Senators approve bill equating news websites to media outlets
The bill was approved yesterday in two readings by the lower chamber of Belarusian parliament, the House of Representatives.
The Senate of Republic, as the House of Representatives before it, approved a bill to equate Internet resources to the media. Now they, like other media outlets, can be closed down after two warnings.
"The owner of a website should be responsible for the content, RIA Novosti quoted the Information Minister Liliya Ananich (she presented the Bill to the senators). Thanks to the law, which will take effect on 1 January 2015, there will a reliable barrier to the websites publishing illegal information."
Ananich stressed that next year the Ministry of Information will have the right to restrict access to websites which "pose a threat to national security and disseminate information running against the national interests". However, if the "websites are be working in the legal field, they will not even notice the new law".
The KGB Chairman Valery Vakulchyk also spoke today in front of the Council of Republic. He presented to the senators a draft bill to ratify the agreement between the governments of Belarus and Russia on cooperation in the field of international information security. The Council of the Republic approved it, BelTA reports.
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