Security in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi (and the UAE for that matter) is quite paranoid about security. If this is justified or not is different discussion altogether, however they rank close to what the US and the UK are doing in terms of surveillance.
There are many public (and probably just as many secret) surveillance methods in use:
- CCTV cameras are pervasive. Although I feel in London there are either more or not so well hidden.
- Country-wide WiFi network. Tropos implemented municipal and country-wide WiFi mesh. I am wondering if this mesh is used only for data communication or it is used also to eavesdrop on WiFi signal. Sounds like it has a great potential for collecting data.
- Etisalat/Du/Service providers. Quite openly the service providers are monitoring connections. Starting with the internet filtering (which as I understood was implemented by a Canadian company using bluecoat devices?) to the failed deployment of Blackberry monitoring software. Now they are publicly working with RIM to allow them to monitor Blackberry traffic.
- Road speedcams. They are pretty much everywhere. In Abu Dhabi they photograph from the back (apparently to protect privacy), in Dubai they photograph from the front. I wonder if they can dazzle and confuse drivers at night due to the flash.
- Road CCTV. Abu Dhabi is deploying road CCTV on some cantilever poles that are maybe 500m apart. From what I could observe each pole has optical fiber being pulled up to it and has at least two cameras installed on top (one dome, one fixed?). That's great potential for city-wide free WiFi!
- Are they monitoring the airwaves?
Food for thought:
- That is a lot of IT equipment (access points, cameras, fibers, switches, storage, etc). Now it's all shiny and new but how much will be Abu Dhabi spending to maintain that equipment when it's aging. What's the TCO?
- I think I've read somewhere (other than wikipedia) that the muezzin traditionally used to a blind person, who could not look down into the inner courts of the citizen's houses and thus could not violate privacy. Is the UAE breaking away from that tradition?
CategoryAbuDhabi
CategorySecurity
CategoryNotes
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