UAE tightens ban on VPNs with jail time, fines of up to A$725,000
By Chris C., July 28 2016
Travellers caught using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the broader United Arab Emirates could face fines of up to A$725,000 or even jail time under hardened laws introduced this month.
Popular with business travellers, VPNs allow secure remote access to corporate networks back home, but can also be used by anybody to side-step local internet filtering laws and to access sites and content which would otherwise be blocked.
With the UAE barring a raft of online services including the voice and video calling features of Skype, Viber, FaceTime and Snapchat, VPNs were traditionally a great way to communicate with loved ones back home without being stung by global roaming fees or needing to buy a local UAE SIM card.
Once configured, connecting to a VPN proves as simple as flicking a switch on many devices, after which you’re free to use the Internet as though you in another country:
While the maximum fine stands at A$725,000 (AED2,000,000), even the minimum punishment of A$181,000 (AED500,000) if caught breaking the local laws will prove unaffordable to most – so you’ll want to rethink hitting that VPN switch while in the UAE.
We can’t imagine every single VPN session resulting in such hefty penalties, but realise that you’re more likely to be caught on certain networks than others.
Those include hotel wireless networks where you can only surf by providing your name and room number to log in, along with mobile data services where traffic is easily linked to your local or roaming SIM card.
Qantas, Virgin Australia, Emirates and Etihad Airways use the UAE as a springboard between Australia and Europe, with Sydney-Dubai representing Qantas’ flagship QF1 service and continuing through to London Heathrow.
Also read: Hands On: Norton WiFi Privacy VPN app
Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT
Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
07 Feb 2015
Total posts 150
Another reason why Asian hubs like SIN/HKG always wins over the UAE.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
02 Jul 2011
Total posts 1374
Wow.. Particularly when you can only connect to some corporate email systems using VPN
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
So how exactly is the UAE govt going to promulgate this edict?
Some poor unexpecting visitor is going to be at the receiving end of this without even knowing it!
Disgraceful.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
I've used FaceTime using wifi in the EK F lounge in Dubai?
04 May 2015
Total posts 261
How recently was that? I tried a few months ago and it would ring but when you try to pick up it wouldn't connect. Same in the Etihad lounges too in Abu Dhabi.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
Early July and Mid June
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
This year
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
10 Apr 2013
Total posts 387
and without a VPN
04 May 2015
Total posts 261
In other words, the UAE government moves to protect its billion dollar state-owned telcos by blocking overseas VoIPs so that you have to pay for phone calls rather than calling people for free, and threatens people smart enough to get around that with jail time and insane fines.
Please, nobody tell Pauline Hanson...
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
30 Nov 2015
Total posts 729
Please Explain...
18 Nov 2015
Total posts 117
If only it had to do with keeping revenue. Unfortunately this is 100% about censorship, and the control of information. VPNs enable residents to access information that the local authorities/government may not want them to see. In the UAE if you were to access a cartoon of Mohammed or read a blog about atheism you could LITERALLY be executed or thrown in prison for life.
12 Jun 2014
Total posts 71
"nobody tell Pauline Hanson..."
oops I already did
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
26 Feb 2016
Total posts 96
VPN is a technical term; how to define the VPN? Is Proxy-over-HTTPS VPN? Is SOCKS-over-SSH VPN? Is Asking-friend-to-foward-Emails VPN? As long as you allow information flowing trough the border, it is impossible to define this term.
24 Apr 2012
Total posts 2432
The scope of this law extends to "Whoever uses a fraudulent computer network protocol address (IP address) by using a false address or a third-party address by any other means"
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
A country that claims to be 1st world, yet doesn't allow the democratic basics.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
i dont see how/why '1st world'democratic' references are of any relevance. Apparently AUST is '1st world/democratic', BUT look at all the NON FIRST WORLD/UNDEMOCRATIC ISSUES in OZ.. The 'labels' of yesteryear have become so blurred, that those labels are of little relevance, but it's human nature to place 'labels' on everything as it gives the 'hordes' a sense of security Just my opinion of course :).
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
Yes, but you dont get jailed for activating a VPN.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
Sorry, undertheradar, I completely missed point of your rant. I personally do not feel discriminated anyhow in Australia, but indeed I do believe that in Dubai there is no freedom and no human rights whatsoever. They may not catch you, but this is not the point – you cannot eat pork, you cannot kiss your wife, you cannot slap her at her butt, she cannot dress “inappropriate”, you cannot say that all religious fetishes (including Mohamed) are rubbish and so on. Now you cannot use VPN. And frankly they do here in Australia whatever they please. Some call it democracy, but I just cannot get why it work like one-way valve.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 501
Why didn't you add how they cheat the people who built their country?
British Airways - Executive Club
24 Mar 2016
Total posts 3
In the UAE you can eat pork at a number of hotels. If you go into Waitrose supermarket in Dubai or Abu Dhabi you will find a doorway marked non-Muslims only, it is packed with pork, chops, pies, sausage rolls etc
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
Yea, I see – special room as for people with leprosy. In our supermarket it just market “Halal” and selling where all other product selling.
British Airways - Executive Club
24 Mar 2016
Total posts 3
Clearly you have never been there Serg otherwise you wouldn't make such uninformed comments. You still have to put the pork items in your basket or trolley and take them to the cashier who most likely will be an Emirati. You are free to go and sit somewhere and munch on your pork pie. There is no feeling of someone with leprosy. At the end of the day it is thier country and they allow pork to be sold in supermarkets and in hotels, that is tolerance but the VPN thing is strange as other Gulf countries don't have the ban
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
I'm sooo glad I'm not flying on Qantas to London these days. So glad!
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
I never flown via Dubai and for sure never will. Thus I do not use Qantas on my biannually voyage to Europe and looks like I never will.
28 Oct 2011
Total posts 645
No different to travellers needing to abide by the VARIOUS laws of ANY country they travel to. Its just one of the 'quirks' that highlights how 'diverse' the human race. Do the research before you travel. Ignorance is no excuse. Whether you agree or not is irrelevant.
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
30 Nov 2015
Total posts 729
Exactly, it's a bit like using the internet by 'Application' on China Southern...and getting a very limited service.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
I knew without any deep research that it is very little for me to do in Dubai. Chris only confirmed that I was 100% correct.
23 Feb 2016
Total posts 33
Didn't realise, all my friends that work there use them. Musn't be that heavily enforced, I'll continue using mine when there.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 439
Please let us know if the jail has wifi ;)
CX
16 May 2015
Total posts 23
Only a cell phone :)
21 Oct 2015
Total posts 26
Does this affect the airline lounges in the UAE? I'll need to make calls on Skype or Google Hangouts while there. This seems VERY inconvenient.
04 Sep 2012
Total posts 72
I suspect that this law may not aimed at private use individuls. I remember some years ago reading reports of people in Dubai being hit with hefty fines for selling IP phone calls to Asian workers at a big discount to the monopoly state carrier's rates.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
28 Jul 2015
Total posts 2
Another reason to fly via Asia...
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
Yet another VERY GOOD reason not to fly to Europe with Qantas or any Gulf Carriers for this merit. IMHO it is plain breaking of human rights. “so you’ll want to rethink hitting that VPN switch while in the UAE” – nope, now I must have incredibly good reason to fly to Dubai and I do not have one and very unlikely that I will in foreseen future.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
29 Nov 2013
Total posts 475
We get it Serg, you hate Qantas...you've posted that fact like 30+ time recently...
So today you comment that you've never been to Dubai or possibly the Middle East...yet you are now indignitantly going to town on Qantas and (possibly) the ME3.
Yet, what you have not addressed (so feel free to do so) is why you choose to fly to Europe via:
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
Markpk, I love to love Qantas and I am for having national airline (they call it “Flag Carrier”) that I can be proud of. And I use to love Qantas and use to prefer them over any other carrier. But unfortunately after privatization, then deregulation and then master-slave relationship with Emirates I have to look very hard to find even slightest reason to pick Qantas over Finnair, BA, SQ or CX. Not only I cannot fly to Europe via Singapore with Qantas, they also putting Asia at lowest importance. I do not hate Qantas, but I just miss those old good days when I loved them because as Australian I was proud that our Flag Carrier is the best (or at very least one of the best) airline.
I never flown via ME because I love to fly via Asia – SIN, BKK or HKG all good, but recently I fly mostly via BKK. I do not like to fly via Dubai (or ME as whole) because their attitude of superiority that I fail to see anywhere in Asia. As an example they came to Australia and expect that we must tolerate their ugly dressing, yet they ban “inappropriate” dressing for our women on their soul. In Australia they expect that Halal meat available everywhere, mosques everywhere and each airport has Muslim pray room. Yet I am not aware that there are any Orthodox church in Dubai or Christian pray room in Dubai airport. And Qantas dancing to their pipe banning pork on all Dubai-bound flights.
So, please explain me why I have to adore Qantas nowadays? Especially considering that they even not cheapest or roomiest? Give me good five reasons and I will change my attitude.
As to HKG/BKK/SIN – they do have their own customs and I love it. I love to explore their customs because they do not behave like their only customs are superior and respect my customs, so why I should not respect their?
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
BTW I am not alone in my dislike of Qantas-Emirates “partnership” – read this very thread.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
Yeah, he's not the only one.
I don't like, never did....sorry been listening to Pauline Pantsdown.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer GOLD
15 Sep 2015
Total posts 13
Yet another reason why Australia's flag carrier should not be aligned with the flag carrier of a country like this. I hate being forced to fly via Dubai on my way to Australia from Europe. I hope the partnership is not renewed when it comes to an end.
10 Aug 2015
Total posts 113
I think Alan Joyce is frequently listed as a top 5 LGBT corporate businessman yet his airline is in bed with the airline of country where being gay is illegal. The tragic comedy of that, and given the punishments it truly is tragic.
Context VPNs are required to allow for using various social media apps in the UAE.
No Dubai for me!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 501
It's up to the Qantas Board of Directors to decide who they are in bed with, if there's monetary gain then AJ is practically forced to take it despite his personal disagreements.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
The relationship between boards and management is a little bit more dynamic than you describe...
05 May 2016
Total posts 616
Generally if you fly between AU and LHR on QANTAS you'd only be stopping in Dubai for an hour or two. I think it should be possible to live without a VPN for that amount of time.
Anyway I recall using one of the supposedly blocked services recently without a VPN whilst at DXB airport.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
However if you fly via Asia you can use VPN even if your aircraft just refueling like BA SYD-SIN-LHR one. Or in fact you do not even need any VPN because you can use free WiFi to make Skype call and frankly this is only what I need.
Yes, I can survive stopover in Dubai even without VPN and absent of pork on the plane’s menu, but I need to have incredibly good incentive to do so because there are way too many other choices around – cheaper, quicker and transiting via more friendly airports.
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2560
Everybody: let's keep this discussion on topic, which means VPNs in the UAE and issues directly related to this. That doesn't include criticising Qantas or the Qantas/Emirates partnership. Further off-topic posts will be removed and users who insist on posting same may also need to take a break...
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
With respect David, the connection with Qantas is very real and cannot be isolated.
If you voluntarily visit Dubai or choose to fly Emirates, then you should be acquainted with the laws and customs of the UAE and be prepared to comply.
It is the people who fly Qantas and inadvertently get caught up in this because Qantas has chosen to align itself with Emirates in an intimate codeshare arrangement. It is not without merit for people who value Qantas to be upset with the continued EK/QF arrangement and to question the merits of QF managements decisions.
It pains people to choose not to fly Qantas because ultimately it is a brand that we love. But this doesn't mean we go everywhere and anywhere with Qantas. This relationship is a two way street.
QFF
12 Apr 2013
Total posts 1564
TRB, I could not say it better by myself. You hit the nail on the head – people who voluntary choose Gulfs carriers mutually agreed to live with all those predicament, but people who like fly with QF enforced to bear with all those restrictions and it not for everyone teste.
04 May 2015
Total posts 261
Come to think of it, I wonder if this law also applies on aircraft registered in the UAE, like when you're on the Wi-Fi on Emirates or Etihad. Does anybody know if the usual UAE blocklists are also enforced on those airlines in the sky? Might give some hint.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Jul 2014
Total posts 7
Oh well there goes some of your tourism dollars then..
At least they dont block facebook and youtube do they? And yes be interested to see how they inform users.. How many unsuspecting business travellers will get done when they are asked to keep tabs with the office while having their stopover during their business trip .Absurd
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer - Chairmans Lounge
01 Sep 2011
Total posts 416
This whole concept is baffling by the UAE. Can you provide any more details on how this could be policed or how they would know you are on a VPN? Picture this... sitting in the EK first lounge and you are on-line and going through a VPN, suddenly you look up and there is airport security surrounding you. Yes an extreme analogy but I would just like to get a clearer picture of how this is going to be handled.
24 Apr 2015
Total posts 128
yet another good reason NOT to go to these Arab countries.
03 Mar 2013
Total posts 21
On the road I use a VPN as a pre-requisite to gain unfettered access through our company firewall to administer systems, without it I have no access at all.
I've had issues in the past gaining access to websites and servers whilst in Dubai; our company eventually made the decision to send us from Australia to Europe by way of Asia instead and we've never looked back.
Delta
22 Mar 2015
Total posts 13
Never could understand the idea of going to UAE or Qatar. It is on the way to nowhere and a waste of time. Dubai is a dump and like qatar, built on the bodies of slaves.
Emirates Airlines - Skywards
11 Mar 2015
Total posts 191
soon we will be forced to wear burkas or hijabs at these airports-already they cannot pour alcohol from the bottles during ramadan as I noticed recently flying etihad business class soon there won't be any of this rotten pleasures of the west either.Meanwhile the royal family of the saudis surely know how to enjoy all earthly pleasures
QF
01 Jul 2016
Total posts 4
Quite interesting considering my last three interviews with Emirates were mandatory via Skype including the need to have an active connection to them whilst completing an interview task!
Maybe a case of one rule for foreigners and one for the govenment monopolies!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
20 Mar 2012
Total posts 116
Firstly, I love reading the comments. They are often more interesting than the article! (sorry David/Chris )
Yes, AusBT has reported factually on the annoucement of the intention to punish people who violate this rule, however if you ask ex-pats there is a divide between the written rule and the reality. There are some rare instances where westerner's are thrown in jail however by and large the authorities are turning a blind eye.
I get the feeling this is a bit sensationalist (if that's a real word)
09 May 2015
Total posts 33
It's mildly hilarious reading the hysterical post here...as in all ME countries, these censorship laws are for the control of local political dissidents and such and not tourists, transit travelers, or even the local expat populations I dare say. I don't expect to see officers with WiFi sniffers prowling the DXB terminals or local Starbucks branches hunting down VPN scuffows.
Relax and let down you knickers...a bit over the top the posts here
Aeroplan
29 Jul 2016
Total posts 1
When I was working for a corporation privacy was always addressed wth a VPN. We would not be able to travel to this country doe to this rule.
14 Feb 2012
Total posts 37
This is just the UAE exercising control over its citizens and visitors to ensure there are no issues with public security. The disgraceful part is that if there was a similar law introduced here in Australia it would be classified as racist by the very people from that part of the world.
It's simple really though, if you don't like that rule don't visit the UAE even as a stopover.
28 Apr 2015
Total posts 4
https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/using-vpn-what-uae-residents-need-to-know-1.1872123
Local UAE reporting on the issue, with input from local experts in the field. Well worth reading to put it all in context.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
23 Nov 2010
Total posts 20
[Deleted by admin - profanity]
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