Authorities tighten control over Internet users

The Belarusian telecommunication operators have been obliged to keep information on services rendered to their clients for five years.

Earlier, in accordance with rules of rendering telecommunication services, operators must have kept information on the services rendered and paid bills for three years. Information could have been deleted upon expiry of the abovementioned period. “Yezhednevnik” notes that from now, this information must be stored for five years.

A period of storing information about the services rendered by mobile operators and paid bills has been expended from three to five years as well.

Experts think this decision was made as part of the governmental campaign of tightening control over using Internet, including by means of mobile cellular communications.

As charter97.org has earlier reported, on January 4 Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the Law on Amendments to Some Laws of Belarus to Clamp down on Criminal Activity.

On January 15, the Operative Analytical Center under president of Belarus got the right to carry out investigative activity in Belarus. In other words, the Center has the right to control Internet mailing of Belarusians and monitor activity of Belarusians on the Internet.

The text of the Draft Law on Measures for Revising Use of the National Segment of the World Wide Web had appeared on the Internet had appeared on the Internet in December 2009. The scandalous document says about blocking uncomfortable for the authorities websites, identification of Internet users, bringing those who spread information to responsibility, state registration of the Internet media.