Apart from websites, Ministry of Informatization will also block anonymizers and proxies

The Operative Analytical Center under the Belarus President and the Ministry of Informatization elaborated the procedure of restricting access to the information resources in the Internet.

The text of the ruling that comes into force on February 26 is published at the National Center of Legal Information of the Republic of Belarus.

The ruling establishes the procedure of restricting access:

- to websites of mass media that received two or more written warnings from the Ministry of Information within a year;

- to websites that contain information about illegal trade of drugs, or other information banned for dissemination;

- for owners who did not implement demands on eliminating violations of media legislation.

The black list will be formed by the State inspection on electrocommunications upon decisions of the Ministry of Information, baj.by informs. Access to the websites will be allowed only for state bodies and providers of Internet services. The ruling shall not only block access to banned websites, but also to anonymizers and proxy-servers, like Tor.

Now not only a state body, but also any citizen will be able to submit requests to enter any website into the black list. Access will be restricted within 24 hours. Providers will have to identify those responsible for the use of proxy-servers and review the black list once a day.

Let us recall that in December 2014, new amendments to the Law on Mass Media were adopted, envisaging that websites will enjoy the same rights and responsibilities as traditional mass media with the only difference is that they online resources are not obliged to register as legal entities. “EuroBelarus” Information Service interviewed journalists, lawyers, and media experts about their opinions on the new law to find out that some of them think that these amendments have both positive and negative effect, and some find these amendments to seriously affect online media.