RIYADH, 10 October 2006 — The Shoura Council yesterday approved Saudi Arabia’s first law to combat electronic crimes. The law was submitted to the Council by the Commission for Telecommunication and Information Technology.
The Council also agreed to grant Saudi citizenship to foreign women married to Saudis and expatriate widows of Saudi men. It allowed the interior minister to authorize officials at the ministry to grant citizenship to such applicants.
The law to combat electronic crimes specifies the penalties and fines that violators will be subject to for hacking into other people’s personal information or hacking websites and damaging their contents.
It also implies that defamation on the Internet is against the law and that violators will be punished. It specifies that those who use the Internet to acquire information illegally from public or private sources will be severely punished by fines or jail terms or both. All 16 sections of the new law were approved by the 120-member Council yesterday and will be effective after publication in the official gazette within 120 days.
The maximum punishment will be given to any unauthorized person who accesses government websites and steals information related to national security. Those who construct websites in support of terrorism or spread information about how to make bombs on the Web or advocate teachings that support terrorism and its agendas will also receive heavy punishment.
Among the sections in the new law are the following:
1. A prison sentence of one year and a fine of SR500,000 or both will apply to unauthorized persons who gain access to electronic networks. The punishment will also apply to hackers who hack into websites and change their contents or inflict damage to their contents. The law also applies to those who misuse technology and use the Internet to defame others or cause them harm.
2. A prison sentence of three years and a fine of SR2 million or both for any person who is found in unauthorized possession of electronic documents or property documents.
3. A prison sentence of four years and a fine of SR3 million or both will apply to any person who gains unauthorized entry to a public network. This sentence also applies to hackers or persons who install viruses that cause the stoppage of Internet usage or damage its facilities.
Persons who install software that forbids users from accessing the Internet in any way will also receive the same punishment and fine.
4. A prison sentence of five years in addition to a fine of SR5 million will apply to anyone who constructs a website or creates a program that violates the general law of Saudi Arabia, Islamic values or public ethics. The sentence also applies to those who create Internet websites that advocate vice and immorality. The same punishment and fine apply to those who create websites that defame humanity as well as those who construct websites that contain pornographic material. Persons who create websites that advocate drug usage will also receive the same punishment and fine.
5. A maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a fine of SR5 million or both will apply to any person who constructs a website that supports terrorist activities or who advocates how to make explosives as well as persons who use the Internet to establish means of communication between terrorist cells. The punishment also applies to any person who hacks into government networks and steals information related to national security.
The Council said that associates of those found guilty would receive half the punishment prescribed for the specific crime. It also authorized the Commission for Investigation and Public Prosecution to be the authorized body to cooperate with security officials in the Kingdom during the apprehension of violators and the confiscation of their devices.
Shoura Council President Saleh Bin-Humaid congratulated the members for completing the voting on all sections of the new law.
TITC Taking Over Internet Service
The Telecommunications and Information Technology Commission (TITC), the Kingdom’s telecom regulator, has started measures to take over Internet service from King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology (KACST). The shifting will be carried out gradually without affecting service, it said.
Saudi Telecom Company has established Internet gateways in Riyadh and Jeddah and has successfully shifted all Internet service providers to the new gateways.
