Ammon News - By Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS - The Cabinet on Sunday endorsed the final draft of the provisional 2010 Information Systems "Cyber" Crimes Law after amending several important provisions that had stirred controversy and opposition from electronic media journalists and rights activists.

Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications, Ali Al Ayed said that the law, both in its original and amended drafts, did not target electronic news websites and that the amendments came to clarify ambiguities and ensure effective implementation of the law.

During a meeting with journalists on Sunday, Al Ayed highlighted the status of press freedoms here noting that Jordan is the first Arab country to "give the right to access to information, stop detention and imprisonment of journalists, and stop referring journalists to military courts."

The amendments, Al Ayed said, came to stress the government's position regarding press freedoms, noting that the government consulted with a number of experts while reviewing the articles that had stirred criticism and opposition, in addition to taking into account the opinions of the National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) and the Jordan Bar Association (JBA).

“The government highly respects the role of the media in monitoring government performance and policies,” Al Ayed said, "as long as such criticism works to advance national interests and public interests."

On his part, Minister of Information and Communications’ Technology Marwan Juma said that the law comes to fill a legal void and to track and prosecute cyber criminals without touching on freedoms of the press or electronic media in particular.

Juma added that the newly amended law took into consideration the feedback provided from various groups regarding the original draft and removed the vagueness and ambiguity "to categorically reveal without any doubt that the law does not target electronic news websites."

The newly amended final draft removed a number of provisions in a manner that more clearly defines electronic crimes, he said, such as Article 8, which criminalizes "anyone who intentionally sends or disseminates data or information through the Internet or any information system that involves defamation, contempt, or slander."

Article 8 was deleted considering that Article 15 of the same law (Article 14 after amendment) dealt with criminalizing acts using the Internet or an information system, and since defamation, slander and contempt are already defined in current laws as crimes, the article was removed to avoid overlapping laws.

Article 9 (Article 8 in amended law) was amended by raising the prison sentence for any person who intentionally uses the Internet or an information system to prepare, store, process, print, publish or disseminate pornography that affects those who are under 18 years of age, or are physically or mentally disabled, to no less than 2 years and a fine of a minimum of JD 1,000 penalty and up to JD 5,000, whereas if a person intentionally uses the Internet or an information system to exploit minors or a person who is mentally or physically disabled into pornography or prostitution, the punishment is raised to a hard labor sentence with a penalty of no less than JD 5,000 and a maximum of JD 15,000.

Article 12B (Article 11B after amendment) was amended by deleting the paragraph that states "or such information or spread ideas that affect national security or the Kingdom's foreign relations, or public safety or the national economy" to stress that the aim is to criminalize attempts to destroy, change, transfer, or copy data or information that affect national security or foreign relations or public safety or the national economy, and to remove any vagueness regarding criminalizing publishing data or information, considering that the main aim of the law is to protect information systems and the Internet and to protect information and data and to effectively prosecute cyber crimes.

Articles 13A and 13B (Article 12A and 12B after amendment) were also amended to further clarify that law enforcement personnel are required to obtain a warrant from the concerned public prosecutor or concerned court, if a complaint or evidence is found to indicate or suspect that the place to be searched has been used to commit the crimes stipulated in this law.

The amendments also indicated in the above mentioned Articles "with consideration of the rights of the suspect" to avoid violating privacy of personal information during the search.