Media: Lukashenka to turn screws on Internet by New Year’s Eve

The Belarusian authorities hurry to impose censorship in the Internet as early as possible ahead of the forthcoming elections.

Belarusian Internet users, still uncontrolled by the Belarusian authorities, are rather anxious about a New Year “present” of the authorities. As local mass media report, a draft decree on cyber space regulation, which is to come into force from day to day, was worked out by legislatives, Russian “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” writes.

The text of the draft decree aimed at “eliminating anarchy on the Internet”, as said by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, appeared in the global network. The document provoked negative reaction of journalists, providers and Internet users. The draft suggests that registration of Internet media and identification of users, including clients of Internet cafes, should be imposed. Moreover, the document provides for blocking extremist websites on requests. The document also suggests that Internet providers should be responsible for content of information spread by users. The last details caused anxiety of mobile network operators: it can mean that extremist statements spread via mobile networks can lose a license.

Local experts, indignant at intentions of the Belarusian authorities, suppose the text of the document appeared on the Internet on an initiative of ideology officers, who decided to see if the public and Europe, keeping a close eye on Belarus, will swallow a bitter Internet-pill.

Careful reading the text explains that Belarusian Internet users are afraid more of a Belarusian practice rather than the document itself. The draft decree offers Internet providers to collect and keep identification information about the users, revealing it “on requests of governmental bodies, investigative agencies, bodies of prosecution and preliminary investigation, tax inspections, courts”. The same regards restriction of access to websites. The document says that this norm can be applied against the websites calling to extremist activity, stirring up national and religious hatred, promoting illegal migration and human trafficking, spreading port materials, promoting violence and cruel treatment, and “other activities forbidden by the law”.

Countering extremism will hardly evoked indignation in a law-based state. However, Belarus has experience of applying such norms to countering dissent – opposition and independent media. For example, an opposition newspaper “Narodnaya Volay” has recently got a warning from the Ministry of Information for extremism. The article, considered extremist, wrote that people may take to streets if elections are rigged.

As “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” wrote earlier, the Belarusian media space hasn’t changed much since the Soviet times: all TV channels and most political newspapers are owned by the state, a couple of private mass media outlets doesn’t have access to readers and “stews in your own juice”. More and more new resources appear the Internet, where pluralism and democracy rule, where a few former printed newspapers have moved to. The number of Internet users in Belarus increase, so the intention of the authorities to gain control over this segment ahead of the elections (early 2011) seems rather logical. It didn’t come as a surprise. The new Law on Mass Media effective since February 8, 2009, gave the government the right to regulate Internet media. The recent appointment of presidential ideologist Aleh Pralyaskouski, a vocal supporter of interference of the state with the Internet, to the post of minister of information have made the local mass media suppose the authorities are going to turn screws on the Internet.