"The internet is censored in the UAE for cultural reasons. We are required to defend our culture and to protect it,"

Mohamed Al-Ghanim; General Director of Telecommunication Regularity Authority

General Overview

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven different Emirates: Dubai , Abu Dhabi , Al-sharjah, Ras al-Khaimah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, and Fujairah .

The UAE is rapidly becoming a leading economic and technological power in the region. This is particularly true of Dubai which is trying to overcome a lack of petroleum resources by diversifying its economy. Dubai 's information technology sector is widely considered as the best in the Middle East . This role was cemented in 2000 when Dubai Internet City (1) was launched with the specific purpose of bringing internet and technology companies together in one place. Although the UAE government has promised to respect the Internet City employees' right to freedom of expression, the city cooperates with the government to establish some legal regulations "to guarantee freedom of expression within a responsible framework" (2).

Internet and Telecommunication Sector:

The UAE has a population 2.6 million. However, less than 20% of this number are UAE nationals, the rest of the population is comprised of 23% Arab and Iranians, 50% South Asians, and 8% of other foreign nationalities (3). The average annual income per capita exceeds 17,000 dollars. The UAE has 1,136,000 terrestrial phone lines and 2,972,000 mobile phone lines. There were some 1,373,000 internet users (4)in 2003, and of these there were already 19,000 ADSL subscribers (5). Some 76% of all internet users are male and the average age is 27 years old (6).

The rise in the number of Internet users in the UAE has led to the emergence of a very active community of bloggers. They mostly write in English and the blogs contain debates and opinions on numerous subjects including censorship and Etisalat. Blogs are not immune to censorship and the authorities have already banned access to at least one (7).

The Etisalat Company has a monopoly over telecommunications services in the in the UAE held by its "UAE for Internet and Multimedia" unit, founded on 7 March 2000 (8). Etisalat is among largest 140 companies in the world as measured by market capitalization according to the Financial Times and the sixth largest company in the Middle East in relation to its revenues and capital (9).

Communication and Internet Law

Etisalat was granted a monopoly over telecommunication services in UAE by Telecommunications law no.1/1991. It was a Federation Law and thus applieed in all of the seven emirates. The law prevents any person or body from installing or operating any telecommunication device without Etisalat's prior permission. Moreover, the law stipulates that the government must own at least 60% of company shares (10).

When the state announced its intention to eventually adopt plans to free up the telecommunication sector and allow new companies to work in it the news was welcomed by Etisalat. The Executive Director of Etisalat Company said that “the company welcomes this resolution and has the ability to enter fierce competition with the prospected competitors". However, he went on to call for the establishment of regulations and limitations on other prospected competitors (11).

The State supervises the telecommunications sector through its Supreme Committee to Oversee the Telecommunications Sector which is chaired by Sultan Bin Aziz Al Mansouri. The committee is a public policy committee. However, the executive and technical duties are handled by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority which was founded in 2003 upon Resolution no.3/2003 (12).

Mohamed Al-Ghanim the General Director of Telecommunication Regularity Authority which is supposed to be the arbitrator between consumer and service provider, has stated that The Ministry of Economy is working on drafting a competition law in order to regulate the market and the economic sectors. However, this does not mean to free telecommunications sector. The new law will only provide methods for regulating the work of the service provider dominating the market (13).

On 12 February 2006 the state granted a license to Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Corporation (EITC). Thus EITC was granted the right to establish, operate and run a public telecommunications network and to provide various services, including Internet services. The Supreme Committee for Telecommunications considers this step one among others which should result in a completely free telecommunications market by 2015 (14). Currently, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority is considering granting licenses for other Internet service providers but only through leasing lines from the two currently licensed companies (15).

In its efforts to decrease the legislative gap in the field of telecommunications, the UAE issued The Online Signature and Trade Act, in 2002. Most Arab countries lack such laws. The act prohibits Internet service providers from disclosing any information they have access to though providing the service. The act does deal with other important aspects such as online crimes or online data protection (16) which were dealt with in others acts.

In January 2006, the UAE issued a law against software and information crimes the Information and Privacy Law. It is the very first law issued by an Arab State in this area. The articles of the law cover a wide range of crimes including, money laundering, human trafficking, or other crimes that are being facilitated through the Internet. The law also contains some controversial articles, such as:

Article no. 20 which stipulates that ‘If any person or group of persons construct a website, post online information, or make use of information technology tools to advocate, facilitate, or promote programs or ideas that would result into public disorder and disrupt morals, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five years' (17).

Article no.16 states that ‘the penalty of violating social principles and family values... is imprisonment for not less than one year and/or paying a fine of not less than fifty thousand Durhams' (18).

Article no.15 stipulates imprisonment and/or fines and penalties for those who defame religious sacred rituals, if these religions are protected by Islamic legislations…. The term of the penalty is not exceeding seven years if the crime is committed against Islam… or evangelism… or if it is related to promoting or advocating any idea or a doctrine including the above (19).

One of the central problems with these articles are the vague terms used such as ‘disrupt morals', ‘social principles', ‘family values', and ‘crimes against Islam'. These terms are open to a wide range of interpretation and therefore abuse by Prosecutors acting on behalf of the government to prevent dissenting view being aired to the public, enforce censorship and deny internet users their right to freedom of expression.

Directly after the law was issued, the Institute for Training and Judicial Studies held a discussion debate. The debates conclusions revealed that the act contains many loopholes that it needs more explanation and that competent courts should be assigned for its implementation. The judge; Mohammed Obeid al-Kaaby asserted that some articles may cause the prosecutor to be puzzled because of the contradictory penalties that might exist in the same article. For example, the law disregarded the criminalization of gambling while criminalized prostitution and temptation. The law also failed to clarify the penalty of constructing terrorist websites or spreading terrorist information online using vague pretexts. (20).

In addition to the new internet laws the UAE also has the Press Act of 1980 which has been very influential in shaping the governments view of the internet. The law prohibits criticism of "the Head of state or UAE leaders", defamation of "Islam or the regime", or that which "threaten the national supreme interests" or "satirizes leaders of the Arab world or Islamic countries". Those who violate this act can be sentenced to imprisonment or fined. (21).

Censorship and Website Blocking

As the UAE seeks to attract global investments in information and telecommunications technology it encourages its citizens to use the Internet. However, their freedom to so is restricted as the state blocks thousands of websites, which the authorities consider "undesirable" from the religious, cultural, and political perspectives. Despite this the government has claimed that the only sites that it insists are blocked are ones with pornographic content. Etisalat has backed up this claim by stating that it only blocks sites with such content.

It seems that online censorship has been extended to the internet because of the general climate which governs the traditional media in the UAE. The state imposed clear restrictions on the press and traditional media. Reporters without Borders have ranked the UAE 101 out of 167 countries with regard to freedom of the press (22).

In the UAE the censorship and blocking of websites seems to be arbitrary. This is because of the number of factors that can motivate a decision about whether to block a site or not. These range from political and cultural considerations which originate in the government to economic considerations by Etisalat. The issue is further complicated by technological issues and the fact that there are dual standards in place with regards Dubai Internet City and the rest of the countries internet users. Therefore when any individual case of censorship or blocking is considered it is not always clear exactly why it has happened.

Given the full extent of the widespread online prohibition practiced by Etisalat cannot be identified . However, in order to give a general idea to the level of censorship and blocking it has been discovered that 1347 UAE based websites from a selected 8713 are blocked inside UAE (a total of 15.4%) this has been referred to as "intensive blocking" (23). No pornographic, evangelist, gambling, or drugs trafficking websites. It was also able to block all Israeli websites (tagged with .il in the URL) and to totally block all political websites or news sources (24).

Etisalat operates its blocking system via its proxy servers, thus it can control the content that reaches the users. However, the company does not operate the same level of control over the users who access the internet from within the "free zones", such as Dubai Internet City , and they do not have the content they can view blocked or censored. (25). Despite the government claim that it would respect the freedom of expression of users inside the Internet City there are signs that this situation may not continue. In January 2006, General Director of Telecommunication Regularity Authority; Mohammed Ghanem warned that internet connections within the "free zones" must comply with censorship standards in the UAE (26). This warning came after authorities prevented access to the site of the British newspaper the Sun, which could be accessed from within the "free zone". He said that ‘The internet in the UAE is censored for cultural reasons. We are required to defend our culture and to protect it. Therefore, everyone has to comply with the rules aimed at protecting our society. Even, UAE public sector companies working at "free zones" should not be excluded'.

In 1995, during the early days of internet access in the UAE, The internet was exclusively accessed through one Proxy Server. However, as the number of subscribers, increased Etisalat added more Proxy servers. However, it seems that these servers do not work in exactly the same way. Thus a website that may be blocked by one Proxy might not be blocked by another (27). The result of this is that it is difficult for the authorities even to ensure that a consistent censorship policy is enforced.

The restrictions imposed by Etisalat on the internet exceeded websites to online voice calls software, particularly Skype. The company fears that such online software will cause it to suffer sever financial losses as it also runs the phone network. The media has reported that Etisalat will negotiate with a British company to purchase software to block all voice calls via VoIP protocol as the current Proxy software cannot do this (28). However, until Etisalat can get the new blocking software, it is blocking the Skype website ( www.skype.com ) to prevent users from within the UAE from downloading the voice call program. When trying to access skype a "Network Error" message appears instead of the traditional blocking message (29). Indeed so keen is Etisalat to protect its revenue that it took two people to court for using Skype. They were charged with exchanging voice calls through VoIP protocol. This violates UAE law and consequently the two citizens were sentenced to three months of imprisonment in addition to fines (30).

Flicker website (31) has been blocked more than once, most recently in December 2005. The website allows the free upload and storage of photos. Thousands of bloggers use the website to upload the photos posted on their own blogs. This led to demonstrations and protests, particularly because the resons behind the blocking were not officially declared. However, it has been claimed that the reason the site was blocked was that "Sheikh Al Nahyan ben Mubarak ordered the website to be blocked after an unidentified person posted photos of female teachers working at a UAE school on it ".

In the same way, Hi5 website ( http://www.hi5.com ) (32) was also blocked. Hi5 provides services similar to that of Flicker. It was blocked. Again the reasons for this were not declared. MySpace website ( http://www.myspace.com ) was blocked on March 2006 (33). It is a blogging service provider.

Like other Arab states, UAE authorities blocked ( http://www.boingboing.net ) (34) blog. It is a foreign blog dedicated to discussing many critical issues, including technical tips to skip the censorship imposed on web pages.

In addition to blocking global websites, the UAE authorities have also blocked the Arabic language, European-based, Al-Hewar Al-Motamaden website ( http://www.rezgar.com ). The website describes itself as "the first leftist secular daily independent online newspaper in the Arab world". The website has almost 26,000 visitors per day. A UAE state official claimed that site was blocked because of one of its writers on it was believe defamed the late UAE presiden. Thus the blocking apparently had nothing to do with the sites content (35).

The administrators of Sablat Al-Arab forum ( http://www.omania.net ) complained that their website is blocked within UAE. The website is an Omani web forum aiming at exchanging views on a number of issues. The website is subject to strict censorship by its administrators. However, it was blocked within UAE once again without the authorities giving a reason. (36).

"Emirates Video" website suffered the same problem. It is a web forum constructed by a young UAE citzen. The purpose of the website was to post extracts of video clips which are officially allowed in UAE. However, the authorities blocked the website. Even when its URL was changed, the new website was blocked despite the website administrator asserted that there are dozens of similar unblocked websites in UAE (37).

In its report on the freedom to use the internet in the Middle East and North Africa ; Human Rights Watch reported that for the first time Etisalat blocked a UAE blog on July 2005 (38). Etisalat claimed that the blog contains pornographic photos, despite the fact that the blog does support the photo upload service. "I believe that blog is blocked because of posting a poem criticizing the Dubai police which calls upon tourists not to violate society conventions" the unidentified administrator of the blog told Human Rights Watch (39).

Despite blocking and censoring websites, Etisalat posted a study in 2002 which indicated that 60% of the 14,000 subscribers who responded welcomed the idea of blocking if its main purpose is to protect users from abusive materials. The blocking system is an acceptable censorship method (40). In response to a questionnaire sent out by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) the participants pointed out that they face many blocked websites while using the Internet from within the UAE. A participant said that these blocked websites included immoral, evangelist, and political materials (41). Another citizen mentioned that the blocked websites include religious, news, and political websites. Some of them websites were foreign (42). However what is most significant and worrying is that those who replied to the questionnaire did not express any intimidation because of the existence of such censorship.

Extreme online censorship has accompanied the changes in the way authorities treat activists and reformists and the increase in arbitrary detentions which was not the case before 11 September. Particularly, because the UAE Federal Constitution prohibits arrest, detention, or searching without a legal permission or an obvious necessity. It also prohibits torture and cruel treatment (43).

Recently, since 9/11, everything has changed. UAE witnessed a number of arbitrary detentions, the most recent of which is the detention of the human rights activist Dr. Mohamed Al-Rokn on 23 August 2006 without giving any clear reasons. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) condemned this detention which reveals that oppression had reached a peaceful state. "It is unfortunate that the Emirates have acquired a negative experiences from Arab governments with regards to violations of the law in stead of acquiring respectable experiences that can be followed," HRinfo Executive Director, Gamal Eid said (44).

Internet Cafés

Internet Cafés are not of great importance for UAE citizen because of the widespread ownership of PCs and easy access to the internet. Visitors of public cyber cafés are mostly foreigners from Asia residing in the UAE. It hqs been estimated that there were some 200 cyber cafés in 2002 r (45),now the UAE has some 600 cyber cafés (46).

In order to operate a cyber café the owner must have the approval of the Ministry of Information and a valid commercial license. The technical equipment needed to operate a café must be purchased from Etisalat which leases internet lines for public cyber cafés. The owner must also send a letter to the Etisalat Company showing the identity and qualifications of cyber cafés manager (47).

When internet cafés first started opening, there were no sharp restrictions on cyber cafés visitors. However, this has recently changed as Etisalat has announced that all internet cafes within the UAE must register the names of visitors and the period of time they use the service (48).

Etisalat manager; Abdullah Hashem claimed that this done inorder to minimize online crime which are usually committed from internet cafés. He asserted that the policy aimed to protect the country whilst not preventing people from enjoying access to the internet (49).

Those who responded to HRinfo's questionaire do not access the internet through public cyber cafés. However, they do not believe that there is any harassment against the visitors of such cafés (50).

Although there is a standardized procedure governing the working of cyber cafés in the United Arab Emirates , the implementation differs at each emirate. An official at Municipality and Planning Department in Ajman stated that in the Emirate there were some 45 cyber cafes. Many of these have been closed for failure to abide by the conditions of work which were established two years ago, These included a requirement to have a glass transparent storefront. Cafés owners also had to allocate a special section for children which should be separate from the adult area. The police in Ajman visit cyber cafes regularly. Such visits resulted in the arrest of 22 students who were visiting cyber cafes during the school day (21).

In all cases, UAE citizens are suspicious of cyber cafés. Some academic professors have warned citizens against them. "The negative results of visiting internet cafés can be isolation, withdrawal, and addiction as well as weakening family relationships" asserted Prof. Ahmed Falah El-Aamoshy from Al-Sharja University . Another widely held point of view is that the routine activities practiced by young users in internet cafés exposes them to risks and crime (52).
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1-http://www.dubaiinternetcity.com
2-Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press, 2002, http://www.cpj.org/attacks02/arabic/uae_arab.html (visited on 19 May 2006 )
3-Fact Book, CIA publications, https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ae.html (visited on 22 September 2006 )
4-International Telecommunication Union, Arab Regional Office, UAE: Basic Data, http://www.ituarabic.org/arab_country_report.asp?arab_country_code=2 (visited on 18 June 2006 )
5-Silenced - United Arab Emirates , Privacy International, http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-103788 (visited on 28 April 2006 )
6-Silenced - United Arab Emirates , Privacy International, http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd[347]=x-347-103788 (visited on 28 April 2006 )
7-An example of a UAE completed website: UAE Community http://emiraticommunity.blogspot.com
8-Service Provider in UAE, http://rehareal.tripod.com/isp.htm (visited on 1 September 2006 )
9-About page, Etisalat Company website, http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=ar (visited on 1 September 2006 )
10-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005: A Country Study, OpenNet Initiative, http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/uae (visited on 28 May 2006 )
10-Mahmoud Khalil, Telecommunication Sector is not limited with borders and regional spread is our goal, Al-Magala magazine, 18 April 2005
12-Signing the second version of oerating telecommunication service in UAE, AMEinfo website http://www.ameinfo.com/ar-45422.html (visited on 12 April 2006 )
13-Al-Ghanem, Competetion Law does not mean to free telecommunication sector,Wapher blog, http://www.wapher.com/story/4268 (visited on 3 April 2006 )
14-Signing the second version of oerating telecommunication service in UAE, AMEinfo website – mentioned above
15-Mohamed Mosa, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority considers licensing internet service providers on leased lines, Gulf newspaper, http://www.alkhaleej.ae/articles/print_friendly.cfm?var=250622 (visited on 8 May 2006 )
16-Silenced - United Arab Emirates , Privacy International, above mentioned
17-Federation Law no. 2/2006 on Fighting Information Technology Crimes, Open Arab Initiative, http://www.openarab.net/laws/2006/laws8.shtml (visited on 3 September 2006 )
18-The abovementioned source
19-The abovementioned source
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21-Committee to Protect Journalists, Attacks on the Press, 2002,
22-Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005, Reporters without borders, http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554 (visited on 22 September 2006 )
23-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005, OpenNet Initiative-
24-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005, OpenNet Initiative
25-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005, OpenNet Initiative-
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27-Silenced - United Arab Emirates , Privacy International,
28-The threat of skype, secret dubai dairy, http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/2005/12/threat-of-skype.html (visited on 8 April 2006 )
29-Letter to TRA, Secret Dubai dairy, http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/2006/01/letter-to-tra.html (visited on 8 April 2006 )
30-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005, OpenNet Initiative- abovementioned
31-http://www.flickr.com
32-Another web site blocked, UAE community, http://uaecommunity.blogspot.com/2006/09/another-website-blocked.html (visited on 20 September 2006 )
33-MySpace banned in UAE, BoingBoing, http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/24/report_myspace_banne.html (visited on 9 April 2006 )
34-Boing Boing banned in UAE, Boing Boing, http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/27/boingboing_banned_in.html (visited on 9 April 2006 )
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36-Urgent call upon UAE state: Please unblock Sablat Al-Arab website within UAE, http://www.omania.net/avb/showthread.php?t=304016 (visited on 8 September 2006 )
37-UAE Video manager: This is my response to Hetta magazine, http://www.hetta.com/current/ghobar37.htm (visited on 13 September 2006 )
38-http://secretdubai.blogspot.com
39-False Freedom: Online Censorship in the Middle East and North Africa , Human Rights Watch, P.5.
40-Internet Filtering in the United Arab Emirates in 2004-2005, OpenNet Initiative- abovementioned
41-Medhat, 54 years-old, UAE resident, email to HRinfo in response to research questions
42-Unknown UAE citizen, 25 years-old, , email to HRinfo in response to research questions
43-Permanent detention of three Reformists in UAE, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, http://www.hrinfo.net/mena/achr/2005/pr0817-1.shtml (visited on 16 April 2006 )
44-Oppression had reached a peaceful state, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information http://www.hrinfo.net/mena/achr/2005/pr0817-1.shtml ( 16 April 2006 )
45-Silenced - United Arab Emirates , Privacy International, above mentioned
46-Daniel Bardsley, Internet cafes to keep records of customers, Gulf News, http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/03/03/10022816.html (visited on 12 September 2006 )
47-Revenues – Cyber Cafés service, Etisalat Company, http://www.etisalat.ae/index.jsp?lang=a (visited on 18 September 2006 )
48-Daniel Bardsley, Internet cafes to keep records of customers, Gulf News- http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/03/03/10022816.html (visited on 12 September 2006 )
49-Daniel Bardsley, Internet cafes to keep records of customers, Gulf News- http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/03/03/10022816.html (visited on 12 September 2006 .
50-Emails sent to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information in response to research questions
51-Osama Ahmed, 22 students arrested at Cyber cafés for not attending the school in Ajman , Al-Bayan newspaper http://www.albayan.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=Article&cid=1145535046522&page... (visited on 18 July 2006 )
52-60% of youth visit Cyber Cafés to waste time, AMEinfo website, http://www.ameinfo.com/ar-35125.html (visited on 18 July 2006 )