DOHA — Qatar took a major step in its fight against cyber crimes with the Cabinet Wednesday approving a draft law to enact rules to bring to book hackers and others who misuse the Internet. The proposed law has provisions to protect state entities, business organizations, families and individuals from cyber criminals. At its weekly regular session presided over by Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim, the Cabinet decided to refer the draft law to the Advisory Council for its approval and recommendations. The new law is meant to punish anyone who manages, via the Internet or any information technology means, without a right, to enter a website and information system of any of the state's organs, institutions, authorities or otherwise affiliated bodies or companies thereon. It stipulates that anyone who establishes or runs a website via the Internet or any information technology means illegally, or publishes false news with the aim of jeopardizing the state safety, its general order, internal or external security, will be liable for legal action. The law will also punish any one who infringes on the social principles or values or otherwise publishes news, photos, audio or visual recordings related to the sanctity of the private and family life of persons, even if they are true, or infringes on others by libel or slander via the Internet or other information technology means. Speaking on the sidelines of a recent seminar, Minister of Justice Hassan Bin Abdullah Al-Ghanem had stressed the importance of regulating the use of cyberspace. “The individual is free to use cyberspace but within the limits of the law. In Qatar, we are interested in having a well-developed law to organize Internet freedom,” he said. — Agencies
