Comments on: The OpenNet Initiative Report on Oman

By: Muscato

Muscato — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:01:10 +0000

FWIW, most of the URLs which are cited in the profile , based on checking them today, remain blocked, although oddly several of the druggy ones now aren't.

Over time, I've found it most annoying that some areas of Wikipedia are blocked, although inconsistently. Not surprisingly, several English-language sites that attack HM are blocked, and the whole VOIP thing really annoys a lot of people. On the whole the filters in Oman seem much less annoying to the average user than those in the UAE, which seem to happen more at the domain-name level (i.e. all of Flickr, etc.).

By: Muscato

Muscato — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 09:01:10 +0000

FWIW, most of the URLs which are cited in the profile , based on checking them today, remain blocked, although oddly several of the druggy ones now aren't.

By: Blue_Chi

Blue_Chi — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:26:59 +0000

I think they probably were unblocked after you tested them. Anyway, check your email for my corrections and notes.

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:14:09 +0000

Unless we made a huge mistake, there are two possible explanations that I can think of:

1. Your Internet connection is not blocked (I have heard reports from friends in Qatar of being somehow outside the filter, not sure if this happens in Oman)

2. The sites were unblocked after we tested them.

We are re-testing in the region, so hopefully this round will show us that those sites are unblocked. Still, do e-mail me, I don't mind being proven wrong!

By: Blue_Chi

Blue_Chi — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:07:42 +0000

There is only one ISP in the country – Omantel. Most of the sites linked are not blocked. I will email you all the details with citations for sure.

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:59:18 +0000

(I'm an Arabic speaker too, btw – no justification whatsoever in that area).

Please email me any specific information you find inaccurate, as well as citations to back it up. We are of course happy to provide as accurate information as possible.

Incidentally, in regard to the blocked sites, a look back at our testing (performed last fall/this spring) concludes that those sites were, at the time, filtered. What ISP are you on?

By: Blue_Chi

Blue_Chi — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:49:32 +0000

I thought that the only justification for this inaccuracy was the lack of the participation of an Arabic speaker!

Would love to contribute in helping making this more accurate. How do we go about in doing this?

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:15:03 +0000

Do you have any constructive comments as to perceived inaccuracies in the Iran and UAE reports? Not only do we empirically test over 1,500 sites in each country that we review, we also research using news and other sources. Of course, that leaves us wide open for error, and I realize that there is potential for errors in our testing (particularly when it comes to countries which frequently block and unblock sites, since our tests can only be run at a given time, not in an ongoing manner).

By: Jillian C. York

Jillian C. York — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:13:22 +0000

That's actually untrue; the person who writes the reports is a native Arabic speaker who lives in the UAE.

Regardless of that fact, there is always the chance that we've gotten information incorrect, and we'd love to have your specific feedback as to what is specifically inaccurate.

By: Blue_Chi

Blue_Chi — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:14:24 +0000

I mentioned in the post that the report is inaccurate, but that is not to say that it is totally made up. All their facts are cited from proper websites such as the BBC and national regional newspapers. I think it misses a lot of facts because no Omani or Arabic speaking person is involved in the process.