Decree Blog

This student article is written by Jumana Al-Masroori and Fatema Al-Nuaimi, Law Students at Sultan Qaboos University College of Law, under the supervision of Dr Saleh Al-Barashdi. This article is part of a series of student articles published on Decree in collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University College of Law to showcase the legal academic writing of Omani law students.

The widespread of the internet had a major impact on the economy through the rapid process of digitalising services,[1] which consequently led online platforms to become a habitat to numerous online transactions,[2] as such platforms allow their service providers to expand across borders and supply various markets.[3] Online platform providers can be defined as “a mediating entity operating in two or multi sided markets, which uses the internet to enable direct interactions between two or more distinct but interdependent groups of users.”[4] This article will cover the different kinds of legal liability to which platform providers may be subject to.

This student article is written by Sheikha Al-Yaqoubi, Law Student at Sultan Qaboos University College of Law, under the supervision of Dr Saleh Al-Barashdi. This article is part of a series of student articles published on Decree in collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University College of Law to showcase the legal academic writing of Omani law students.

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is a term used to refer to “physical objects embedded with sensors and software that connect them to other devices and systems over the internet.”[1] Using the Internet of Things (IoT) reduces the burden of managing the household manually.[2] One of the most common households IoT devices are cleaning devices which can be defined as “machines that dispense cleaning agents automatically and adjust the quantities according to different factors (e.g., dirtiness, weight) and allow remote switching on or off.”[3] Unfortunately, as cleaning devices become more common and develop faster, the pace of developing protection techniques is not always able to keep up with the pace of the development of cleaning devices, which can result in an increased risk in cyber threats including cyberattacks.[4]

This article will explore cyberattacks carried through smart cleaning devices, the methods that the hackers can use to breach an online system, some tips to improve the safety of cleaning devices, and finally the regulation of cyberattacks in Omani law. 

This student article is written by Adeeb Al-Mazroui, Law Student at Sultan Qaboos University College of Law, under the supervision of Dr Saleh Al-Barashdi. This article is part of a series of student articles published on Decree in collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University College of Law to showcase the legal academic writing of Omani law students.

When the term “Smart” is used, this usually means that a device is capable of making the life of its user easier. In the context of “smart homes”, this simply refers to a home equipped with connected appliances with software controls.[i] These connected devices may allow the user to control them through a mobile device while being away from the home by communicating with the devices and the servers that are linked to them.

These connected devices can put the privacy of their users in danger, as it might be possible to access the data of the user by third parties, especially in cases where the technical protection applied to the connection is not sufficiently strong. Given that privacy is recognised as a fundamental human right of great significance—as recognised by various domestic, regional, and international documents,[ii] there is a great incentive for scientists and specialists to improve the technologies used to protect this fundamental right.

This article aims to illustrate and analyse some key risks to the use of smart homes and attempts to identify reasonable solutions to mitigate such risks.