The Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA) urges the immediate halt of personal data sharing of vaccinated people with telecommunications companies. Any data transfer must be done out of respect to those who have received or plan to receive the vaccine, and to protect people’s personal data from further abuse by the private sector.
We view data sharing, particularly data of those who opted to take the vaccine, as a clear violation of privacy. Data such as phone numbers, full names, and dates of vaccination appointments, must only be shared after receiving clear and informed consent from registrants.
JOSA denounces this misuse of data by telecommunication companies, particularly the use of such data for commercial purposes. Sending an SMS to registrants following their vaccination appointment to promote or advertise services and offerings such as free data packages is one example. These text messages are sent without the consent of those who registered, and without their knowledge that their data was shared with these companies.
JOSA appeals to the Ministry of Health to urgently stop telecommunication companies from accessing private data, and respect the privacy of those who registered for the vaccine. JOSA calls on the relevant governmental entities to hurry and ratify the personal data protection law which protects technology users’ privacy, and would criminalise such actions by imposing severe penalties on the sharing and processing of private data of citizens without a clear consent.
