A responsible open data initiative must respect the privacy of individuals by not putting the personal data of members of the public at risk. Oman has a variety of laws that protect the privacy of users and that must be taken into consideration by publishers of open data.
First of all, article 36 of the Basic Statute of the State, i.e. the Omani Constitution, protects the right to private life as a constitutional right. Secondly, Oman has a comprehensive Personal Data Protection Law that grants data subjects several rights and imposes on data controllers and data processors a variety of obligations. Thirdly, the Penal Law and the Cybercrime Law both criminalise certain activities that violate the privacy of individuals.
In addition to these general provisions, the release of certain personal data is regulated in the banking sector by article 70 of the Banking Law, in regard to electronic transactions and electronic certification services by article 43 of the Electronic Transactions Law, in the telecom sector by the TRA Data Protection Guidelines, and in the health sector by article 33 of the Medical Profession Law.
Depending on the sector to which the data belongs, the publisher of the data must be aware of the relevant legal provisions restricting release.