3.8m UAE residents have downloaded VPN, but is it legal to use it?

Dubai - VPNs have the highest penetration rate in the UAE compared to any other Arab country.

The use of virtual private networks (VPNs) is the highest in Arab countries, where the top five VPN services have a penetration rate of 23.8 per cent, according a report by Atlas VPN.

The report found that the top five countries in the Arab world that use VPNs are the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

VPN is a service that hides the user's real IP address and encrypts the online traffic. As a result, these changes prevent third parties such as the government, internet service providers (ISPs), or hackers, from tracking the user's activities online.

The report revealed that 3.82 million UAE residents downloaded VPN in the first half of 2020 with a penetration rate reaching 38.7 per cent. It was the highest rate among the Arab countries as well as worldwide.

The UAE was followed by Qatar, where 0.8 million residents downloaded VPN, making 27.9 per cent of the population. Oman comes third with 1.2 million downloads, accounting for 23.8 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with 5.4 million downloads and Kuwait at 0.55 million downloads.

The UAE has a strict internet policy that bans all content that violates the country's moral and religious sentiments, as well as puts national safety and security at risk, or puts national harmony in jeopardy.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services are also banned in the UAE, which is one of the main reasons expats choose VPNs as a solution to reach out to their families in their home countries.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com