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Internet Law Aslam, H. et al

Internet LawIntricacies and Legislations

Authoring cast: Hamza Aslam, Nabeel Rehman, Taher Saraf, Zeeshan,Abbas

Subject: LAW101

Assignment type: Report

Submitted to: Dr. Jawahitha Sarabdeen

Dated: March 15, 2009


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CONTENTS

1.0 ABSTRACT

2.0 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

2.1 Overview

2.2 Copyright

2.3 Trademark

2.4 Patent

3.0 CYBER CRIME

3.1 Overview

3.2 Who are the cyber criminals?

3.3 Varieties of cyber crime

3.4 Case in focus R v Boden

3.5 UAE cyber crime articles

4.0 E-COMMERCE

4.1 Overview

4.2 E-Commerce in Australia

4.3 E-Commerce in the UAE

4.4 Relevant legal issues

4.5 Case in focus - Architects Australia Pty Ltd v Witty Consultants Pty Ltd

4.6 Case in focus - Worldplay Services Pty Ltd v ACCC

5.0 PRIVACY

5.1 Australian Privacy laws

5.2 Case in focus Clayton s breach of privacy, and violation

5.3 UAE Privacy laws

5.4 Violation of UAE (Privacy) laws, followed by conlcusion


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Abstract

The sole purpose behind the publication of this report is to offer its readersmeaningful insights into the world of legal issues and legislations surrounding fairusage of the internet, with particular focus on two countries; Australia and theUAE. The authors styles of writing would suggest that they assume absolutely noprevious exposure to the subject, thus making this document an excellent startingpoint for anyone who might be interested in furthering his/her knowledge withregards to the functioning of legalities relevant to the internet. Why there needsto be a rigid yet flexible legal framework in place to enable ethical utilization of this global network becomes obvious to one when he/she tries to gauge the rateat which its users are growing; phenomenal, alarming, unparalleled, etc. are justfew words which come close to defining the scenario.

However, before anything can be learnt about laws governing the internet, it isabsolutely imperative to have, at the very least, a fundamental understanding of the very term in question here the Internet. In layman s terms the internet maybe defined as a super-huge network of networks . To delve just a bit deeper, theoperation of this network is made possible simply because the key technologies atplay here are common throughout the globe. Further, the internet has also beendefined as a stupid network , and rightly so, because it cannot identify for itself as to who is using it and how; it simply provides the framework upon whichvarious applications are run and accessed by multiple users at the same time. TheWorld Wide Web is just one such application.

It is primarily because of this seemingly unlimited scope of the internet scapabilities that it becomes vulnerable to misuse, and if the situation wasn talready bad enough, the offenders here are not as easily persecuted as thoseindulging in more traditional illegalities. For instance, the wide-spread use of applications such as peer-to-peer (P2P) networking is very seriously resulting incopyright infringement while also threatening protection of intellectual property

rights, and tracing the initiator of the crime is next to impossible.In the remainder of this report, laws pertaining to the internet are discussedunder the following modules; Intellectual Property, Cyber Crime, E-Commerce,and Privacy. These topics were carefully chosen to effectively accommodate themost prominent legal issues that arise in relation to the internet. It should beborne in mind though that all content here is extremely concise!


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Intellectual prop e rty

IP (or intellectual property, as it is more commonly referred to) encompasseswithin itself all intangible property that is the result of human minds creativity.Laws pertaining to the same are established to grant owners exclusive rights to allsuch property that they might own, in order to promote and encourageinnovation and progress by offering them, in effect, monetary incentives for thepropagation, improvement and sharing of their ideas/creations (Lemley, 2005). Allintellectual property can usually be classified into three broad categories:Copyright, Trademark, and Patent. The World Intellectual Property Organisation

(WIPO) defines patents and trademarks as under Industrial Property whileconsidering all literary and artistic works such as novels, films, paintings, etc. as asubset of Copyright. Critics of IP protection fear that it might someday evolve toprovide the relevant owners an infinite duration and scope, which according tothem, is certainly not in the interests of society (Helprin, 2007). The fact thatliving organisms have been patented and colors have been trademarked certainlydoes seem to add weight to their argument.

Regardless, detailed but concise explanations of the mentioned varieties of IPfollow below.

Cop yrigh t :

It is the law that protects the intellectual property of people such as the work of authors, writers, musicians, and others from being illegally used without thepermission of the real owner. It is a set of rules and regulations which control theuse of the literary information. In short, it is the legal right given to authors,writers, artists, musicians, publishers and others for the production, selling andsharing of their intellectual property that belongs to them. You are howeverallowed to use a limited amount of material which belongs to someone else foryour educational use such as in your reports, essays, surveys etc. The laws thatgovern the use of limited amount of copyrighted material are known as fa ir-use .Australian law recognizes that everyone have the right to protect their intellectual


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property. It is included in the Cop yrigh t act 1986 of the Australian Law. The lawgives the copyright owners the rights to make amendment and changes to theirintellectual property. The Cop yrigh t Act 1986 of Australian law also secures theartistic work of people being used by other without the agreement between the

owner and the person using the material. In a nutshell, everything original thatyou write, draw, paint or anything creative that you do is a copyrighted materialwhich is your property and is protected by you. Under the UAE fede ral law no. 15o f 1980, a rt icle 46 states that newspapers are not allowed to copy any materialunless there is consent of the author (Scribd, n.d ref 2 - refes). E.g. writings,novels, stories or any other literary work etc. Any kind of work as such that you dois your property and you have the right to protect it.

Example: If you send an e-mail to someone, you wrote the e-mail that s why youown the copyright. The receiver who received your e-mail is not allowed totransfer it to others without your permission.

Tradema rk:

It is the distinguishing symbol or sign for the uniqueness of a person, group,community, business organization or any other lawful body. It is a symbol orindicator that separates it from other products and from other entities. Thetrademark, which is in fact a kind of intellectual property normally, includes aname, expression, slogan, symbol, sign, design, drawing, graph, image or thecombination of any of these essentials. The main function of trademark is toidentify the exclusive commercial origin of a product or an item (Wikipedia, 2007).Trademark is something that distinguishes some any item from the other items orproducts of its type.

E.g. The trademark Ad idas along with the three parallel stripped lines identifiesthe shoes and products made by other companies such as Nike or Reeb ok as

distinct from Adidas own products.

Similarly, the trademark Pe psi distinguishes the brown coloured soda water of one manufacturing company from the brown coloured soda water of any othermanufacturing company such as Thum ps-Up or Coca -Cola .


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Another simple example is the trademark of G oog le which separates it from theother search engines like Yahoo or MSN .

The trademark laws are governed by both by state and public laws. In Australia, IPAust ral ia which is an Australian government agency within the De pa rtment o f Indust ry, To u rism and Res ou rces administer the trade mark laws. The Australiantrademark laws are based on the Trade M a rk s Act 1995 (C th) (Wikipedia, n.d) .The duty of this agency is to not only to define trademark but also to give theprocedure for the registration and processing of trademarks. According to sect ion 17 o f the t rade ma rk act a trademark is defined as a sign used or planned to beused for distinguishing goods or services . The procedure for the registration of trademark is very simple and is almost same as the procedure in many othercountries. An application should be filled and checked by an examiner of trademarks with the paperwork and requirements. If the application is acceptedyour trademark is registered. Registered trademark can continue for a period of ten years (Wikipedia, n.d). A person or a legal entity can be sued for the copyingor theft of a trademark that had been already registered by someone else. In UAE,the law that governs the trademark related procedures is Fede ral Law No. 37 o f 1992 conce rn ing Tr adema rk s . The issues related to trademark are resolved underthis law.

Patent :

Patent is a term which usually refers to the rights granted to any person whoexplores, invents and discovers something that is really useful and beneficial forthe human society such as any theory, any experiment, and any method, anyprocess, any machine or any other invention. A patent is a legal document that isissued by the federal government to an individual or a business entity that inventsor explores something. The government grants the inventor the limited rights for

the manufacture, sale and profit from the invention for a specific period of time.In fact, a patent protects new inventions and it covers each and everythingrelated to the new invention such as how they work, what they work, what theyare made of and how are they made etc.(IPO, n.d.). A patent protects from theproduction, copying and selling of the invention without the permission of theowner.


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E.g. On the 7 th of May 1982, Arthur Bishop and associate received an Australianpatent for the car steering gear design (patent 552975). Having received theirpatent they don t produce any products themselves but instead license specialistcompanies around the World to use their designs (IPA Australia, n.d ref 1

intellect prop).


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Cybe r crimes

Cyber crime All crimes performed, or resorted to, by the abuse of electronicmedia or otherwise, with the purpose of influencing the functioning of thecomputer or computer system. In short we can say that a cyber crime is any crimewhere the computer is - a target, a tool of crime, or incidental to crime. Whatmakes cyber-crime much interesting and distinct from more traditional crimes isits trans-national nature; i.e, its ability to concurrently operate from, and existin, several countries. This inevitably raises difficulties in the application of jurisdiction on the criminals in question, since there might be infinite disparities inthe legal systems of the countries involved. Questions like which nation s courtswill hear the case will be difficult to answer. It should be noted though that thisby no means the only complication posed to international bodies of law by cyber-crime. As Suzanne Mello of the Southern Massachusetts E-Commerce Networkputs it, the ratio of cyber criminals to cyber cops is heavily tilted in favor of thebad guys. Further, cyber-crime can not only impact several states at the sametime, but it can also very well span multiple areas of jurisdiction, which might also

result in the need to retrofit newer crimes into the scope of existing legislations,in effect only complicating the judges job (2004). It thus becomes obvious to usthat cyber-crime poses some very real and serious challenges to the internationalcommunity of law and justice enforcement, and the situation is only poised togrow worse if technology maintains the rapid pace of advancement that it has forthe last two decades or so.

In Australia, penalties for those indulging in cyber crime are defined by theC ommonwealth Cybercrime Act 2001, whereas in the UAE, a federal law institutedin 2006 by the President governs the same matter.


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There are various types of people involved in such crimes, to mention a few-

1) Angry employees2) Teenagers3) Political hacktivists4) Professional hackers5) Business rivals

They mainly target gullible, greedy, unskilled and inexperienced people.

According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, all cyber-crime can bebroadly encompassed in the following nine categories:

1. THEFT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICE2. COMMUNICATIONS IN FURTHERANCE OF CRIMINAL CONSPIRACIES3. TELECOMMUNICATIONS PIRACY4. DISSEMINATION OF OFFENSIVE MATERIALS5. ELECTRONIC MONEY LAUNDERING AND TAX EVASION6. ELECTRONIC VANDALISM, TERRORISM AND EXTORTION7. SALES AND INVESTMENT FRAUD

8. ILLEGAL INTERCEPTION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS9. ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER FRAUD

As we can see, this list is not exhaustive in any sense of the word, as a lot of othercriminal activity utilizing or targeting the internet is often not explicitly referred toas cyber-crime, such as the propagation of spam, sale of drugs on online chatrooms, etc. Then there s the upcoming field of cyber-terrorism , which, in 1997,was defined by FBI special agent M. Pollitt as

Cyber terrorism is the premeditated, politicall y motivated attack against information, computer s y stems, computer programs, and data which result inviolence against noncom batant targets by su b national groups or clandestineagents


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For the moment though, we shall focus solely on the more prominent forms of cyber-crime. With all due relevance then, let us now review one of the mostfamous cases of hacking to have occurred in Australia, to try to estimate theextent of the damage that cyber-crime can potentially cause. This case was heard

in the Supreme Court of Queensland.

Cited as R v Boden [2002] QCA 164 in the supreme court of Queensland.The parties involved in this case were R and Boden, (Applicant/ Appellant).

The appellant, an engineer, had been employed by Hunter Watertech as itssite supervisor on the project for about two years until resigning with effect from3 December 1999. At about the time of his resignation he approached the Councilseeking employment. He was told to enquire again at a later date. He made

another approach to the Council for employment in January 2000 and was toldthat he would not be employed. The sewerage system then experienced a spateof faults. Pumps were not running when they should have been, alarms were notreporting to the central computer and there was a loss of communicationbetween the central computer and various pumping stations. An employee of Hunter Watertech, Mr Yager, was appointed to look into the problem. He beganmonitoring and recording all signals, messages and also traffic on the radionetwork. As a result of his investigations he concluded that many of the problemsbeing experienced with the system resulted from human intervention rather than

equipment failure. His opinion was shared by other technical experts who gaveevidence. Further, the evidence revealed that the problems associated with thealleged hacking ceased when the appellant was arrested. The materials regardingthe case or say, evidences, were heard over a period of nine days trial; on thecommencement of the second trial the appellant withdrew his representative andhe represented himself. In the case Crown thirteen of the witnesses were calledand the appellant from his side did not call any of the witnesses. The appellanthad accessed the computer which had a control over the Marchooy Shire Councilssewage system. Malfunctioning of most of the sewage pumps was because of the

alteration of electronic data in respect of particular sewerage pumping stations.The learned sentencing judge found that due to the alteration of electronic data,it polluted over 500 meters of open drain in a residential area and flowed into atidal canal causing intensive environmental pollution.

The sentence given by the honorable judges for this case by the Districtcourt were:-


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1 26 counts of using a restricted computer without the consent of itscontroller thereby intending to cause detriment or damage;

2 count of using a restricted computer without the consent of itscontroller intending to cause detriment or damage and causingdetriment greater than $5,000;

3 1 count of willfully and unlawfully causing serious environmental

harm; and

4 1 count of stealing a two-way radio and 1 count of stealing a PDS

compact 500 computer.

The appellant was sentenced to imprisonment on 31 st of October 2001 forthe mentioned charges provided below:-

1 18 months on each of the 26 counts;

2 2 years imprisonment on the count involving damage greater than

$5,000;

3 12 months imprisonment on the environmental harm count;

4 6 months imprisonment on each of the counts of stealing.

All referred sentences were ordered to be served concurrently.

The significant sentences and sources of decision given and used by the SupremeCourt of Queensland were:-

1 According to Section 408 D(2) of the criminal code, the maximumpenalty for each of the 26 hacking counts is five years imprisonment.

2 According to Section 408 D(3) of the criminal code, the maximumpenalty is ten years imprisonment for the hacking count of causingdetriment greater than five thousand dollars.


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3 According to the study of the environmental pollution caused, theappellant was ordered to pay $13 110.77 to the Council by way of compensation for the loss and damage cause to it by the spill.

4 As there was no evidence presented to the jury, the jury had to

readily return a guilty verdict according to c.f . RPS v The Queen(2000) 199 CLR 620 at 633.By over-viewing this case in terms of UAE cyber crime laws, the sentence to thecrime and environmental pollution caused would be according to the lawsenforced in 2006 by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Sultan Al Nahyan which are asfollows:

1. Article No.2 considers any intentional act resulting in abolishing, destroyingor revealing secrets or republishing personal or official information, as acrime. It says anyone convicted of logging onto information website orsystem shall be punished with jail term, or fine, or both. If the act resultedin abolishing, destroying, or revealing, changing or republishinginformation, he/she shall be sentenced to no less than six months in jail andbe fined, or both. If such information is personal, a fine of not less thanDh10, 000 shall be imposed, and a jail term of not less than one year shallbe handed out to the convict, or both punishments.

2. Article No.3 reads that anyone convicted of committing any crimesstipulated in Article No.2 of this law, shall be sentenced to no less than oneyear in jail, and fined not less than Dh20, 000, or both.

3. Article No.6 says anyone convicted of inserting certain information via theinternet or using any IT or electronic mean for the purpose of stopping orbreaking down, or destroying, deleting or amending programmes andinformation, shall be either jailed or fined, or both.

4. Article No.24 says with no prejudice to others rights, all devices,programmes and means used in committing any of the previous mentioned

crimes will be confiscated.5. Article No.25 stipulates if the convict is an expatriate, he shall be deported

after serving his term.6. Article No.26 says the implementation of penalties stipulated in this law

does not contradict any other tougher punishment stipulated in the penalCode or any other laws.


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In conclusion, the comparison of Australian and UAE internet law shows that boththe countries have distinctive sentences. One of the most important points is that

in Australia, along with the cyber crime laws, the judges do include criminaljurisdictions whereas in UAE it is not compulsory to do so and it is notcontradictive to the penal code or any other laws.


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ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

Now a days, business organizations and consumers alike the world over arefocusing their attention towards taking their commercial transactions online, andat the same time minimizing (or some even completely eliminating!) thetraditional cash based system of conducting business. This trend is well explainedby the numerous conveniences that e-commerce has to offer (to both seller andend-consumer), and while few deny its benefits, the public has good reason to beconcerned about the security aspect related to indulging in business over theinternet. Like most other services available to the common man on the WorldWide Web, e-commerce too has attracted wrong-doers, and the stakes are evenhigher here with the prospect of hefty monetary rewards if efforts pay off.Electronic commerce signifies the electronic networks and electronic functionsthat are carried out to perform the business related activties like selling,promotion and advertising.

Electronic Transactions Act 1999 (Cth) provides a legal structure to supportand encourage businesses and consumers working through electronic medium in

Australia. It is assured that by the use of electronic communications, thetransactions under the Commonwealth law will not be simply invalid. Under theCommonwealth law, the Electronic Transactions Act permits whichever of thefollowing to be carried out in computerized form: presenting information inscript, providing signatures to assign a mark, creating a document andmaintaining the information. The term of this Act is to make clear that the legalityof all transactions that have been performed in writing previously, and are nowbeing performed electronically.

Every country in the world has their own laws to regulate all type of actions takingplace in the country. In this way, UAE also have federal laws in combating thecrimes throughout the country, and these are the several laws passed by thegovernment in relation to e-commerce, here s an example : Article No.18 states anyone who is found guilty for creating a website, or


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distributing information with intend to encourage narcotic sales shall temporarilybe imprisoned.

According to the legal aspects of maintaining a website, firstly a company has toregister its domain name which must reflect the name of the company. Domainname is an important asset for a business and identifies a particular company saddress on the internet. Each internet address is assigned by a specific countrycode. In UAE, UAE Network Information Center (UAENIC) has the only authorityfor registering domain names under the ae country code domain (aeLTD). Withdifferent country codes all over the world, the authorized organization inAustralia has the .AU domain code. The common factor between the two

countries is that they have got the same policy to resolve domain name disputesunder the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). This policyhas been adopted by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers(ICANN), a private corporation that controls the use of domain names. It s beenaccepted worldwide to handle the domain name disputes and applies to all .com,.net and .org domain names.

In context of jurisdiction, it must be seen that whether a electronic transaction

has been executed within a country or outside the country, and even makeprovisions for determining when and where communications are made and, as aresult, what laws will apply. Recognizing the buyer/seller, or the individual who isactually guilty of fraud, . According to the UAE Law of Evidence No. 10 of 1992,the claimant must provide evidence to identify that he/she is the person who hehas transacted with or communicated with, and the proof must be relevant. Inabsence of any legal provisions, the judge may even apply the Islamic Doctrine of Shariah.

Following are two cases related to e-commerce, first case shows the importanceof domain names and the second case shows the importance of the jurisdictionalproblems that may arise regarding a particular website under the legalframeworks.


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Case 1: Architects Australia Pty Ltd V. Witty Consultants Pty Ltd [2002] QSC 139 P (Architects Australia Pty Ltd) traded in goods and services in lieu of profit underthe business name Architects Australia. According to the legal aspects D (WittyConsultants Pty Ltd) registered the domain name architectsaustralia.com.au .Issue : Did the registration and use of domain name represent misleading conductand a misrepresentation to an affiliation?Decision : It was held by the Queensland Supreme Court that words ArchitectAustralia were distinctive to P s business and the use of domain name by D couldmislead or confuse the public, amounting to misrepresentation and a breach of s.53(d) of the Trade Practices Act.

Case 2: Worldplay Services Pty Ltd V. ACCC [2005] FCAFC 70

International pyramid operated by World Games Inc. was selling schemes using awebsite. In hope of receiving rewards members of the scheme even signed othersinto the system. The plot was split, with a corporation in British Virgin Islescomprising overall power with service businesses in Britain, The Netherlands andAustralia. The Scheme was provided with IT and administrative support by anAustralian company Worldplay Services Pty Ltd. It was been argued by theWorldplay Pty Ltd. that the scheme was being run overseas and therefore outsidethe jurisdiction of Australian law.Issue: Does the Australian company has the right to connect with an organization

on an international basis as per the Australian consumer protection legislation?

Decision: The Full Federal Court of Australia rejected Worldplay s argument thatthe scheme was in conflict with Australian jurisdiction by being run overseas,stating that mechanisms have been put into place for worldwide cooperation tosafeguard customers generally .

Electronic commerce is a relatively new area of business, the popularity of which

is now growing at an explosive rate, and thus the necessity of laws to govern thesame becomes inevitable. This trend is fuelled by the constantly ballooningnumber of internet users worldwide, especially in developing countries,consequently prompting more and more retailers to either completely shift alloperations online, or at least have a significant presence online in tandem withphysical stores, so as to capture as much of the market as possible.


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Aust ral ian Inte rnet Priv acy Law

Similar to the UAE internet privacy law, Australia also does not hold any generalright to privacy. But some privacy is yet protected under certain Federal and State


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legislation, grouped with the law of contract, tort and personal information(AILAW, 2004).

Data Pro tect ion Laws

Australian privacy laws are taken into consideration in a variety of Commonwealth, State and Territory Acts. These acts which are labeled as the

Privacy Acts are data protection laws which regulate the collection, use anddisclosure of personal information of individuals, but since there is no general lawfor an individual s privacy, these acts are not taken in a wider sense.

The Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (C'th) amended the Privacy Act 1988 to regulate some organizations of the private sector. It was passed by Parliament and became operative on 21 December 2001. (Electronic FrontiersAustralia, 2006)

Here s an example of a case study (June 1993 to July 1994):

Clayton s Privacy Protection

A private employment agency required job applicants to complete a very long anddetailed questionnaire about their personal affairs. Attached to the questionnairewas a Privacy authorisation that stated that the personal information collected

in the questionnaire was protected by the Privac y Act . Several people complainedthat they had only provided their personal details because of this legislativeprotection and were very upset to find that the Privac y Act does not havejurisdiction over private companies in relation to personal information. Thecompany agreed to drop all reference to the Privac y Act from its material.(AnnualReport, 1994)

Telec ommun icat ions Priv acy Laws

The following are the laws enforced for the protection of privacy over theinternet:

Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (C'th)


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The Australian Spam Act became op e rat ive on 11 Apri l 2004.

Late r o n in Decembe r 2005, t he gov e rnment ann o unced a re view o f t he SpamAct 2003 in w hich p ubl ic subm iss ions we re als o ta ken int ocons ide rat io n .(Elect ro n ic Fro nt ie rs Aust ral ia , 2006)

The Spam Act 2003 mainly prohibits the sending of unsolicited commercialmessaging within Australia or on behalf of Australian entities.

The Spam Bill 2003

The main elements contained in the Spam Bill are:

a prohibition on sending unsolicited commercial electronic messages whichhave an Australian link. The penalty provision is aimed at messages which are sentfrom Australia or from overseas to Australia;

a prohibition on sending commercial electronic messages which have anAustralian link unless they include accurate information about the individual ororganization who authorized the sending of the message;

a prohibition on sending commercial electronic messages which have anAustralia link unless they include a functional unsubscribe facility;

a prohibition on the supply, acquisition or use of address-harvestingsoftware or a harvested-address list;

a civil sanctions regime. These prohibitions are civil penalty provisions, notcriminal offences. Breach of provision may attract a substantial monetary penalty.

V io lat ing th e Law (Aust ral ian ):

There are four different levels of intensity of violating the law, which are:

Level 1


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Accessing data or impairing, if this is done deliberately to commit a seriousoffense(an offence with a maximum penalty of atleast 5 years)

Level 2Modifying data or impairing, with the intent to cause harm.

Level 3

Controlling personal or other confidential information through a virus or a hackingsoftware.

Level 4

Accessing very highly classified confidential data (e.g. GovernmentInformation)(Tony Krone, 2005)

Sim ila rity w ith U AE Privacy Law

These offences, not a mirror image of the U AE Privac y Laws , yet mostly similarpunishment is likely to be given. The decision through both regional laws will besimilar, varying with the penalty charged.

UAE Inte rnet Priv acy Law


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UAE has no general law. A civilian does not have a specific right to sue anddemand compensation. The privacy rights are taken care of under theConstitution as well as the Penal code.

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority(TRA)

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates(UAE) has been established according to the UAE Federal Law by Decree No. 3 of 2003 Telecom Law. The main motive of the TRA is to settle disputes betweenlicensed Internet Service Providers(ISPs), implementing a regulatory and policyframework.

1. Legislative Background

According to Federal law by Decree No. 3/2003

Article 14 The Authority shall have the power to issure regulations, orders,resolutions and procedures in relation to the use of consumer information.

At the sole discretion of the TRA this policy may be modified or replaced at anytime.

2. Objective

The objective of this policy is to ensure privacy of the telecommunicationsconsumers in the UAE. The consumer information mentioned includes:

Personal data about the consumer

Voice messages, SMS and other information which can be transferredthrough telecommunications.

This policy is applicable to all licensed operators and to any organization that hasaccess to personal information for the usage of a telecommunications service.

3. Protecting the data

The Licensees should prevent the personal information of their consumers to stayprivate, regardless if the information is in electronic or paper form.


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If disclosure of personal information is necessary, the licensees must obtain aconsumer s prior consent before sharing any consumer information with itspartners or third parties of which the consumer is initially not aware of, except if such information is requested by an authorized official of a competent authority,

in the interest of public or national security.

4. Limitations

The licensees must not take consumer s personal information which is notessential for the service subscribed. Only necessary information should be takento ensure maximum data protection.

5. Cooperation with TRA

Withstanding the above mentioned, the TRA has every right to access essentialpersonal information to fulfill it s duties.(TRA, 2005)

V io lat ing Priv acy Laws (UAE):

Article No.4 says anyone convicted of forging ay document of Federalor local government s documents, or any of federal or localinstitutions, shall be temporarily imprisoned, and fined, or both.(Gulf News)

Article No.8 says anyone convicted of deliberately eavesdropping, orreceiving or intervened information or messages sent via the internetby using any electronic or high-tech means, shall be jailed orfine.(Gulf News)


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In essence, after having analyzed the legal stances of both countries with regardsto personal and commercial conduct over the internet, we can safely concludethat major disparities therein are far and few between, with the penalties forviolating laws being the sole distinguishing factor in most cases. Also, anotherfactor worthy of notice here is that internet law, on the international scene, isconstantly evolving and changing for the better. Cyber criminals, too, are alwayson the hunt for loopholes in applications running on the internet; some seeking toderive economic benefit, while some to simply distort society s peace andharmony. In either case, they seriously and very really challenge theimplementation of justice throughout the world.

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