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I'll start working in Dubai next month and now plan to install some downloaded video games and porn films to kill certain time.

Reading many Q&A in TSE, I learn that:

  1. Don't use a VPN to watch porn,
  2. Don't bring too many sex toys,
  3. Don't let anybody know of one's masturbation,
  4. No flirting in public.

So here is what I plan to do. I'll install all those dirty videos and games on my laptop before entering the UAE. They don't require Internet access, but some of them are Steam games. I will use them only in my private space. (Nobody will spy on me there, right?)

By doing so, is there any possibility that I'll get fined, imprisoned, or expelled?

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  • 13
    or worse, expelled
    – Azor Ahai -him-
    May 7, 2021 at 15:30
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    I think this question should really be "Can I legally play erotic video games in UAE?" Asking whether / how you can do illegal things in a jurisdiction sounds like it should be off topic, even if you don't like the law (which I don't). In any case, given the potential penalties in the UAE, I would strongly advise OP not to do anything illegal.
    – abligh
    May 7, 2021 at 17:46
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    Don't bring too many sex toy. I now have additional questions.
    – Russell Borogove
    May 7, 2021 at 17:50
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    Please, please do not close the question. It pertains to the use of cryptography to retain human rights suppressed by capricious random laws. It's a very important humanitarian issue. And yes, nothing funny about that, the right to masturbate is an unalienable human right.
    – kkm
    May 8, 2021 at 7:00
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    (serious) How often to UAE official search portable devices when coming in Dubai ? is that really something that normal people should be afraid of ?
    – Max
    May 8, 2021 at 10:13

1 Answer 1

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The games and films you intend to bring are almost certainly illegal to import or possess in the UAE.

Is it unlikely that you will be caught? Yes. Is there "any possibility" that you get fined, imprisoned or expelled? Absolutely: for example, your computer might be examined or confiscated for some completely unrelated reason, and they might find the illegal materials then.

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  • 7
    @BigMacBook Border controls are notorious. And that applies everywhere, not just in the UAE. Border security in most countries has far-reaching powers and very little restrictions on how to use them. Basically you can't expect any privacy and they can search anything on the slightest pretense (or for no reason at all). Zipping of Rarring (with password) won't safe you. (Might actually make matters worse as obviously you have something to hide.) And if you don't disclose the password they will just throw you in jail or deport you anyway.
    – Tonny
    May 7, 2021 at 13:09
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    You could definitely use cryptography in a savy and educated way. Immigration attendants do not have time to fully scrutiny a random traveler's laptop
    – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ
    May 7, 2021 at 13:09
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    @usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ The chance that they discover such material if it is well hidden is probably very slight. You are right about that. But would you be willing to risk it? Especially if you are checked and they find something, they might consider your attempt at "hiding it" as aggravating circumstances.
    – Tonny
    May 7, 2021 at 13:15
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    @usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ> said traveler is much less random if he is uneasy because he knows he risks much. That's the kind of things border controls are trained to recognize.
    – spectras
    May 8, 2021 at 0:14
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    it's always just ... sad ... when people think there's a technological !!! solution !!! to dealing with men with guns. ("This is how we can trick them!") They'll just shut you in a plain room for 30 or 40 hours. Then they'll put you on every possible list of sex offenders and worse internationally. Then they'll throw you out of the country. Then for the rest of your life when you go anywhere, do anything, apply for any job or file any paperwork you'll have to state that yes, you were thrown out of a country - for sex related issues. zip! crypt! Good grief.
    – Fattie
    May 8, 2021 at 16:48

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