Dear Readers,
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Is it just my PC or has Omantel finally blocked Muscat Confidential, the home of our dear Mr.Dragon? I hadn't opened his blog for a few days but fellow bloggers informed me he had posted a rather controversial picture over the weekend? Tsk tsk...
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When I type in the link to his blog, I do not get the Blocked by Omantel page, but rather the 'Oops, the link appears to be broken' page, so I can't even send a message to Omantel asking them to unblock him. How unfair.
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We'll wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, to the rest of you ambitious bloggers out there, if you want to keep your blogs up and running, do be careful what you post.
It seems like he is blocked :(
ReplyDeleteI urge readers and fellow bloggers to submit a request to Omantel (at least those who get the Omantel blocked page)
I'll send Omantel an email, just because I'm learning a lot from Muscat Confidential.
ReplyDeleteIts not blocked here in UAE..... yet.
ReplyDeletefor this region, its controversial.
I also dropped a mail to Omantel early this morning. Maybe the CTU is after the Dragon...
ReplyDelete.... Nadia, there is an easy way to view sites that are blocked by Omantel if you really really want to. Ask the IT geeks.
ReplyDeletesorry, last part of my post was accidentally deleted before I posted it,
ReplyDelete.... but it's probably not wise to go around blocked sites.... You could get into trouble.
It was Blocked this morning.
ReplyDeleteI have mailed them
I wonder what he did/said when he found his blog blocked...
ReplyDeleteVery sad that it's blocked. Silly Omantel.
ReplyDeleteIt's not too difficult to circumvent those dumb filters though.
Also, I always enjoy reading your blogs through Google Reader, great way to discover new content.
Well done Omantel
ReplyDeleteI think that is because the image he posted in the lesbian message. He crossed the boundries of an expat in this country, harming the image of Omani girls. I hope they ll never unblock him (LOL).
Nadia,
ReplyDeleteThanks for breaking the block on Muscat Confidential! Although of course Omantel don't feel a need to actually justify such unilateral action, I suspect it was that photo posted a couple of days ago of two women kissing that did it.
Despite, IMHO, it being a pretty tame photo, the connection between it, the story it accompanied about an Omani bi-lesbian, and the fact that looked Omani, offended some people (I think a small minority of my readers) and it was probably enough to justify a block.
FYI, the photo has now been removed, and hopefully Omantel will unblock me as quickly as they did Community Queer last month, in response to emails requesting that they do so.
I'll also be making some direct representations to the powers that be.
So, thanks for the support people. If you want MC to be unblocked (especially now the suspect photo has been removed), just fill in the nice form provided by the Omantel bet-censors!
Note: viewers from outside Oman are not affected.
just a suggestion for all those who like to Google :) ... if you want some constructive reading, try google-ing 'hotspot shield' ... then, read on!
ReplyDeleteEmail the top man directly:
ReplyDeleteTo: chairman@tra.gov.om
Your Excellency Mohammed Nasser Al Khasibi,
I hope this email find you well. I would like to bring to your attention a very serious matter that has occurred today. The very popular blog Muscat Confidential ( http://muscatconfidential.blogspot.com/ ) was blocked by Omantel. I hope you appreciate that this will have many negative repercussions on the image of the Sultanate of Oman. Many international news agencies have been notified of this petty censorship of an innocuous blog and are planning to run stories that could harm the positive image of Oman as a progressive and open-minded country.
Your Excellency, I have every trust in you to take the necessary actions to remedy this situation immediately.
Best regards,
Shatti