Tageszeitung: Internet censorship in Belarus directed against opposition

The Belarusian authorities decided to tighten Internet censorship again. Pressure on the electronic mass media will considerably limit the opposition’s opportunities, the German paper supposes.

As Tageszeitung writes, another tightening of law regulating media activity wasn’t unexpected. A regulation giving the government more power to control the Internet appeared in February last year. It has become a rule that clients of Internet cafes must give their personal data and addresses of the pages they visit. If control over the Internet use becomes as total as the authorities plan, the opposition will be deprived of its last platform.

All electronic mass media are owned by the state. A few independent newspapers may appear only on the Internet, as state pressure doesn’t allow them to be printed and spread in Belarus. The states watch not only media outlets but also certain journalists. So, Iryna Khalip, a Minsk correspondent for Russian “Novaya Gazeta”, has recently published an article criticising the Belarusian KGB. Next day after the publication, she received first threats.