Andrei Bastunets: Every Move In Internet Is Monitored In Belarus

The Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) Andrei Bastunets commented on the statement by Minister Shunevich, related to the fight against “terrorism.”

The interior ministry's K Directorate, and other special police services monitoring the internet will pay more attention to the events on the web in connection with the terrorist attacks in France. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus Ihar Shunevich said that on November 19.

How the additional attention of law enforcement officers to the Internet will affect Internet freedom and the rights of ordinary Internet users? The Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) Andrei Bastunets admitted such a threat exists, Radio Svaboda reports.

– Yes, there is such a threat, and, by the way, it concerns not only Belarus. You may recall that after the 2001 terrorist attacks the powers of secret services were seriously increased, and pressure on certain civil liberties was observed in the US. Therefore, it is quite predictable that we will have the same situation here, the online behavior of citizens will be controlled more closely.

By the way, I remind you that, regardless of all that attacks, before January 1 all providers must install special equipment that allows recording which sites people visit, how they act on the Web. This is prescribed by Lukashenka’s decree, which aims to fight against drug trafficking, but this decree has a norm which directly concerns all the users. I think something like this will happen to the “fight” against terrorism by special services. It’s clear, that this is a serious matter, but in our conditions it can affect everyone in many ways.

– How do you assess the current state of freedom in the Internet?

– The Internet, as well as the whole informational space, is being gradually taken under a greater state control. We see that the theoretical guiding is carried out by the Ministry of Information, which can make decisions on blocking websites. We have seen recently how BelaPAN site could not work for a while after DDoS attacks. Again, I remind you of the decree, which allows to control every step of a citizen on the Internet in Belarus. It will start from January 1, but I think that for us it is true today, not tomorrow. It is obvious that the Internet space, which was the freest one in the information field, is gradually falling under the state control, and the problems with which we are constantly encountering in the traditional media, are being transferred to the Internet as well.