Business | Technology
Free zones to be put under official web filters
Internet users in Dubai's free zones will face the same web surfing restrictions as the rest of the country under a government plan to be implemented this year.
- By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 10, 2007
Dubai: Internet users in Dubai's free zones will face the same web surfing restrictions as the rest of the country under a government plan to be implemented this year.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) plans to extend its countrywide web filter into free zones such as Dubai Media and Internet City as well as developments from Emaar and Nakheel, officials told Gulf News.
The UAE employs a filter in order to block out material deemed offensive to the cultural and religious morals of the country, shutting out adult content and sites which purportedly promote vices and ills such as drug and alcohol use, violence, terrorism and racism.
Asked why users were not free to choose what sites they visit, Mohammad Al Ghanem, director general of the TRA, said the TRA was not out to "police" the citizenry of the UAE.
"We are not inventing a procedure or a process," he told Gulf News. "This is implemented in every single country but with different limits and different categorisations."
Al Ghanem said the TRA desired to avoid any negative impacts on businesses residing within the free zones, and promised exemptions for companies with a legitimate interest in keeping unfettered internet access.
Such companies could include such media organisations, fashion companies and even pharmaceutical firms, noted Mohammad Al Gaith, the TRA's manager for technical affairs.
Breaking with the commonly perceived notion that the free zones had their own sets of telecommunications laws, Al Gaith said the reason the free zones weren't previously covered under the filter was technical, not jurisdictional.
New telecom operator du provides Internet service in the free zones, and problems had arisen over implementing the proxy filter over du's network.
"We've been planning to extend the TRA's rules and regulations to the whole of the country," Al Gaith said. "In general, the rules that apply outside the free zones will apply in the free zones."
The TRA is expected to announce details of the policy, and how companies may apply to be exempted, in the coming months.
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