KUWAIT CITY, 17 April 2005 — A Kuwaiti Parliamentary panel yesterday approved government proposed legislation laying down jail terms for people using Bluetooth technology in mobile phones to take or circulate pictures without the subject’s consent or for sexual blackmail.
MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai told reporters the prison penalty was adopted due to the “dangers the growing phenomenon poses to Kuwaiti society”.
According to the bill, people who use the technology to take pictures of others without consent face up to two years in prison or a fine of $6,800.
Those who use it to circulate such pictures face five years in jail while using Bluetooth pictures to blackmail others into adultery carries a penalty of 10 years in prison, Al-Tabtabai said.
The legislation will be effective after it is approved by Parliament and signed by the emir.
Talks on Terror Funding
US Treasury officials are to hold talks in Kuwait on ways to stop money being channeled to terrorist organizations, the US Embassy said yesterday.
“The delegation will discuss combating terrorist finance and money laundering,” embassy spokesman Mark Stroh told AFP as the group arrived in the emirate.
He said the group would meet government officials, including the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor which monitors charities.
The team is headed by Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Daniel Glaser.
