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Freedom of speech


uaekid Many of DF members talked about not being able to practices the freedom of speech here in the UAE, so what sort of cases or issues required the freedom of speech and the country did not or don't want to deal with ? Now I'm not sure my self if there are terms like evidences required for the freedom of speech. I mean if I was an owner of a big company and someone stood in public and gave his speech of being harsh with my employees for example, is that acceptable if there is no prove ? I mean doesn't it hurt when you are being accused of a cretin behavior emotionally and financially and your reputation goes down? if the accusation has no truth in it. I'm confused , ppl do sue each other in a court when such things happen yet you have the right to the freedom of speech :shock: !!!! which way should I go?? Back to the question " what sort of cases or issues required the freedom of speech and the country did not or don't want to deal with ?"
sage & onion
Many websites are blocked by Etisalat / Du, that is one form of denying freedom of speech, would you not agree? smoggie
I think you are getting freedom of speech mixed up with slander.
Freedom of speech is being able to express an opinion. Slander is a criminal offence!
slan·der (slān'dər)
1. Law Oral communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation.
2. A false and malicious statement or report about someone. rahulwitty
yes... true gamercowboy One of the best examples is the new media law that was being discussed up until last month but, for some strange reason, is no longer in the news. The law states that journalists could be fined for articles that damage the country’s reputation or its economy. The law certainly makes no mention whether or not truth would be a proper defense in such a case. Other examples: -followers of religions other than Islam may not evangelize outside of their church/temple/synagogue/etc. -sex and nudity are censored in movies but violence and gore are not -wearing t-shirts/clothing with offensive graphics is not permitted -rallies/protests are not permitted smoggie -followers of religions other than Islam may not evangelize outside of their church/temple/synagogue/etc. A few years ago there was some born again christians arrested on Rigga Road and thrown into prison for preaching I believe uaekid
I thought xxx sites are entertainment ones if it's what you mean, other that that it would be interested to know a couple of those sites if you could share any, lets see why the are blocked. sage & onion
I think youtube is one gamercowboy
I don't think enterntainment-related sites should be exempted from any list but anyway, here are some non-entertainment sites that are blocked by either Du or Etisalat:
-Some Dubai-based blogs such as
-Any domain with a .il
-Sites to unblock blocked sites such as
-Sites that promote gay rights such as
Edit: sorry, that last one should have been . uaekid
youtube is not blocked !! hey by the way the chief of Dubai police is sponsoring a campaign against youtube :shock: !! don't know what is wrong with him , he want it to be blocked !! this is bad news for robbyG :lol:

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herve gamercowboy wrote One of the best examples is the new media law that was being discussed up until last month but, for some strange reason, is no longer in the news. The law states that journalists could be fined for articles that damage the country’s reputation or its economy. The law certainly makes no mention whether or not truth would be a proper defense in such a case. Not only that, but the law is actually worst than before, and hiding the fact that a reporter or anybody else in the publication process can go to jail, only this time it is not for breaking the media law but for failing to pay the fine. if a reporter is fined AED1M, there is a risk his employer fires him and does not pay the fine, then he will be jailed for not paying the fine. DoubleDigit One of the things I really appreciate about UAE is the filter of the content on the internet. herve doubledigit i would like to know what in the world makes you more comfortable in filtering what i access on internet in the privacy of my home. When i was in Dubai i had to use a software to bypass etisalat to have the freedom of surf that everyone else in the world enjoy DoubleDigit Herve...I hope you do not mind my saying that I really do not care about what you enjoy. I appreciate the fact that the kids do not have easy access to porn and other malicious content on the inet. smoggie
Yes. My sentiments exactly. Some people want to be moderated and some people don't. DoubleDigit smoggie...exactly, some people don't and some people do. smoggie So do we legislate for the majority or the minority? I'm interested to hear your point of view. Is it an issue with kids or is there stuff out there that the powers that be think we are not capable, as individuals, of viewing? DoubleDigit majority or minority ?.....I am sure you are aware that this is not a Democracy. quatroporte The government is investing so much money in the department of internet censorship. yet most of us individuals can easily bypass it. I have once read an article which says: Etisalat will not sue or fine any individual who bypass the government proxy. (I can't find that article at the moment) personally, I like the fact that internet is censored in UAE... it has indeed gave peace of mind to many families... if YOU as an individual want to bypass it then you can do so... BTW, Australia is looking to invest in internet censorship as well ,21985,24568137-2862,00.html
gamercowboy
Wouldn't it be better if it were done the other way around? ie: people who would prefer the content filtering should have the burden of applying the filter at their homes. That way, parents (just an example) would have a much more proactive role in their children's internet exposure.
But in my not so humble opinion, porn and indecent material is often just used as a boogeyman to scare people into accepting censorship. herve a example where censorship can be lethal, in the UAE anything related to "woman breast" is blocked, thus any information on breast cancer, and awarness or prevention is blocked. without the proper acces to information women in the UAE die at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. i have the satistics if anyone is interested, numbers dont lie. uaekid
/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/breastcancer.html
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/breast
!!!
you are more of an expert in this field than I am but the rates are not bcz the sites are blocked (they are not blocked as you can see ) , it's more of an awareness issue even though there are specialized clinics in many GOV hospitals ,campaigns and seminars regarding this issue held here in the UAE.. the keyword "woman breast " could be a tech mistake by the filtering company that's all
it will be interesting to see statistics . herve I warn you, the statistics are scary , it is not what the government wants you to know. in the US 0.025% women die of breast cancer. awarness and prevention has increased survival rate to 98%. unrestricted internet access is vital in the prevention. In the UAE, many women do not get treated because of restricted access to internet, severe lack of breast cancer info, internet blocks and because families refusent to women to expose part of their bodies that only their husband can see . the websites you refer to, are candid and show cartoons that an 8 years old could draw. you do not see actual pictures of a woman breast on internet in the UAE, ever. Plain and simple as this. You need more than a cartoon to explain the terrible effects of the disease and how to self exam. All together, and as a result, a shocking staggering 70% of women in the UAE, YES 70% you read me, are diagnosed with breast cancer stage IV, which can be terminal. in the UAE, 9.3% women die of breast cancer, that is 350 times more than in the US. i dont believe 350 times more is just the result of a mistake by the filtering company. In the end, Emirati's can claim open mindedness all they want, pretend they dont block, dont censore, filter, in the end it is their own mothers who die, and with it, their very own survival. Again 0.025% death rate in the free world, 9.3% in the UAE K-Dog
Kid, what your opinion on . Please do tell why its blocked. naruto
why its blocked ..and why its called uae toture ..do UAE toture ppl like US .. herve it is blocked because , Yes, the UAE torture people, on april 22, 2007, at murakabat dubai police head quarters, i was threatened that i would be tortured if i did not confess my crime. the graphic details, needles in my nose, locked up in a cave, strapped on a chair, shown experience and led me to beleive that it must be a common practise. Recently, the family of Zack Shaheen, a US citizen imprisonned for now 11 months without charges has declared he has been tortured. if it is true, he may never be released, because he could speak out. Snow many horoscope sites are blocked...which is stupid. uaekid
I'll check it when I get home and see what is it all about .. cool name :) uaekid
the site I posted I guess are official some how ,now I'm sorry but you seem to be effect a bit in the brain your self herve.I mean what does women being restricted access to internet which is not true to do with not being treated which is also not true. :!: :?: :!: :?: :!: :?:
where is your statistics anyway so we can discuss it ??? even though I know they maybe high a bit herve Then explain why the death rate is 350 times higher in the UAE than in the US, if women get proper treatment and access to info. herve statistics can be found in US state Department website , Kaleej times, Dubai Health Authority. it is all over internet if you look for it. the government does not advertise them because they are disturbing , self censorship again. the statistics are actually lower, not high at all, because they take into consideration all women living in the UAE, when obviously foreign women affected by the disease return to their own country for treatment or die. it is a proven fact that access to knowledge is a factor to increase dramatically the chances of cure. Again Emirati can claim whatever they want and distribute ribbons and awards, obviously it does not work. in my book i explain that censorship is hurting only the Emirati's, not the expats. and Emirati's who are defending censorship are hurting only but themselves. it is not about porn, it is about access to knowledge, and knowledge is power, which the Government does not want his people to ever get. they might realize that it is not the best government after all. uaekid
again where is the source ?
I guess if you calculate 350 compared to the US numbers,it will be all UAE locals LOOOOOOOL be real will you herve The source for the UAE is DHA, 9.3% women in the UAE die of breast cancer. in the US it is 0.025% of women 9.3 / 0.025 = 372, sorry i was a little low. Khaleej Time october 28, 2008 DUBAI - The UAE will have a centralised breast cancer register by the second quarter of next year to determine the exact number of women affected by the disease, a top health official told Khaleej Times at an awareness lunch on Sunday. The number of women gynaecologists and technicians in the UAE will also increase year on year so that women are encouraged to test for the disease. “We have a register of breast cancer cases in Abu Dhabi now. As part of our future plans, the entire UAE will have a register to determine the number of cases. We have already started collecting data,” said Laila Al Jassmi, director of Health Funding Project for Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the newly created body to oversee health. She was speaking on the sidelines of ‘The safety of your life with early diagnosis’, held under the patronage of Princess Haya bint Hussein, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, at Burj Al Arab. DHA is emphasising the need for educating people on the disease, which is the second biggest killer in the Middle East after heart disease among women. DHA statistics reveal that 9.3 per cent of women, both expatriates and nationals, die every year in the UAE due to breast cancer and the average age of those diagnosed was 48 years. Experts say that 70 per cent of women in the Middle East and the UAE are diagnosed with breast cancer at stage IV, which is terminal and could result in death, unlike in Western countries where early detection has increased survival rates to 98 per cent. “We intend to bring in about 12 women doctors and 24 women technicians by the end of this year,” said Michael J. Weinberg, president and CEO of Gateway Insurance Broker LLC that organised the event. “Currently, there are only about 30 registered and certified female gynaecologists in the UAE. We intend to bring in at least 200 American women doctors to the UAE in the next 10 years,” he said, adding many women were reluctant to opt for screening due to the lack of sufficient female doctors. Dr Houriya Kazim, breast surgeon at Dubai’s Wellwomenclinic, noted that while the incidence of breast cancer is rising globally, an increasing number of younger women in the Middle East are getting affected by the disease. “Usually, the disease occurs over the age of 50 but in the Middle East, women in their 40s are getting breast cancer. It is probably because we have a younger population here. However, we are trying to determine the cause,” she said, stressing the need for a national cancer register. — herve so now, how do you explain that so many women die of breast cancer compared to the free world herve statistics for the US DoubleDigit I did a Google on " breast cancer" just now and found that not a single site on the frist two pages including the utube videos are blocked and yes the vids have images of breasts . What you are saying Mr. Herve about the content being blocked does not seem to be supported with the facts. uaekid 1- there are no blocked sites that women benfits for the awarness of breast cancer. if the so blocked sites are the cause of breast cancer as you clam then the so called free world shouldn't have any or at least low rate since they have non blocked sites !!! right ? 1-4 women in USA got cancers yet they don't have blocked sites !! 2.4 million women living in the U.S. have been diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer. now those ppl in the " free world " do have unblocked internet access the rates are what ever they are bcz they are not getting themselves checked not bcz of the blocked sites !!! herve 1 in 4 women in the US it is 25% and for all cancers. 2.4 millions women that s about 2% of women diagnosed. That is still very far from 70% breast cancer diagnosed in the UAE,and 9.3% death rate. so indeed there is a low rate in the free world. there is a problem in the UAE and the only way to curb the numbers is to have an open mind. you can selfcensore all you want, it is your people who are dying not mine. censorship is not only about access to internet, it is also about looking and disclosing publicly the real causes of health issues, it is about letting women to access doctors even if they are males. ask yourself why women are not getting themselves checked then. It is the same with heart attacks, Dubai has the highest diabete rate in the world, people in Dubai have a heart disease death rate 8 times higher than in the US, again censoreship tries to hide these facts, but it only hurts the Emirates. When an expat dies in dubai, he is "replaced", when an Emirati dies it is a loss for the country. i see you in 20 years uaekid, with a state of mind like this, the UAE will have 1% of Emirati's. and a life expectancy of 35 years! i heard that the UAE is looking to ban you tube uaekid
this what I got
"UAE TortureIs temporarily unavailable as we revise the site and add new content."
so I'll keep checking it later on. uaekid
I give up from you man !
you are saying UAE hide facts then you say we can find statistics from the UAE health department !!! LOL
if women or men don't want to get checked it is their choice and their problem man, who can force them to do so ? google "uae breast cancer " then you will see the effort the country is giving to this matter, I think they are doing well enough at least now but
thanks anyway for the valuable info you gave us and your concern toward our health. :roll:
now lets get back to the original subject. herve i thought was blocked, is it or is it not? kanelli It is usually blocked I believe, but people can find ways around it. gamercowboy I don't know why breast cancer became the topic of this thread. That's one of the worst ways to demonstrate the evils of censorship considering most of the useful information is *not censored*. Remember that correlation does not mean causation. In this case, censorship is not a driving factor for the higher breast cancer fatality rate in the UAE. I also don't understand the reason for needing evidence of the detrimental effects of censorship. That's akin to looking for the detrimental effects of lung cancer. Censorship *is* the negative effect. Freedom of speech is a basic human right and therefore should not be stifled in any way. desert surfer
herve is that u the author of the book? Well you should sell digital versions and make self publishing at . herve yes i am the author, i ll look at your link, thank you kanelli I would definitely say that blocked internet is not a strong cause for higher deaths from cancer in the UAE. There are other ways of obtaining information about cancer than just the internet. However, it doesn't help to block sites that can spread the word about significant public health issues and make people more aware. I would say there are many other factors involved in the higher rates in the UAE, like more conservative views on breasts and s.e.xu.a.lity - so women and men are not checking themselves and aren't talking about any possible symptoms. We can already see with other illnesses that men, no matter what culture, are terrible at listening to their bodies and getting medical checks when something might be going wrong. e.g. Men have much higher skin cancer rates than women. herve Yes kanelli, you are right, blocked internet is a contributing factor, not the main cause of uncured illnesses. Now in terms of freedom of speech the new media law is actually worst than before . now it applies to all professionals involved in the publication process, instead of just the reporter as before. although reporters may no longer go to prison for breaking the media law, they will for failing to pay the AED1M fine that their employer will refuse to pay after firing them. in the UAE if you dont pay your debts, you go to jail, until it is paid in full. As a result, self censorship will apply more than ever. sage & onion
Herve, you seem to know a lot about the UAE, where are you now? herve in the US, safe from this place Habibi
To me it seems a bit weird. Reading this forum, there are many ppl having a heavy opinion on things happening in Dubai, but not exactly in front of their nose.
Why would you waste time expressing an opinion you have no clue about while living in a place "far far away?" herve because nobody can express an opinion in the UAE if it goes against the ruling families, government or reputation of dubai, or be jailed. Beside i know quite a bit about the UAE, laws and people. the country is only 50 years old. it is not like China with 6,000 years civilastion or mine with 2000 years. Beside i do not express my opinion, i give verifiable facts. my quote on the media law, was not an opinion but a fact. sage & onion
But why exactly are you surfing this forum and replying on many threads with your negative view point. Write your book and get it published, then we can all read what you have to say. Habibi
...but yours isn't 2000 years old, maybe a typo and you meant 200? ;-) herve yes 2,000 years old, and probably older. 200 years that is nothing, i can trace back my great grand fathers by then, how about you? Iran, Irak, Egypt are much older civilisations with an unmistakable culture but the Emirati? it is a joke...i mean have you seen the museeum, artifacts that would fit in a 2 bedroom appartment, visit the louvre in Paris, go to Cairo, Cusco, Santo Domingo, Beijing. please .... the UAE did not even exist 60 years ago, the first concrete building was raised in 1956. Bora Bora
If one goes by "National Day" the country just celebrated being 37 years old. herve which country? the UAE? Bora Bora
Yes herve Freedom of speech, sure......
look at the litterature found in dubai public library on the impressionists.
look lady.....( i think you are a lady), either they show paintings as they are, or they dont show them at all, but they should not claim freedom of speech and desecrate at the same time the greatest impressionist the world has seen.
[URL=http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=cezannes.jpg][/URL]
[URL=http://img10.imageshack.us/my.php?image=impressio.jpg][/URL]



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