Friday, August 03, 2007

Keeping the Lid On and the Light Out: Belarusian President Wants to Censor the Internet

From the "What Else Is New With a Dictatorship" Department, Reuters and others are reporting on Belarusian President Lukashenka's remarks that the government will put an end to what Lukashenka called "anarchy" on the Internet.

"It is time to stop the anarchy on the Internet. We cannot allow this great technological achievement of man to be turned into an information garbage heap. It is a massive loudspeaker, not even of the opposition, but a loudspeaker of voices hostile toward us, [of] hostile states."

Lukashenka suggested (and, in a Communist dictatorship, suggestions are carefully noted) that such Internet sites should be ruled by laws similar to those governing defamation. In other words, don't let the free flow of information continue.