Tabrez Ahmad's Technolex: Soon a Cyber Crime Court in Sharjah,

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Soon a Cyber Crime Court in Sharjah,

According to the Minister of Justice Dr Hadif bin Jowan Al Dhaheri, speaking on the sidelines of the third International Cyber Crimes Conference in the Capital of UAE on Tuesday, said UAE's Cyber Law will be amended to match the sophistication of online crimes that are being committed every day. A federal court to deal with cyber crime cases in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates will soon be established in Sharjah, The cyber crime court in Sharjah will follow similar courts already established in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and the law governing cyber crime needs to be updated in order to match the progress in cyber technology. Thus, UAE is studying to make amendments on the executive regulations of the cyber law. It has already three judges who have a doctorate degree in cyber crimes. This cyber court will be federal and will be located in Sharjah to deal mostly with cyber crime cases in Sharjah and the Northern Emirates,

A lot of cases happened now in UAE through the internet which has affected the economy and many businesses. The main cyber crimes involved are blackmailing and pornography, and financial frauds. The estimated loss of reported cyber crime cases in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is between $550-735 million per annum. This is not including the unreported cases as some victims – corporation and enterprises – feel that the negative media exposure would cause them more loss that what they've already lost in these cases.

The responsibility should be for the CEO and CFO to start protecting their client's information. The government's role is to put this law and should take a proactive role on this, just like the US, corporations and financial organisations which are bound by law to protect their clients' information, failing which would mean a 10-year imprisonment of the company chief executives or chief financial officers and a million dollar fine.

The upcoming changes in the cyber law and the establishment of a special court in Sharjah are positive moves.

Source: Olivia Olarto, http://www.khaleejtimes.com