Emirati and Arab women have become victims of internet users, who have found a new way to harass them in cyberspace, according to Khaleej Times on Sunday.
The paper said that advertisements placed in the personal column of excite.com website under the heading "Female seeking male," provide internet users worldwide with the telephone numbers of some UAE residents. Once the ad with the mobile or landline telephone number of a person appears, some women, and even men, start getting calls from all over the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In one case, the number posted on the web site was that of a Jordanian family living in Abu Dhabi. Two ads appeared on the site in quick succession, one giving the mobile number of the family's 19-year-old daughter, and the other listing her residence number, prompting them to believe that the troublemaker is someone who knows her.
In other cases, the numbers of a national man, a Lebanese girl and people of various nationalities have appeared, said the paper.
The ads, full of spelling and grammatical errors, give different descriptions of the person purported to have placed the ad, such as red-haired, athletic and married in one case, or blond, thin, Middle Eastern in another. But all read suspiciously alike and have exactly the same spelling mistakes, said the article.
One titled "Sooner the better, female seeking male, 25 years old," says: "noooo need to think too much, and don't click reply on this ad....just dial my number and get me NOW....I wanna meet you b4 my husband back from Lebanon.........please find me on ziro five ziro (and then the rest of the number)...waiting..."
Another ad, "Girl wanna have fun," listing the residence number of the same family says, "I'm an exciting Lebanese girl, I like to have friends, no matter who you are, only you should have your own place...if you are ready call me on #...I live in Abu Dhabi with my brother but don't worry, you can pass him ...(the rest of the ad is unprintable).
The young girl, whose telephone numbers were listed without her knowledge, told the paper she was certain the person had malicious intentions because the individual wanted surfers to call her, not write.
"I have no e-mail, you see. I have written a letter to Etisalat, and they had informed me that they are coordinating with Dubai police, but would not reveal the name of the culprit unless they were absolutely sure. I feel this person is known to me as he or she knows both my mobile and home number, so it was not randomly picked from the phonebook. But I am wondering who can be so vicious, as I have had some really lewd calls and have had to explain to my parents why all these men were constantly calling up from all over the world 24 hours a day."
Major General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai police, was quoted in the report as saying that “intrusion by unscrupulous people using the internet is a serious crime and the police are aware of the dangers posed by the problem.”
He said the police were constantly coordinating with the country's lone internet service provider Etisalat and serious complaints regarding misuse of the internet were channeled by Etisalat to the police.
However, the police and IT experts believe that some misuse of the service continues to defy international efforts to keep the service disciplined. "We are always keeping ourselves informed about the efforts to guard internet sites against hackers and misusers." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
