The Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) has made it mandatory for all Internet cafés to send details of their customers to it on a weekly basis.
"After inspecting a number of cybercafés, it appeared that their owners were not in compliance with the procedures and conditions laid down by TRA Resolution No 11/2011. So the authority decided to make it compulsory for the operators to make a record of visitors along with their personal details and send it to TRA every week," said a TRA official.
Although maintaining a record of customers and also of the data downloaded by them is a must according to Resolution No 11/2011, many cybercafés were found to be flouting the rules. "On our inspections, when we asked the operators to give us the records, hardly anyone came up with the required documents," the official said.
To educate café owners, TRA is planning to hold a workshop to spread awareness in Salalah during the Khareef Festival. "It's still in the planning stage, but we hope such an endeavour will help every Internet café operator to know about his obligations and the rules governing the sector."
The official added that all the operators have been informed about the latest development through a public notice. A specialised form on the TRA website, which can be downloaded and sent back with personal details of Internet café users, is available for this purpose.
When Muscat Daily checked with a couple of cybercafé operators, they were not too sure of the new requirement. "I have not heard about sending a periodical update to TRA. No one has told us about it," said Abdul Azeeb, who runs a cybercafé in Wadi Kabir.
However, another operator in CBD, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "We used to maintain a record of visitors for ourselves, but now we have to send it regularly to TRA."
The TRA official said the authority is also keeping a watch on the illegal provision of VoIP services by cybercafés, a service that many continue to provide illegally, despite there being serious consequences if they are caught.
In the last couple of months, the ROP has raided many establishments around the country to check the crime, with the most recent raids resulting in the arrest of eight people in two separate incidents in Haima.
© Muscat Daily 2011
