In Belarus 35 online resources were entered in the list of restricted access. BelTA learned it from the State Inspectorate of the Republic of Belarus on telecommunications.
Most of online resources listed in the blacklist are pornographic sites. Access to them is closed on a mandatory basis in government agencies, educational and cultural institutions. For the average user the Internet filtering can be applied only at his own request.
Internet service providers in Belarus offer services of limited access based on two lists, the list formed by the State Supervision for Telecommunications of Belarus, and the list formed by each provider of Internet services on their own. Also they can provide under contract with a user other services related to restriction of access: firewall, virus protection, access restriction by using content analysis of Internet resources, etc.
List of the limited access is formed by the State Supervision for Telecommunications based on the decisions of the Committee of State Control, Prosecutor General's Office, the Operational Analytic Center, state run public authorities. Decisions are made by heads of the authorized state bodies within their competence.
On November 8 the Council of the Republic adopted the bill "On Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences and Procedural-Executive Code of Administrative Offences". The amendments specify liability for violation of limiting user access of Internet services to information prohibited by the law.
