500 thousand dirhams, a penalty for tracking the geographical locations of others

Youssef Al-Sharif: “Some women use tracking software to monitor their husbands.”

Counselor Dr. Youssef Al-Sharif warned users of social media applications against penetrating their private data by tracking the geographical location of devices, noting that the Cybercrime and Rumors Law tightened the penalty for tracking or monitoring the geographical location data of others with a fine of up to 500,000 dirhams.

He pointed out that many individuals may share with others the geolocation feature, to determine their locations and ease of access to them, but some may fall victim to extortion or exploitation by "hackers" through this feature that enables them to know their movements and personal data.

Al-Sharif said, in video episodes broadcast by "Emirates Today" on its platforms to shed light on the newly issued laws, that some can give permission to use the geographical location of their device, using simple elements, that allow them to activate or stop the permission, and thus can be easily accessed.

He added that the penetration, by tracking the geographical location via the smartphone, may occur without the user's permission, with the daily repetition of the same journey, as specialized applications record and store these movements, and with repetition, they are proven, and they have a database in one of the applications loaded on the user's phone. And easily, "hackers" access the electronic address known as the IP, and then can determine your location and can know who you are with.

He pointed out that some have heard of wives using such programs with their husbands to monitor them, but the problem is if some criminals deliberately follow the movements of individuals, with the intent of monitoring their movements to bargain with them, or for any other reason.

He stated that for such cases, Article (44/5) decided a penalty of imprisonment and a fine of 150 to 500 thousand dirhams, for tracking or monitoring the geographical location data of others, and criminalizing its perpetrator if he disclosed, transmitted, disclosed, copied or kept this site. This is a punishable crime, so it was necessary for individuals to take precautions and not to be reckless with technology, and not to think that it is our prerogative to violate people's privacy, because these behaviors constitute a crime in themselves.

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