[x-pubpol] Belarus Internet Law

[Joly MacFie]

[ The way I read this it could be a bit different to the interpretation
below. It looks to me like the intent is to ensure all Belarussians use
local websites for business and thus are liable to local sales tax,
supervision, and jurisdiction, but the law wouldn't affect foreign
companies, or even non-business locals. And the rest of it is heavy handed
enforcement. The filtering is another matter, but Belarus is not alone in
this. j]

http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402929_text


'As stated in an explanatory note published together with the Law, this act
was issued to implement the Decree of the Belarusian President of February
1, 2010, on Improvements to the Usage of the National Segment of the
Internet. The newly published Law imposes restrictions on visiting and/or
using foreign websites by Belarusian citizens and residents. Under this new
Law, the violation of these rules is recognized as a misdemeanor and is
punished by fines of varied amounts, up to the equivalent of US$125. (*Id*.)

The Law requires that all companies and individuals who are registered as
entrepreneurs in Belarus use only domestic Internet domains for providing
online services, conducting sales, or exchanging email messages. It appears
that business requests from Belarus cannot be served over the Internet if
the service provider is using online services located outside of the
country. The tax authorities, together with the police and secret police,
are authorized to initiate, investigate, and prosecute such violations. (*Id
*.)

Additionally, the Law states that the owners and administrators of Internet
cafés or other places that offer access to the Internet might be found
guilty of violating this Law and fined and their businesses might be closed
if users of Internet services provided by these places are found visiting
websites located outside of Belarus and if such behavior of the clients was
not properly identified, recorded, and reported to the authorities. The Law
states that this provision may apply to private individuals if they allow
other persons to use their home computers for browsing the Internet. (*Id*.)

Also, the Law authorizes the government to establish and update the list of
banned websites to which access should be blocked by Internet providers.
The Law mentions pornographic websites and those that contain information
of an extremist nature as examples of those to be blocked. The Law will
enter into force on January 6, 2012. (*Id*.) Commentators believe that
these measures will lead to outside websites blocking access from Belarus.
For example, suppose someone in Belarus buys something from Amazon, which
is not a Belarusian company and thus is not registered in Belarus. The
transaction is illegal, and so the Belarusian Attorney General would send a
note to Amazon informing it that it is violating national law and might be
sued. Probably Amazon would close access to its website for visitors from
Belarus, because such visitors comprise a minor share of the company's
customers but the resultant legal troubles caused by the Belarusian
government might create a major problem. (*Restrictions on BYnet:
Amendments to Law Are Adopted <http://www.interfax.by/news/belarus/101604>*,
INTERFAX NEWS AGENCY (Nov. 8, 2011).)

Slashdot thread:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/02/199218/belarus-bans-use-of-foreign-websites


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