Will pincers be closed on Internet?

• 11.12.2009, 13:19

It is informed that the Belarusian authorities are preparing a large-scale operation on raising barriers for appearance of independent information on the Internet.

As “Belorusskiy Partizan” was informed by an unnamed source in the presidential administration, the Operative and analytical centre of the presidential administration has been given a task to develop a concept of counteraction to opposition on the web. The parameters of the conception are still unknown, it is only clear that countermeasures limiting online information unpleasant for the regime are being invented.

Recently experts noted increased activities of the Belarusian special services on the web. “Commentators” at the forums of independent websites have become more active. They create a negative representation of the opposition and discredit its activists, question any information criticizing the authorities; websites aimed at dissemination of misleading information about the opposition have been created. However, the regime is no longer satisfied with one-time actions. The aim has been set to create a strategy, an all-encompassing plan for struggle on the web. The equipment bought in China several years ago is sure to be used to the full. The pressure on journalists working for independent websites is not excluded. In general, the times of relative calmness, and even liberalization in the sphere of Internet use, are coming to an end in Belarus.