And in social networks can talk? How from December 1st, will comment on articles on Belarusian websites

The government has approved a provision stating that users of Internet resources and online publications should be identified. The Cabinet Resolution on this subject (No. 850 of 23 November 2018) was published on Monday, 26 November. The document will enter into force on December 1, 2018.

The changes will affect online publications and users who will leave comments to news, users of various forums.

The lawyer, who is in charge of the talk.by forum, helped you understand the situation of TUT.BY (you use it to leave a comment on TUT.BY's articles) Olga Sytko and a lawyer, expert of the human rights organization Human Constanta in the field of personal data, Alexey Kozlyuk.

As of 1 December each commentator should conclude user agreement with sites.

"The use agreements exist on all sites, we just call it forum rules," says Olga Sytko, head of the talk.by forum. – Thus, the rules of the forums will be modernized and will be called differently.

A special agreement must warn the user that he has no right to publish information prohibited by the Belarussian law on Internet resources.

By accepting the agreement, the commentator will have to activate his account, by "linking" to it your phone number. The activation code will be sent via SMS.

The resolution indicates that you can activate your account with the help of "other data and technical means to identify the identity of the user".

– What can they be? Yes, the most different: the digital signature and ending with a scan of the pbadport. Yes, in principle, to come to the editor with a pbadport and get the details of the account – this can also be a system that allows you to identify a person, says Alexei Kozlyuk, Human Constanta expert, who estimates the word "other". – But the preferred method, as I understand it, is the SMS.

"These users will no longer be able to communicate on the forum," explains Olga Sytko. – Read the comments on the forums will always be possible without registration, but for the publication of comments, identification is a prerequisite.

If the owners of sites in the Belarussian area allow the possibility to make comments without identification, they break the law.

– It is possible, consider the interlocutors, referring to the fact that the resolution forbidden.

– 8.5% of users write from abroad on the forum. Most of them are former citizens of Byelorussia, we do not want to abandon them. We are working now so that the user of a mobile operator in any country can proceed with the necessary identification and continue to communicate on our forums, "says Olga Sytko.

The lawyer Alexei Kozlyuk predicts that a part of Belarusians will use foreign "sims" not to "shine" too much.

No, the decision states that a single mobile phone number can be used to record a single user account on each specific internet resource.

– But in some cases, our users have multiple accounts. Forums are not just a topical discussion, they also have a game function. For example, we ran a contest and asked participants to create anonymous accounts to participate – so that their personality does not affect not the evaluation of their work by the members of the jury. It turns out that such a competition will now be impossible, says Olga Sytko.

Owners of Internet resources are obliged to store their data on servers hosted in Belarus. According to Alexei Kozlyuk, this requirement can end the forums of many online resources:

– Those who have their own commenting system, written for a specific site or integrated as a module, will have to "finish" the site and implement a system for sending SMS. But if the site uses a third-party service for comments, mainly foreign, it turns out then that it does not use servers located in Belarus. From December 1st, these sites will have to be deactivated at least – not to fall under the sanctions of the regulator. In the case of online media, sanctions may be a warning from the Ministry of Information and, in the future, after two warnings and a liquidation.

The owner of the Internet resource must not only store the data on the users who will collect, but also provide them "at the request of the investigating authorities, prosecutors and preliminary investigators, the organs of the Control Committee of the State, the Ministry of Information, tax authorities, courts established by the legislation of Belarus ", according to the decision.

The fact is that the data specified by the users during the registration, administration of the sites and forums must now be provided to the Belarusian law enforcement authorities.

"We have always responded to requests received under the law, like any other site," said Olga Sytko.

At the same time, the Ministry of Information was on the list of persons to whom the websites are required to provide information.

Both interlocutors point out that site administrations can only provide information to users of the Ministry of Information, in violation of the law.

– The Ministry of Information has not been able to obtain personal data from users, telecommunications operators, suppliers or site owners. The decree gives them these powers. But there is also the expression "in the manner prescribed by law". Until then, the order established by law, according to which Mininform could request personal data, does not appear in the Belarusian legislation, notes Aleksey Kozlyuk.

The decree also states that: if the owner of the Internet resource receives information from State bodies confirming that the information when registering the account is false or contrary to the law, the owner of the Internet resource then has the right to terminate the user agreement. The user will be informed by SMS.

Sites that are not in the "by" ("BEL") area, including social networks, should not be modified.

"The question is whether mandatory identification requirements can be applied to social networks such as VKontakte or Facebook, Youtube and other services," says Alexei Kozlyuk. "Again, the content is generated by users, which can sometimes be considered as media products from the point of view of Belarusian law." It is clear that none of the listed services will share personal data with the Belarusian state, because these are just nonsense. How these requirements apply to them is not clear.

The new resolution has a clear message: control the commentators, who sometimes leave messages without any regard for the laws.

According to Alexei Kozlyuk, even now, according to the law, one should not insult or slander someone on the forums.

"The fact that it is possible to comment anonymously on the Belarussian Internet remains an illusion," says Alexei Kozlyuk. – The establishment of a specific commentator was not a problem, if we talk about criminal or administrative responsibility. For the organization conducting the investigation, it is always important to establish the IP address of the device against which the law has been violated. How will the telephone number help to establish the offender? One person can register his account for another, although this is forbidden by the rules, or even register an account for a number, then change the phone.

However, Olga Sytko, interview manager, believes that it is not so easy to identify anonymous anonymous readers on forums.

– Under the guise of anonymity, the forces of the order did not have a month to establish the identity of the offender, even if his statement was defined as a violation supposedly of Belarusian legislation.

According to Olga Sytko, linking phone numbers to accounts will help discipline forum members and configure them so that they can be held accountable for their words.

– So, as it is now, can not be left. When there is impunity, a person does not have restrictive limits. We read scary things. If the moderators had not worked, the company would have been horrified by what they were writing. Our society, judging by the forums, is absolutely irreconcilable with minorities, large families. People are constantly facing the head of the social sphere: the rich against the poor, the patients against the doctors, the teachers against the parents and vice versa. Nobody closes the forums and forbidden to talk about anything, but maybe someone, through the connection of an account to a phone number, will activate internal censorship.

Aleksey Kozlyuk believes that users of Belarussian forums can comment more actively on social networks.

– On the Belorussian site, they will always understand that, yes, there is more chance that you are identified. And the fact is not that they will punish for an offense, but rather the fear that they will punish for things that are not a crime, but that, for example, show your disloyalty. I think people will comment more on the social networks that are not part of our field, but that foreign commentators will appear on the Belarusian forums. Many sites temporarily or permanently disable the possibility of making comments, notes the human rights activist.

Olga Sytko recalls that it is sometimes asked social networks to indicate a phone number and that the migration from the social network forums already exists.

– Maybe for a while the activity of the forum users will decrease – but precisely because they are always suspicious of any innovation. But I do not think the need to leave your phone number will be so catastrophic for the users we want to see. Most commentators write normal messages and they have nothing to fear. If nothing breaks the law, which prevents to discuss on various subjects?