criticism of the sultan or government officials will
be censored and could lead to police questioning. 17 Although some degree of criticism of the
government has been tolerated in practice, especially on the Internet, writers and publishers generally exercise significant self-censorship. In
November 2006, the Omani authorities briefly
detained the administrator and a number of moderators of Oman’s most popular online discussion forum (www.omania.net) after an article
about corruption in the country was posted in the
forum. 18 The administrator and moderators were
banned from traveling outside the country, awaiting charges of defamation under the publication
law, telecommunications law, and penal code. 19
In February 2007 a note in Arabic was posted on
the Web site saying that the administrator was
found innocent. No other details were mentioned.
Internet use in Oman is regulated by
Omantel’s Terms & Conditions, which mandates
that users “not carry out any unlawful activities
which contradict the social, cultural, political, religious or economical values of the Sultanate of
Oman or could cause harm to any third party ….
Any abuse and misuse of the Internet Services
through e-mail or news or by any other means
shall result in the termination of the subscription
and may result in the proceedings of Criminal or
Civil lawsuits against the Customer.” 20
To use the Internet, individuals, companies,
and institutions are asked to sign an agreement
not to publish anything that destabilizes the state;
insults or criticizes the head of state or the royal
family; questions trust in the justice of the government; creates hatred toward the government
or any ethnicity or religion; promotes religious
extremism, pornography, or violence; promotes
any religious or political system that contradicts
the state’s system; or insults other states. Users
must also agree not to promote illegal goods or
prescription drugs over the Internet. 21
Omantel imposes additional physical
restrictions on Internet access in Internet cafés.
Individuals or companies wishing to open an
Internet café must submit a floor plan for the proposed site. The plan must be designed so that
the computer screens are visible to the floor
supervisor. No closed rooms or curtains are
allowed that might obstruct view of the monitors. 22 Moreover, Internet café operators are
asked to install proxy servers to monitor and log
user activity. 23
ONI testing results
Oman’s exclusive ISP, Omantel, was tested using
dialup, “Log ‘N’ Surf” service, and ADSL connections. As suggested by the text of Omantel’s
blockpage, results indicated extensive blocking
of pornographic Web sites. Some Web sites featuring provocative attire were blocked as well.
There was also extensive blocking of gay
and lesbian sites, though sites relating to gay civil
rights and equality issues, such as www.glaad.
com and www.hrc.org, were largely accessible.
Omantel also blocked some dating Web
sites—probably because they contained either
sexually explicit images (www.adultfriendfinder.
com) or gay and lesbian content (www.gay
romeo.com).
Anonymizing and proxy circumvention tools,
such as Anonymizer and Proxify, were heavily
blocked. Some Web sites dealing with hacking
and cracking, such as keygencrack.com,
were blocked. Only one of the many peer-to-peer
Web sites tested was blocked (www.hyper
torrent.com).
Although testing did not reveal the Web sites
of Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to
be blocked, subscriber complaints suggest that
the functionality of Skype, a popular VoIP application, has been crippled. 24 Omantel sources
have reported to the media that past filtering of
Skype was unintentional and would be remedied,
but this statement has raised suspicions
because SmartFilter categorizes www.skype.com
as a “Web Phone” site, a category that Omantel
would have had to specifically activate. 25 In
March 2007 Oman’s TRA openly banned the use
352
Country Summaries
be censored and could lead to police questioning. 17 Although some degree of criticism of the
government has been tolerated in practice, especially on the Internet, writers and publishers generally exercise significant self-censorship. In
November 2006, the Omani authorities briefly
detained the administrator and a number of moderators of Oman’s most popular online discussion forum (www.omania.net) after an article
about corruption in the country was posted in the
forum. 18 The administrator and moderators were
banned from traveling outside the country, awaiting charges of defamation under the publication
law, telecommunications law, and penal code. 19
In February 2007 a note in Arabic was posted on
the Web site saying that the administrator was
found innocent. No other details were mentioned.
Internet use in Oman is regulated by
Omantel’s Terms & Conditions, which mandates
that users “not carry out any unlawful activities
which contradict the social, cultural, political, religious or economical values of the Sultanate of
Oman or could cause harm to any third party ….
Any abuse and misuse of the Internet Services
through e-mail or news or by any other means
shall result in the termination of the subscription
and may result in the proceedings of Criminal or
Civil lawsuits against the Customer.” 20
To use the Internet, individuals, companies,
and institutions are asked to sign an agreement
not to publish anything that destabilizes the state;
insults or criticizes the head of state or the royal
family; questions trust in the justice of the government; creates hatred toward the government
or any ethnicity or religion; promotes religious
extremism, pornography, or violence; promotes
any religious or political system that contradicts
the state’s system; or insults other states. Users
must also agree not to promote illegal goods or
prescription drugs over the Internet. 21
Omantel imposes additional physical
restrictions on Internet access in Internet cafés.
Individuals or companies wishing to open an
Internet café must submit a floor plan for the proposed site. The plan must be designed so that
the computer screens are visible to the floor
supervisor. No closed rooms or curtains are
allowed that might obstruct view of the monitors. 22 Moreover, Internet café operators are
asked to install proxy servers to monitor and log
user activity. 23
ONI testing results
Oman’s exclusive ISP, Omantel, was tested using
dialup, “Log ‘N’ Surf” service, and ADSL connections. As suggested by the text of Omantel’s
blockpage, results indicated extensive blocking
of pornographic Web sites. Some Web sites featuring provocative attire were blocked as well.
There was also extensive blocking of gay
and lesbian sites, though sites relating to gay civil
rights and equality issues, such as www.glaad.
com and www.hrc.org, were largely accessible.
Omantel also blocked some dating Web
sites—probably because they contained either
sexually explicit images (www.adultfriendfinder.
com) or gay and lesbian content (www.gay
romeo.com).
Anonymizing and proxy circumvention tools,
such as Anonymizer and Proxify, were heavily
blocked. Some Web sites dealing with hacking
and cracking, such as keygencrack.com,
were blocked. Only one of the many peer-to-peer
Web sites tested was blocked (www.hyper
torrent.com).
Although testing did not reveal the Web sites
of Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to
be blocked, subscriber complaints suggest that
the functionality of Skype, a popular VoIP application, has been crippled. 24 Omantel sources
have reported to the media that past filtering of
Skype was unintentional and would be remedied,
but this statement has raised suspicions
because SmartFilter categorizes www.skype.com
as a “Web Phone” site, a category that Omantel
would have had to specifically activate. 25 In
March 2007 Oman’s TRA openly banned the use
352
Country Summaries