Law and Order: Dubai

BBC News, Click, Law and Order: Dubai Tech and surveillance in Dubai: "Click is in Dubai meeting the newest members of the police force, police Bots."

UAE privacy laws

Khaleej Times, All you need to know about UAE privacy laws, 14 Sep 2017 "Besides, one should be careful while using certain types of emojis while talking online. For example, if one uses the emoji of a 'middle finger' in a conversation and the recipient complaints about the act, it could lead one to jail, fines and deportation."

Halla Walla!

BBC News, Meet the new Arab emojis perking up Dubai's WhatsApp chats "They called it "HALLA WALLA" - which is Arabic slang for "Hi there!", and a common greeting around Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain."

Smart Udhiyah Goes Online In Dubai

aboutislam.net, Smart Udhiyah Goes Online In Dubai

"In a bid to avoid long lines before `Eid Al-Adha, the Dubai Municipality has launched a smart app to provide users a chance to order their Udhiyah online, and be delivered at their doors."  

Wi-Fi Theft Fatwa

AP, Islamic authorities in Dubai are saying that wireless Internet belonging to neighbors cannot be used without their permission, 11 Apr 2016 "The edict says: "There is nothing wrong in using the line if your neighbors allow you to do so, but if they'd don't allow you, you may not use it.""

Arab Social Media Influencers Summit

Zawya, Internet giants support Arab social media summit " The Arab Social Media Influencers Summit (ASMIS), which will take place on March 17-18 in Dubai, is the first event of its kind in the region and will allow delegates and partners to network, share trends and support the positive use of social media platforms. It will also help identify best practices in the use of these channels." I'll be interested to observe this (unfortunately from a distance!)

The Arab World Online: Trends in Internet Usage in the Arab Region

Sara Alshaer and Fadi Salem, Dubai School of Government, The Arab World Online: Trends in Internet Usage in the Arab Region [pdf] "Over the past 15 years, the Arab region has witnessed major technology-led transformations which changed the norms of doing business, practicing governance and carrying out development efforts in the region. With more than 125 million individuals using the Internet in the Arab region, and more than 53 million actively using social networking technologies, the DSG Governance and Innovation Program in partnership with Bayt.com conducted a regional survey to examine internet usage trends in the Arab region." Arabic version also available

Cyber criminals in Dubai

Dubai fares well against cyber-criminals | GulfNews.com: "Al Hajri [Lt Colonel Saeed Al Hajri, Director of the Electronic Crimes of Dubai Police Criminal And Investigation Department] said cybercrimes in the UAE are mainly defamation, extortion and financial fraud using the internet. This is in addition to crimes that contravene Islamic and Arabic culture."

Arab Media Forum

Arab Media Forum, Dubai Press Club Launches Fourth Edition of Arab Media Outlook, 30 Apr 2012 "Recent events in the Arab world have generated a relatively positive impact on the regional media, raising the bar on the quality of news reporting, accelerating the engagement with digital platforms and firmly placing the region on the strategic map of global media houses, announced Maryam Bin Fahad, Executive Director, Dubai Press Club."

Also see Kuwait Times, Media Forum addresses issues in shadow of ‘Arab Spring’

The Forum takes place 8-9 May in Dubai. The report will be made available then. One of the sessions is on ‘Religious Discourses in Arab Media: The Expected Role” (which I would have liked to have sat in on).

The Twitter feed is #AMF2012 from which I got the following info:

"نادي دبي للصحافة ‏ @DubaiPressClub

• Close

You may download the 4th edition of the Arab Media Outlook by clicking on the following link : " http://bit.ly/JoMOeW " #AMF2012#Dubai"

"Dubai Police to track Internet paedophiles"

Amira Agarib, Khaleej Times, Dubai Police to track Internet paedophiles, 6 Oct 2010, "The long arm of the law has extended online to target child abusers. The Dubai Police are closely monitoring chat rooms and blogs to arrest paedophiles who exploit children.

"This was stated by Lt. General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander in Chief of the Dubai Police, on Tuesday. He was speaking during a forum on protecting children from IT crimes, held at the Dubai Police Academy."

Dubai BlackBerry theory

arabcrunch, Dubai Chief Police: BlackBerry Ban is Due to “Israeli” & US Spying On The Country, 3 Sep 2010 "In a meeting at the house of Dr. Saed Salamn head of Ajamn network Dhahi Khalfan Tamim Dubai Police chief said that United States of America is the first beneficiary from absence of BlackBerry surveillance in his country, and said that USA has an interests in Spying in his country."

Dubai

BBC News, Dubai - a city of hi-tech contrasts, 14 May 2010

ICANN and business

David George-Cosh, The National, Arabic language makes the internet its domain, 6 May 2010 " ...Dubizzle, an online classified advertisement website that receives more than 33 million page views a month, said it would have its entire website translated into Arabic as early as next month.

"JC Butler, the co-founder and managing director of Dubizzle, said the company had spent the past nine months building several features that would allow advertisements to be automatically cross-listed in English and Arabic."

See Dubizzle

Dubai SMS

BBC News, Dubai jails Indian pair for 'sexy texts', 17 Mar 2010 "Steamy text messages have resulted in a three-month jail sentence for an Indian man and an Indian woman in Dubai."

Dubai charity websites

Ibarhim Haj Hamad, khaleejtimes.com, Charities on Internet Are Illegal, Say Authorities, 18 Sep 2009 "Even as organising charity proliferates on the internet during the holy month of Ramadan, charity department officials say the modern-day technique is illegal.

"Only 13 charity organisations that fall under the Islamic Affairs and Charity Activities Department are authorised to receive donations within Dubai. Among them are the Red Crescent, Al Shifa Charity Est, the Dubai Charity Association, said Ali Al Mansoori, Director of the Charity Activities Department."

Twitter in Dubai

The National, Tweeters to meet in real world and help charities at Twestival, 7 Sep 09, "Twitter users will be going offline and meeting in the real world at the weekend when the capital and Dubai host twin festivals in aid of local charities." Let's hope the shock of the real world will not be too much for some...

Xeroerror

The National, Cyborg hero forged in the heart of Dubai, 28 May 09 "Step aside, Terminator: a new time-travelling cyborg out of Dubai Media City is due to burst on to cinema screens in the UAE’s first computer-generated film."

See the xeroerror blog for more links and info.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum

Comments on the net, amongst other things:

First Media e-Session with the Prime Minister-Part I: Interview with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum answers rather a lot of questions, with more to follow.

""This is the second time that I have responded to your questions online; the first time was eight years ago, when Internet communications were still in the nascent stage -- although, I must say, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates had already made noteworthy progress in this field. During that initial online interview, my objective was to stimulate the interest of the Emirati community in the Internet when the use of the online communications was relatively limited.

"Today the usage of the Internet across the UAE has come to be taken for granted; in fact, the Web has been adopted so extensively in both the public and private sectors that e-communications are the norm rather than the exception. We see that a large segment of our society, especially young people, believe that the Internet is the most important source of information, education and entertainment."

And here is a selection of (positive) responses:

Business 24-7, Responses to Sheikh Mohammed's interview

Gulf News, Online community praises Mohammad, 20 Apr 09 which includes a photo

Dubai

حملتها حجبت 500 كلمة بحث تقود لمواقع مخلة, alarabiya.net

MidEastWire, “Dubai police asks Google to confront spread of pornography...” "On April 2, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.net news website carried the following report by Ahmed Sharif: “The Dubai police has asked the directors of the renowned Google search engine to seek a mechanism “to prevent the spread of pornographic images and movies that create problems and generate decadence in society, especially among the young and the teenagers”. The police thus announced on Thursday 2-4-2009: “During a meeting that was held in Dubai, security officials asked Gisel Hiscock, the director of Google Business Development in the Middle East and Europe, to limit the spread of pornographic clips, as well as clips mocking religions, calling for atheism and spreading newly-founded religions."

YouTube in Dubai

Gulf News, Police highlight negative aspects of YouTube, 3 Apr 09 ""Dubai Police completely supports the personal freedom of every individual but there is certain content on YouTube that is absolutely unacceptable to any country, society or individual," said Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Deputy Chief of Dubai Police."