 The
international human rights organisation Reporters Without Borders have
made a statement of protest expressing their concern over the plans of the
Belarusian government to tighten control over Internet.
The matter concerns the decree On Measures for Revising Use of the National
Segment of the World Wide Web which appeared in the press on December 14,
2009. The organisation attracts attention to the fact that the freedom of speech
in Belarus is considerably limited even without that.
We must emphasize our concern about this bill, which threatens
online free speech and everyone's right to express their views
anonymously without fear of government repression, Reporters Without
Borders said. After placing most of the traditional media under its
control, the regime is pursuing an offensive against new media.
The press freedom organisation added: The president's attempts to
be reassuring cannot hide the repressive nature of this bill, which is
liable to make netizens censor themselves. It should be abandoned so
that Belarus is not added to the list of countries such as North Korea,
China and Iran that Reporters Without Borders has identified as Enemies
of the Internet.
The scandalous internet law proposal mentions blocking websites by
the decision of state organs, identification of web users,
responsibility for dissemination of information on the web, and state
registration of online media.
According to the first version of the decree, hosting of Belarusian
websites is obligatory transferred to Belarus, and in order to access
internet even in dial-up mode, Belarusians would have to show passport
to the provider first.
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