CAIRO - Although there are about 24 million Internet users in Egypt, according to Ministry of Communication statistics, there is still no comprehensive cyberspace law. The Ministry reported that there were over 50 non-traditional e-crimes, which slipped through the loophole, since the penalty code did not mention them. The rise of traditional and non-traditional cyber crimes has pushed some law experts to call for a comprehensive law that would deter hackers and criminals, who use the web for theft and fraud. This law should not limit freedom or have a negative impact on the exchange of information. Law experts usually classify cyber crimes into non-traditional and traditional categories. The former include the hacking of e-mails and websites or stealing personal data, while the latter involve threat, theft, fraud and libel. Hossam Lotfi, a law professor at Cairo University, said that the Egyptian law criminalises any act that harms someone's honour and dignity. "Filming an individual's activities and posting the clip on social networking sites with the intention of damaging that person's reputation is therefore considered a crime punishable by law," Lotfi added. "Over the past months some Facebook groups have launched smear campaigns with false accusations against prominent people. If anyone were caught in the act, they could face a libel charge. In such a case, the fine would be no less than LE5,000 and no more than LE15,000, according to Article 171 and 302 of the penalty code," Lotfi elaborated. He added that acts of debauchery, like posting photos of nude girls, often including their phone numbers, are crimes that could result in a two-year prison sentence and a fine of no less than LE5000, according to Article 187 of the penalty code. Osama el-Fayed, a professor of criminal law, said that despite the fact the Egyptian law punishes traditional e-crimes, there were more than 50 non-traditional ones not contained in the law, like data tampering and creating viruses. The legislative vacuum concerning e-crimes has not just given hackers a free playing field but has also increased cyber attacks on people's personal lives. Cyber police records are full of reports about Internet users, who take advantage of the legislative vacuum. They find it easy to collect data about someone's personal, social and financial life. "The State must enforce a law to control cyberspace and punish those who disclose personal information without consent," el-Fayed stressed. "The trouble is that there are no Egyptian laws controlling the Internet, except electronic signatures, which have their own law. "The judiciary wants to add the crime of creating a website without a license to the penalty code and put other crimes, like falsifying and stealing information, under the intellectual property law," el-Fayed added. Reda el-Sayed, a law professor at Ain Shams University, said that most Internet crimes are committed by elusive people and quite hard to detect, thanks to the absence of rules regulating the Internet. "There is no authority responsible for the registration of websites and e-mail accounts in the name of their owners or designers, as other countries do. In Australia, for example, all websites get registered. Otherwise it would be incredibly difficult to detect the perpetrators of Internet crimes," el-Sayed added. There has recently been a debate about the Facebook page of a group called ‘The Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice'. It was not clear who created the page; the Salafists (ultra-conservative Muslims) denied having anything to do with it. But if the website had been registered by name, it would have been easy to find its creator. "In the absence of a registration entity it's like looking for a needle in a haystack," el-Sayed said.
