Capturing pictures and videos can be invasion of privacy

Taking pictures or shooting a video of somebody without his/her consent is an assault on that person's privacy, according to the law.

The UAE law states it is a violation and can therefore be penalised.

This law was reinforced once again last week when the video of an official beating a van driver went viral minutes after the incident took place. The video instigated the arrest of the official.

However, his family has filed a case against the person who took the video and published it on grounds of invasion of privacy. The uploader has been arrested.

There is a good chance that the amateur cameraman was unaware of any wrongdoing. The success of visual content on social media websites encourages users to pick up the camera phone and register whatever interesting situation occurs, to then share it with the rest of the world