VPNs with servers in Jordan

The Cybercrime Law No. 17 of 2023 lets a prosecutor or court order a provider to hand over data identifying a site’s or system’s owner or user and to preserve data urgently (art. 33(a)); it names no period. Whether either law reaches a VPN operator is not established.

Under art. 33 of the Cybercrime Law a prosecutor or court may order a provider or platform to remove, block or intercept content, or to ban a user temporarily. If the provider does not respond, the system, platform or service or the content may be blocked, and refusal is fined 15,000 to 30,000 dinars.

Art. 37 requires foreign platforms with over 100,000 subscribers in Jordan to establish an office in the kingdom; non-compliance can bring advertising bans and bandwidth reductions.

Art. 15(a) punishes publishing fake news targeting national security and community peace, or defaming, slandering or demeaning any person, and art. 16 attributing to a person acts that would assassinate his character, each with at least three months’ imprisonment or a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 dinars, or both; art. 17 punishes content inciting hatred or sedition with one to three years or the same fine.

Art. 12 punishes using a false or third-party IP address with the intent to commit a crime or prevent its discovery (at least six months or 2,500 to 25,000 dinars). An IP address is a means of proof (art. 36(c)), and investigators may inspect devices and networks with permission of the prosecutor or court (art. 32).

Article 18 of the Constitution treats postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications and other means of communication as secret, not subject to monitoring, inspection, suspension or confiscation except by judicial order in accordance with the law. Art. 56 of the Telecommunications Law makes private telecommunications confidential under legal liability. The order of the rows is the security score, and a server’s location is not a recommendation.