the state of Zacatecas but who moved to Mexico City, is a working woman, the granddaughter of revolutionaries, with strong religious beliefs and who fights for the rights of the just and those of workers.

Princesa studied physics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and developed a passion for seismology and tsunamis. She ended up working commerce, but also became involved with maps when she collaborated with the intersectional peace project Nuestra Aparente Rendición (“Our Apparent Surrender”) and with online grassroots groups that track cases of kidnappings. Her dedication and technical knowledge gradually grew, as well as her ability to deal with big data and to use tools for the systematisation of geographical coordinates.

On the Femicides in Mexico Map's Facebook page, she receives messages from the press, politicians, legislators and ordinary people interested in her documentation project, but for her, the most important messages are those from the family members of the victims. Seeing the names of their daughters and the places in which they lost their lives on the map is a way of recognising that they have a name, a history, and that their lives have value, Princesa says, as she recalls some of those messages.
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Victims call hackers' bluff as ransomware deadline nears

With the clock ticking on whether a global hacking attack would wipe out his data, Bolton Jiang had no intention of paying a 21st-century ransom.

Since a week ago, when the malware first struck, Mr. Jiang has been busily fixing and replacing computers at the electronics company where he works in Shanghai. Paying is a bother, he said, and there was no guarantee he would get his data back.

“Even if you do pay, you won’t necessarily be able to open the files that are hit,” he said. “There is no solution to it.”

Tens of thousands of computer users around the world faced the same dilemma on Friday, their last chance to pay the anonymous hackers behind the ransomware attack known as WannaCry. The malicious software exposed the widespread vulnerability of computers and offered a peek at how a new type of crime could be committed on a global scale.

As part of the hacking, attackers demanded that individuals pay a fee to regain control of their machines, or face losing their data.

The latest strain of ransomware was particularly virulent, experts warned, because it had been based on software stolen from the National Security Agency. Law enforcement agencies in the United States and elsewhere have been hunting for the culprits, with attention focused on hackers linked to North Korea.

Despite a week of widespread disruption, the total ransom paid so far looks relatively modest. An online tracking system showed that the amount sent in the electronic currency Bitcoin to accounts listed by the attackers had begun to plateau on Wednesday, and had reached about $90,000 on Friday afternoon in Europe. Early estimates of what the virus could ultimately earn had ranged into the tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars. Victims have seven days to pay from when their computers were originally infected, so the deadline will vary from case to case.

A number of people and companies have struck a defiant tone. The Japanese conglomerate Hitachi, which had been identified in the news media as a victim, declined to confirm those reports on Friday but said that it had no intention of paying a ransom and that it aimed to be fully secure against future attacks by Monday.
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