Knowledge
Foundations of digital law.
Plain explanations of the law that governs online harm, content ownership, personal data and digital evidence — written for the person who has to make a decision, not for another lawyer.
- Articles
- 14
- Topics
- 8
- Jurisdictions
- KE · AE
Online defamation and reputation
What the law protects, what it does not, and how a reputational claim is actually built and defended when the publication is online.
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What online defamation is — and what it is not
Most people arriving with an online reputation problem describe something the law of defamation does not cover. Understanding where the boundary sits is the difference between a claim that works and an expensive detour.
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Defamation in Kenya: the statutory frame, the defences and the clock
Kenyan defamation law is received common law modified by a 1970 statute, sitting under a constitution that protects both expression and reputation. This is where the provisions that decide real cases are found.
Copyright and content ownership
Who owns online material, how takedown regimes work in Kenya and the United States, and why copyright is so often reached for in the wrong situation.
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Who owns online content: copyright foundations in Kenya
Kenyan copyright has two features that surprise almost everyone — the commissioner of a work usually owns it, and the country runs on a shorter protection term than the jurisdictions most online advice is written for.
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The DMCA takedown notice: how it works and what it cannot do
The American notice-and-takedown regime is the most widely used content removal mechanism in the world, and it is available to Kenyan and Emirati rightsholders. It is also the mechanism most often deployed in situations it was never designed for.
Platforms, hosting and domains
The layers of the internet that can act on content, what each of them can and cannot do, and the order in which they should be approached.
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The escalation ladder: who can actually remove online content
Six layers of the internet can be asked to act on a piece of content. Each has different powers, different obligations and different failure modes, and approaching them in the wrong order is the most common way a removal effort collapses.
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Domain name disputes: the UDRP, .ke and .ae
Domain disputes are one of the few areas of internet law with a fast, cheap, genuinely effective procedure. It also has a trademark prerequisite that defeats most of the complaints people want to bring.
Privacy and data protection
Personal data rights, unlawful publication and regulator-facing routes for matters connected to Kenya and the United Arab Emirates.
Digital evidence and cyber incidents
How online material becomes admissible evidence, and how it is most often lost before anyone thinks to preserve it.
Technology and online business
Contracts, platform terms and the practical allocation of risk in digital ventures.
UAE law foundations
The Emirati instruments that most often govern online harm, personal data and content, and how they differ from common-law expectations.
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The UAE cybercrime law: Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021
The Emirati cybercrime law reaches conduct that in most common-law jurisdictions would be a private dispute or no dispute at all, and it reaches some conduct committed outside the country entirely.
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Defamation in the UAE: a criminal complaint, not a civil claim
The single largest divergence between Emirati and common-law practice is that truth is not a general defence. A factually accurate criticism can still be a criminal offence.
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Data protection in the UAE: three regimes in one country
The federal law has been in force since 2022 but is not yet an operative enforcement regime. The free zones are a different story — and one of them now lets data subjects sue directly for distress.
Practical guides
Sequenced, decision-focused guidance for the situations that arrive without warning.
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The first 48 hours: what to do when something harmful appears online
The decisions made in the first two days determine what remains possible for the next two years. Almost all of them are about restraint.
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When a takedown is the wrong move
Removal is not always the objective, the fastest route or the safest one. Some of the worst outcomes in online disputes come from a takedown that worked exactly as intended.
These articles describe the law in general terms.
They are not advice on your situation, and reading them does not create an advocate–client relationship. If something is moving quickly, the sooner evidence is preserved the more options remain open.