The United Arab Emirates is one of the most exclusive places to visit in the planet. Cities are swimming in money and tourism is also one of the country’s big sources of income: Abu Dhabi, for instance, is known to host the final race of the F1 championship each year in one of the most beautiful landscapes of the calendar. Dubai is also becoming the home ground for some companies that are moving their headquarters to Arab lands.
However, the country is heavily repressive regarding public internet access, even though those sites which are mostly affected by censorship are still available. Regardless of that, Freedom House has been rating the country as not free in its annual Freedom on the Net Report since 2013. Furthermore, local authorities have classified using a VPN as illegal, making its use very risky – but not impossible.
NordVPN has already managed to conquer the market by being one of the most reputable and trustworthy services ever made. Among its vast arsenal of features, the close attention given to security is one of the major highlights, thanks to the presence of an automatic kill switch, protection against DNS leaks, ads and malware, and even double VPN servers.
Speaking of which, these are only some of NordVPN's special servers that compose a global network filled with unusual locations, P2P countries, support for Onion over VPN, and more. NordVPN has a handful of different subscriptions in the form of simple apps for all kinds of devices and user types.
For as little as $3.09 per month, users can enjoy all the perks of having a secure and high-speed VPN. Plus, a generous refund policy allows you to get your money back if you decide NordVPN isn't for you during the first 30 days.
Proton VPN was originally created to protect journalists and activists from repressive governments and allow them to communicate safely, but it quickly rose in popularity among a broader audience. Launched by the Swiss company Proton AG in 2017, Proton VPN has everything required to let you browse the internet anonymously without worrying about privacy issues.
This multi-platform and open source VPN boasts above-average speeds, stable connections, no DNS leaks, P2P and streaming support, custom connection profiles, and best-in-class protocols like WireGuard. In addition, Proton VPN offers an unlimited free version and discounts of up to 64% on its paid plans.
is a Texas-based VPN service with an impressive network of 2,400 servers worldwide. It's one of the few VPN providers that manages all its infrastructure in-house, owning 100% of its servers and only using self-developed software for its service.
While being one of the fastest VPNs on the market, IPVanish also offers a vast range of features that not only provide faster speeds but also enhance stability and security. With a 7-day free trial and prices starting as low as $2.19 per month, users certainly get a lot for their money.
First of all, services like the much acclaimed Netflix have their own local version, with some of the top series and movies even having Arab subtitles, but they are obviously not as vast as the U.S. versions. Aside from that, the main sources of news are the more than 70 free-to-air TV channels, some of them being quite exclusive and/or being available in specific territories only. The latter is the main reason why using an UAE IP address can be useful, because if you can find a good online stream you don’t have to worry about regional blocks anymore. Still, unlike the practice of many other Arab countries, UAE television content is not blocked outside its borders.
As we mentioned before, the United Arab Emirates has its own share of blocked online content, accompanied by strict privacy laws that severely punish those who violate them. Internet regulations are issued by the TRA (Telecom Regulatory Authority) which are applied by the two ISPs of the country (Etisalat and du) in the form of website blocks. Over the past few years even some TV channels were censored too, two in particular belonging to Pakistani satellite TV services. Furthermore, the big majority of VoIP service providers, including WhatsApp, and Snapchat, are also completely blocked in the region. This is why the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders classifies UAE as one of the enemies of the free internet, while Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net Report labels the country as not free. In fact, FH gave worse and worse scores to the UAE, making the country reach newer lows on the list of the free countries in the world every year.
Even though internet censorship in the United Arab Emirates is rather strict, the country has been trying to show an open-minded image, especially since it has become such an iconic and rich tourist spot. The usual targets of repressive governments, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are not blocked; in fact, they are the most popular sites in the UAE, just like they usually are in free countries. Notwithstanding, the content made public on the above sites is strictly controlled: legislation forbids anyone to publish content deemed to threat the public order and those who damage in any way the country’s state or show disrespect towards the religion may be sent to jail.
But if the main online platforms of freedom are not blocked then what is blocked? According to the reports of NGOs, websites offering adult content, gambling sites, politically sensitive material are not allowed to be accessed inside the UAE’s borders. In addition to that, certain parts of Wikipedia and all Israeli domains are also blocked, plus anything that goes against the moral values of the country. Furthermore, media publications must be licensed and shall follow official guidelines, leading to the unfortunate practice of self-censorship amongst journalists.
To pour even more salt to the wound of complete web surfing freedom, in 2015 the Dubai police stated that tempering with the internet using VPNs within the country is a crime, therefore it is illegal. However, when the use of VPNs should be considered a crime against the regime highly depends on your own use of the software. If you use a VPN for privacy purposes or to simply enhance your internet speed, then you’re fine. But if you use it for unblocking any outlawed content or you perform other illegal acts (like torrenting), you must face severe consequences. It is unknown whether the country uses a great firewall like China does to unveil VPN users looking for an unlimited internet access, but there are known cases where certain blocked websites, which were available with VPNs, became unavailable again, even with a VPN connection.
Like we said before, Netflix is available in the UAE, although on a much smaller scale. The list of available shows is quite impressive, but not even close to the vastness of the U.S. version. Unfortunately, Netflix is the only streaming service available in the United Arab Emirates. Spotify, for instance, is out of question due to a number of licensing rights that the UAE doesn’t want to deal with, while Hulu, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer and many more are also restricted to UAE internet users. What makes it even sadder is the fact that the UAE provides the best internet speeds in the whole Arab region which could grant some sweet HD streaming. Furthermore, it is very likely that this country will be the first in the Arabian Peninsula that will provide 5G as well once it is launched.
However, if we take into consideration the previous paragraph, using a VPN to access these streaming sites should be acceptable, since you are not breaking “the law” and you are not accessing illegal content.
First of all, please do not feel intimidated: the perhaps vulgar name of the UK-based company is intended to be a pun. HMA VPN has a mascot in the form of a donkey, and thus this little wordplay is nothing to worry about. You should rather pay attention to the fact that HMA VPN is easily one of the best VPN companies today; they offer much more than a standard package. You are also welcome to try out the free web proxy, an anonymous e-mail service and an IP:Port premium service, which is essentially a more elaborate proxy product. On top of this, you also have VPN browser extensions for Chrome and Mozilla to use. HMA VPN does all this while still maintaining decent speeds and healthy prices. These are coupled with the fact that HMA VPN remains one of few providers who still enable access to Netflix. But the most impressive thing about this organization is the number of locations provided – it is unprecedented today.
PureVPN has more than 6,000 servers worldwide with reliable, secire, and uninterrupted connections, compatibility with over 50 devices, and excellent customer service.
Prices start as low as $2.11 per month for the VPN, and those willing to pay a little more can get their hands on a password manager, file encryption, and personal privacy manager – all under the same subscription. Plus, with a 7-day free trial, 31-day money-back guarantee, add-ons, and discounts of up to 83%, it would be a mistake not to consider PureVPN as a viable option.
VyprVPN, provided by Swiss-based Golden Frog, is one of the longest standing VPN services in the world. They own and manage both their server and their client software under one roof, without outsourcing anything to third party companies. Thanks to this, they not only guarantee unlimited bandwidth and stellar server uptime, but it has also allowed Golden Frog to come up with a set of innovative features. VyprVPN users have access to a unique network protocol called Chameleon, which scrambles metadata allowing you to bypass restrictions. Those who regularly run into unwanted malware sites, could prevent malicious redirections with the built-in VyprDNS feature and you can even manage your own VPN network via VyprVPN Cloud. The fast and secure routing is made complete with a large group of possible server locations, counting more than 70 countries and 200,000 IP addresses. VyprVPN is available for every major home device, smartphone and operating system. The subscription cost starts from $5 per month, but you can give it a go for free thanks to the 3-day trial.
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