{"id":13982,"date":"2012-11-13T13:55:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-13T20:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13982"},"modified":"2012-11-13T13:55:45","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T20:55:45","slug":"cyber-brutality-criminalizing-royal-insults-far-more-effective-than-internet-kill-switch-at-crushing-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=13982","title":{"rendered":"Cyber-brutality – Criminalizing “Royal Insults” far more effective than Internet “kill switch” at crushing opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cyber-cops in United Arab Emirates given more leeway for crackdowns on Web activism<\/strong>
\nBy Associated Press – 13 November, 2012<\/p>\n

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates \u2014 The United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes Tuesday that include giving authorities wider leeway to crack down on Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country\u2019s rulers or calling for demonstrations.<\/p>\n

The measures are another sign of tougher cyber-policing efforts by Western-backed leaders across the Gulf amid growing concerns over perceived political or security threats since the Arab Spring uprisings.<\/p>\n

The Web clampdowns, however, have brought outcry from rights groups and media freedom advocates that claim Gulf authorities are increasingly muzzling free expression in the name of preserving the powers of the ruling clans from Kuwait to Oman.<\/p>\n

The new UAE codes \u2014 posted on the official news agency WAM \u2014 also raise questions about potential new red lines for the country\u2019s huge expatriate work force in which parodies and pointed criticism of the UAE are common fodder on websites. It\u2019s unclear, too, whether the codes could put a chill on media coverage of sensitive issues such as the rising profile of Islamist factions.<\/p>\n

The UAE has not faced any street protests during the Arab Spring upheavals, but authorities have stepped up arrests and pressure on groups including an Islamist organization, Al Islah, that official claim seeks to undermine the country\u2019s ruling system. In September, Dubai\u2019s police chief, Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim, warned of an \u201cinternational plot\u201d to overthrow the Gulf governments by Islamists inspired by the rise to power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.<\/p>\n

Many of the codes in UAE\u2019s updated Internet law focus on issues such as online fraud, privacy protection and efforts to combat prostitution.<\/p>\n

But a major section spells out sweeping limits and possible prison terms for any posts \u201cto deride or to damage the reputation or the stature of the state or any of its institutions,\u201d including the rulers and high officials across the UAE \u2014 a federation of seven semiautonomous emirates.<\/p>\n

It also outlaws \u201cinformation, news, caricatures or any other kind of pictures\u201d that authorities believe could threaten security or \u201cpublic order.\u201d These include Web posts calling for public protests or \u201cdisobeying the laws and regulations of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decree, issued by the UAE President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, came just hours after the UAE was elected to a three-year seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

In an apparent response to the worldwide chaos touched off in September over a video clip denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, the new codes said jail terms are possible for any Internet posts that \u201cdisplay contempt\u201d for Islam or any other faith.<\/p>\n

Across the Gulf, other authorities have stepped up prosecutions against online activists and others. Earlier this month, a Bahraini man was sentenced to six months in prison on charges of insulting the Gulf nation\u2019s king in Twitter posts. In September, a journalist-blogger in Oman received a one-year prison term for alleged anti-government writings.<\/p>\n

…source<\/a><\/p>\n

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Cyber-cops in United Arab Emirates given more leeway for crackdowns on Web activism By Associated Press – 13 November, 2012 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates \u2014 The United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes Tuesday that include giving authorities wider leeway to crack down on Web activists for offenses such as mocking the more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[3684],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13982"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13982"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13984,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13982\/revisions\/13984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}