Bad Laws Are Contagious: Demystifying the UAE’s New Information Tech Law
With the abolishment of Net Neutrality within The United States, other nations are making similar changes to how their citizens participate with the greater global community online. Recently the United Arab Emirates (UAE) altered a preexisting law that prohibited the use of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to all of it’s citizens other than use by a business enterprise (monitored to prevent misuse). This will no longer allow Universities, Private citizens and public institutions such as airports to access the internet through a VPN, thus circumventing government monitoring entities.
Use of a VPN serves many purposes such as protecting users from malicious cyber attacks and to access data beyond the governments control. Thereby forcing a legal bottleneck barrier of all the information that can flow to and from the nation. This specific law is rather vague and has many citizens and officials questioning it’s meaning and applicability. To quote the official law
“uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third party address by any other means for the purpose of committing a crime or preventing its discovery.” (Federal Law No. 12/2016, Article 1, United Arab Emirates.)
While the governmental intention has claimed to be in the best interests of its people’s security and economic stability, it is hard not to interpret this as a precursor to a slippery slope of control for the future. Such Apps as the WhatsApp and Snapchat which use encryption between users which make it difficult to track information being shared. Stripping away this layer of protection from users in order to better control the population seems like a short sighted “solution” established in the name of granting more power to a government entity which it’s people must trust not to abuse. It is difficult to transition from a system free of censorship and lack of regulation to a controlled framework without feeling a loss of certain liberty.Only time will tell if further clarity will be required to enforce laws of this type or if their severity will increase or go unchallenged by the populace.
“UAE: ‘Bad Laws are Contagious: Demystifying the UAE’s New Information Tech Law’ · Global Voices.” Global Voices, 03 August. 2018,https://globalvoices.org/2016/08/03/bad-laws-are-contagious-demystifying-the-uaes-new-information-tech-law/