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Dubai: A person has been fined Dh10,000 for illegally downloading and using programmes from Showtime, Art and Orbit on a website he launched in 2005.
Dubai Court of Misdemeanour also shut down the website www.dvd4uae.com that the 23-year-old Emirati set up for a month.
The court also ordered that the ruling be published in a daily newspaper.
The Public Prosecution charged the accused, A.S., with unlawfully deciphering the encrypted channels — Art, Showtime and Orbit. He was also charged with downloading different programmes, which he broadcast in special forums on the website for money.
The Public Prosecution considered his act a violation of Federal Law No. 7, 2007, of intellectual property rights, and Federal Law No. 2, 2006, of combating cyber crimes.
The Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) in Dubai reported Dubai Police’s anti-cyber crimes section that an unidentified suspect was deciphering the prepaid channels, downloading pirated movies and illegally broadcasting them to visitors in his website. AAA told police the suspect was charging viewers $10 (about Dh36.7) per month for a minimum subscription period of three months.
The police coordinated with Etisalat and discovered that A.S. launched the website from his home in Al Ain. A special computer and CDs of pirated movie were seized from him.
The verdict sheet said: “The suspect said during the Public Prosecution questioning that he launched the website in 2005 ... He hacked into others’ websites without permission, downloaded programmes and broadcast it to visitors.”
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