Belarus imposed fines for visiting banned Internet sites from January 6, 2012

· Analytics, Belarus

A New Year’s gift from the Belarusian authorities to their people will be the launch of a mass campaign to fine citizens for viewing websites the state considers “incorrect” and for refusing to use the national segment of the virtual space, reports www.SlavicVoice.org, citing Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Experts assert that this is tantamount to a ban on using the Internet.

Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, which oblige Belarusians to use only websites registered in the national Internet segment, come into force on January 6, 2012. A fine of between 40 and 125 dollars in equivalent threatens those who try to offer their goods and services by posting information on non-Belarusian websites. Those wishing to see what state-banned websites contain will have to pay 125 dollars. Internet service providers will pay the same amount if they fail to block such sites. If public access points fail to organize control over their visitors (identification of subscriber devices and users, storage of information about them and the websites visited), they will face a fine equivalent to 20–60 dollars. The KGB, MVD, KGC, and tax authorities are empowered to monitor compliance with the new requirements.

The aforementioned amendments were adopted by deputies of the lower house of the Belarusian parliament as early as last spring. In November 2011, the upper house also approved them. The rules for using the Internet in Belarus are set out in Presidential Decree No. 60.

Absorbed in pre-holiday bustle, Belarusians do not yet suspect that in the new year many familiar websites, such as those of international companies, will most likely become inaccessible to them. “Today Belarusian users account for 2–3% of visitors to Russian websites,” says business consultant Alexey Shukaev. “What will a profit-making company do when it receives a notice from Belarus demanding that it move its servers to a local site? Correct: respecting Belarusian legislation, it will block access to its resources from Belarus, because it cannot provide information services illegally, and doing so legally is not profitable for it,” he argues. According to the expert, fulfilling the new legislative requirement will force Belarusian law enforcement officers to draw up around 150–200 million administrative offense cases per day. Based on his data, this is precisely the frequency with which Belarusians visit non-Belarusian websites.

The above prospects emerge if we take the norms of the law literally. For now, however, Belarusian Internet users still hope that their global world will not be limited to sites registered in the .by domain zone. It is hard to believe that in the 21st century a European country could be cut off from the Internet. These hopes will either be dashed or justified by the first enforcement practice.

Nevertheless, the worst-case scenario should not be ruled out, as it is fully consistent with the logic of the Belarusian authorities’ actions. The intention to regulate the Internet arose after the presidential elections. Mass political repression then unfolded against the backdrop of a rapid decline in living standards. State media heavily brainwashed the population, talking about an opposition armed to the teeth that sought to disturb the peace and quiet of stable Belarus, and about the intrigues of world imperialism undermining its economic foundations. Distrust of the authorities resulted, among other things, in greater demand for alternative information.

“Lately we have been recording a demand for uncensored information,” Zhanna Litvina, head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, shared her observations with NG. Recall that the authorities have already eliminated the print versions of almost all non-state media by economic means. In particular, enterprises are forbidden to advertise there, and the monopolist Belpochta refuses to distribute them. Thus, alternative information can only be obtained from online resources. Incidentally, two of the Belarusian news websites most opposed to the authorities have already been added to a blacklist of resources to which access must be restricted. Moreover, the authorities’ desire to bring the Internet space under tight control was spurred by the spread of a new movement—revolution through social networks.

Only the lazy have refrained from making indignant statements about Belarus’s violation of democratic principles. European officials never tire of repeating that they will not engage in dialogue with official Minsk until all political prisoners are freed.

American senators approved the Democracy Act, expanding the list of persons subject to sanctions to include the leadership of the special services. However, summing up the diplomatic results of the year, international politicians regretfully note that all these efforts have no effect on official Minsk. “Over this year I have made 20 statements on Belarus alone—it doesn’t work. We hear the same from our EU colleagues. A joint EU-U.S. statement was recently made—it doesn’t work. The policy of sanctions lost its effectiveness after the emergence of the Customs Union,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Ažubalis in an interview with a Lithuanian news agency. “So something new needs to be done,” he believes. However, no new forms of pressure are being heard of yet.

Editor’s note: What might this measure of the Belarusian government mean for the Christians of the republic? Which sites will be banned from January 6, 2012? We await YOUR opinion in the comments!

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