The Federal Public Prosecution of the United Arab Emirates has reminded residents, visitors, and locals of the country’s stringent privacy regulations. The United Arab Emirates has created a robust cybersecurity infrastructure and has a very aggressive and comprehensive cybersecurity policy. The Federal Degree Law No. 5 of 2012, as amended, which governs cybercrimes in the UAE, is referred to as the “UAE Cybercrime Law.”
According to Article 21 of the UAE’s cybercrime legislation, privacy can be violated through the following actions: intercepting, recording, listening in on conversations or communications, or disclosing audio or visual materials. Each of which is punishable under the aforementioned law.
For instance, anyone exposes a person and violates their privacy through a computer network or any other technology is subject to a minimum six-month jail sentence, a fine of at least Dh150,000 but not more than Dh500,000, or both of the two penalties. Similar to this, anyone who uses information systems and technology to modify or manipulate a record, photo, or scene in order to attack, defame, or humiliate another person is subject to a one-year prison sentence as well as a fine of Dh250,000 to Dh500,000.
To Avoid a Cybercrime
The following point should be practiced in order to avoid potential privacy violations:
- Photographs:Unlike in many other jurisdictions, you can get into trouble for taking photographs of others in the UAE without their consent. Such instances are considered as a privacy violation and a complaint can be filed against you under the cyber laws in the UAE for breach of privacy.
- Privacy violation: Sharing personal information of any person online without their consent will be a breach of the UAE privacy laws.
The UAE enforces compliance with privacy legislation through tools including internet data and privacy infractions monitoring. The federal UAE telecoms regulatory body in charge of these initiatives is the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TRA). This organization forbids the use of hacking techniques and malicious code in online material. Illegal content is frequently deleted or restricted, and new steps are taken against offenders.
It is generally accepted that taking images of people without their permission and making, sending, disclosing, duplicating, or preserving their photos without their express permission are both punishable by law in the United Arab Emirates. Since the laws governing privacy violations are so distinctive and exclusive to this jurisdiction, expats in the area frequently fail to observe them. But since the aforementioned regulations are vigorously enforced in the UAE and ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense, this conduct should be avoided.
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