Information Policy & Law in the UAE is mixed subject area. In one area the government exerts control over the Internet through censorship and monitors citizen with biometric ID cards. On the other side the country has agreed to many World Intellectual Property Rights Organization treaties establishing a fairly trustworthy system for respecting intellectual property rights. One potential problem however is that the countries legal system is very tightly tied to the wealthily families within the UAE and this according to some outside observers may affect its ability to justly determine issues relating to property rights disputes.
According to the World Intellectual Property Rights Organization a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1967 to create a balanced and accessible international intellectual property (IP) system, the UAE is a member of the following IP treaties.
Contracting Party |
Treaty |
Status |
Entry into Force |
Details |
United Arab Emirates |
Berne Convention |
In Force |
July 14, 2004 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
Paris Convention |
In Force |
September 19, 1996 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
PCT |
In Force |
March 10, 1999 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
Rome Convention |
In Force |
January 14, 2005 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
WCT |
In Force |
July 14, 2004 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
WIPO Convention |
In Force |
September 24, 1974 |
|
United Arab Emirates |
WPPT |
In Force |
June 9, 2005 |
(25)
The Heritage foundation annually releases Index of Economic Freedom report assessing among other areas the real property rights in countries around the globe. In 2007 the UAE's real property rights were assess at 40% below the global average. The primary justification for the low score is that the ruling families exercise considerable influence on the judiciary system. Incompetence and corruption in the system are rarely challenged. Also all land in Abu Dhabi, the largest of the UAE's seven emirates, is owned by the government. (26)
According to the Business Software Alliance’s Third Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study issued in May 2006, in the UAE Software Piracy has remained at 34% since 2003. This is a market decrease from 44% in 2001. This give UAE The 17 th lowest piracy rate on the globe and the second lowest in the middle east behind Israel who had a 2005 piracy rate of 32%. The UAE and Israel are the only 20 Middle Eastern countries in the top 20 with the lowest rates of piracy.
The chart below shows data extracted from the same report estimating the loss in millions as a result of software piracy.
Country / Region |
2005 $M |
2004 $M |
2003 $M |
UAE |
45 |
34 |
29 |
Israel |
84 |
66 |
69 |
Middle East |
1,615 |
1,248 |
1,026 |
North America |
7,686 |
7,549 |
7,243 |
(27)
The chart shows that even through Israel has a lower percentage of piracy than the UAE, because of the size of the IT software sector in the country, the cost of piracy is much higher.
Privacy International Offering the following overview of IT Monitoring in the UAE in 2003. I was unable to find any more recent information on this subject:
Officially, EIM censors only pornography. In its earliest days in 1995, Etisalat operated a single proxy server (proxy1.emirates.net.ae). As the number of subscribers has expanded, EIM has added more such servers. Now, users’ Web browsers may be configured to use proxy1 or to turn on auto-configure, which may use any of the proxies. Users note that these servers do not all work exactly the same, so that which sites are censored may depend on which proxy server you are using. In general, the claim that EIM censors only pornography is thought to be fairly accurate. However, some underground sites (for example, some of those offering hacking information) nonetheless do get trapped in the censorship system, usually because they are displaying pornographic ads. Newsgroups are also censored; for example, EIM’s Usenet feed (news.emirates.net.ae) does not carry any of the alt.binaries.* newsgroups. Little change has been noted in censorship policy since 9/11.
Dubai enacted an Electronic Transactions and Commerce Law in 2002 which deals with digital signatures and electronic registers. It prohibits ISPs from disclosing information gathered in providing services. The penal code also contains some provisions. It does not address cyber crime or data protection. A cyber-crime act is currently being developed.
Surveillance has not perceptibly increased since 9/11, but has in any case long been at a fairly high level. It is commonly believed in UAE that phone calls are monitored, and most people believe that email and Web use are monitored as well. UAE is planning to begin rolling out biometric ID cards by the end of 2003, and Oman has already begun. There is no forum for opposing this, and because UAE’s rulers are not accountable, many other laws are in effect that contravene human rights conventions. For example, non-UAE nationals must renew their residence visas every three to four years, and as part of the renewal process must undergo a blood test. If they are found to be HIV-positive, they are immediately deported.
In August 2001, the UAE also began implementing a biometric system to ensure that unwanted persons do not re-enter the country. It maintains a central database, held by the police, of iris prints; these are taken from anyone who is deported, as well as inmates of prisons and deportation centers. Iris prints from incoming passengers at any of the UAE’s six airports or ten sea and land crossings are compared with the database, and entry is refused if there is a match. Biometric Technology Today reported in April 2003 that in the first six months of full operation (beginning in October 2002) over 100,000 travelers had been checked and dozens had been caught and denied entry. (28)
Throughout the UAE development of it's internet infrastructure there has been coordination with ICANN. ICANN's counter part in the UAE is the United Arab Emirates Network Information Center (UAEnic). UAEnic is the authority which manages the Domain Name Registration under.ae Top Level Domain. It also as Local Internet Registry (LIR) where it assigns IP Address to the Local Internet Community in the UAE.
UAEnic provides the following Domain Name categories under Top Level Domain (.ae):
| Category | Description |
| .ae | corporations, companies |
| net.ae | network providers |
| gov.ae | government and ministries |
| ac.ae | academic institutions |
| sch.ae | public and private schools |
| org.ae | non profit organizations |
| mil.ae | military entities |
| pro.ae | professional |
| name.ae | individual |
(29)
As recently as November of 2006 the UAEnic and ICANN members met to discuss issues related it Domain Name Registration and Internet addressing. Abdulla Hashim, Manager of UAEnic had this to say about the meeting.
"This meeting with ICANN is significant and has helped to raise awareness on both sides about the developments in the Middle East and in the UAE in particular. I am very happy that the ICANN staff was impressed by the infrastructure setup of UAEnic including the expertise of the team responsible for the day to day operations. This is testimony to the constant efforts made by UAEnic to enhance its infrastructure and processes in order to be in line with the latest international technology standards and best practices to serve the local and international Internet communities." (30)
