168 ���������������� ����

INTERNET AND ONLINE MEDIA

Marina Sokolova

Summary

By 2010, the number of Belarusian Internet users was equivalent to around40% of the population. In spite of its stable infrastructure development, Belaruswas second to last among Central and Eastern European countries in terms of“Internet penetration” (the percentage of users with regard to the entirepopulation), and last in broadband access development. As previously,professional journalism websites and multi8purpose horizontal portals rankedamong the most popular online media.Moreover, 2010 saw the intensification of a process that began in 2007 –increasingly active use of various social media (particularly social networksand the blogosphere). One noticeable trend was a convergence of online andoffline media.The implementation of legislative amendments governing Internet regulationclearly showed a lack of competent specialists and the ineffectiveness ofstate8monopolized decision8making on Internet management. These factorswere the motive behind a dialogue between state officials and privatebusinesses. Although the government’s new legislation and norms did arousepublic interest in Internet management issues, the state’s and the public’spoints of view differed greatly concerning almost all aspects of Internetmanagement.In 2010, the Belarusian government took steps to introduce a range of Internetsurveillance and censorship measures. Of serious concern were violations ofInternet users’ rights perpetrated by state bodies.

Tendencies:

• Belarus is continuing to lag behind most countries in Central and EasternEurope in terms of its Internet development and user numbers.

• Internet access costs are decreasing.• There is still a “geographical” inequality in Internet penetration between Minsk

and other regions of the country.• Social media use is growing dynamically, especially youtube.com,

twitter.com, livejournal.com, wikipedia.org and facebook.com.• State bodies have been compelled to keep up a dialogue with the business

community and civil society on Internet regulation issues. However, thisdialogue has only exposed the state bodies’ and the public’s differingpoints of view on almost all aspects of Internet management. It has nothalted the introduction of a range of Internet surveillance and censorshipmeasures, or violations of Internet users’ rights perpetrated by statebodies.

Belarusian Yearbook 2010

169

Infrastructure

According to Ministry of Communications and Computerization fig�ures, in five years (2005–2010), the bandwidth of the Internet’s outerchannel increased over 100 times, up to 90 Gbit/s (70 Gbit/s towardsRussia [partners – Sinterra, Eurotel, TransTeleCom and Rostelecom]and 20 Gbit/s towards the West [Lattelecom3Apollo]).1 The broadbandaccess capacity for data transfer networks went up from 3000 to 1.5million ports.

The Belarusian outer channel is operated by a state company,Beltelecom. On January 1, 2011, the total capacity for data transfernetworks had reached 1.841 million ports, most of which (1.173 million)belong to the national operator Beltelecom.2 The number of broadbandInternet subscribers and users was 1.8 million (approximately 50% ofall Internet users, or 9% of the population).3

As a rule, the cost of broadband access via DSL and cable dependson the amount of traffic, which is reflected in state telecommunicationsmonopolist Beltelecom’s price structuring. In 2010, speeds doubledfor byfly/Beltelecom’s unlimited access subscribers (and later for usersof other Belarusian providers).4 Nevertheless, Belarus came last amongCentral and Eastern European countries in terms of its broadbandaccess penetration (9%).5

Secondary wireless broadband Internet providers becamelegal in 2009. There are currently over 500 hot�spots, almost halfof which are in Minsk and the Minsk region.6 There are also 1262collective Internet access points provided by state�ownedBeltelecom.

1 Belarus’ Internet channel expands by 10 Gbit/s towards the West (15.02.2011) //[E�resource] See: http://www.beltelecom.by/news/39483. Access date:25.02.2011.

2 Shchetko N. Ministry of Communications sums up the year’s results: 1.8 mil3lion broadband Internet users, 10.3 million mobile phone subscribers(11.02.2011) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://it.tut.by/214854. Accessdate: 25.02.2011.

3 See: http://www.e�belarus.org/news/201102041.html.4 “Stay3at3homes” get faster! (29.07.10) // [E�resource] Mode of access:

http://www.byfly.by/bnews/35228. Access date: 25.02.2011.5 Pieczynski F. Overview of the Digital Industry in CEE (25.05.2010) //

[E�resource] Mode of access: http://www.internetcee.com/programme.html.Access date: 25.02.2011.

6 Wi3Fi in Belarus (25.02.11) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://it.tut.by/wifi.html. Access date: 25.02.2011.

170 ���������������� ����

The Internet’s audience

Since 2006, the trend has been for the Internet’s audience to increasesteadily by 3000–4000 people per year (Fig. 1). In December 2010,the number of Internet users in Belarus was 3.448 million, yet accord�ing to Internet penetration figures (the percentage of users with re�gard to the entire population), Belarus was still second to last amongCentral and Eastern European countries (the Ukraine being last).7

Fig. 1. Internet user growth in Belarus, 1995–2010, xxxxx million people 8

The major split in terms of access was not between rural and urbanpopulations (about 74% of Belarusians live in cities)9, but betweenMinsk and the regions.10 In Minsk, there were 44 computers per 100

7 Pieczynski, op. cit.8 Sources: http://www.e�belarus.org/news/200506021.html; http://www.

e�belarus.org/review/review2003october.html#7; http://www.di.by/download_files/2008/gemius.ppt; interfax.by; news/belarus/54290; http://www.e�belarus.org/docs/by�infrastructure.ppt; http://sociologyby.org/structure/Inet.html;www inter.net.by/news/november3.html.

9 Population Census 2009. Population of the Republic of Belarus: its size and compo3sition. In 2 volumes, Vol.2. Minsk: National Statistical Committee, 2010. P. 10.

10 Regarding the use of information and communication technology in theRepublic of Belarus as of August 1, 2010. Minsk: Belarusian National StatisticalCommittee, 2010. P. 5.

171

families, but only 25–26 in the regions.11 Additionally, diminishingcosts for Internet access might lead to a reduction in Minsk’sdominance, and an increase in users from the regions.12

Online and social media

As before, professional journalism websites and multi�purposehorizontal portals ranked among the most popular online media in2010.13 In the lead were the portals tut.by and mail.ru (Table 1).Although it is common for horizontal portals to be well�establishedthroughout the entire Central and Eastern European media landscape,news sites are unusually popular in Belarus, as compared to itsneighboring countries. This is a consequence of the lack of free,unbiased offline sources.14

The Top 10 for time spent visiting websites includes the news sitescharter97.org (in 8th place), belaruspartizan.org (9th), the file�sharingservice torrents.by (2nd), the horizontal portals mail.ru (1st) and tut.by15,the vertical portals onliner.by (6th), football.by (10th), loveplanet.ru (3rd),the sng.by community (7th), semeistvo.by (4th), and the forum platformborda.ru (5th)16. The most active readers of online news are Minskresidents, who make up 40% of the audience of news sites, and accountfor 45% of all views.17

One of the most noticeable trends in 2010 was a convergence ofonline and offline media. Educational courses in web�journalism arenow offered by state institutions (the Belarusian State University’sjournalism institute, Minsk), as well as independent organizations (the

11 Regarding the use of information and communication technology in theRepublic of Belarus as of August 1, 2010. Minsk: Belarusian National StatisticalCommittee, 2010. P. 5. See: http://belstat.gov.by/homep/ru/publications/innovations/bul_it.rar. Access date: 15.03.2011; Population Census of theRepublic of Belarus 2009. Number of households according to their size. Minsk:Belarusian National Statistical Committee, 2011. P. 1.

12 Regions // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://ranking.by. Access date:25.02.2011.

13 Recently, such sites have sometimes been referred to as “industrial” onlinemedia, unlike social media.

14 Do you CEE? Interactive Overview of Central and Eastern Europe Markets2010 (Gemius for IAB). Warsaw, 2011. P. 25.

15 No exact data available.16 Do you CEE? Interactive Overview of Central and Eastern Europe Markets

2010 (Gemius for IAB). P. 26.17 Audience.by, op. cit.

172 ���������������� ����

Tab

le 1

. Rat

ing

of

onli

ne

med

ia 18

18A

ud

ienc

e.by

(28

.02.

2011

) //

[E

�res

ourc

e] S

ee: h

ttp

://w

ww

.au

die

nce

.by.

Acc

ess

dat

e: 2

8.02

.201

1; G

oog

le t

ren

ds

(27.

02.2

011)

//

[E�r

esou

rce]

Mod

e of

acc

ess:

htt

p:/

/tre

nd

s.g

oog

le.c

om/w

ebsi

tes?

q=

tut.

by%

2C+

mai

l.ru

&g

eo=

BY

&d

ate=

2010

&so

rt=

0. A

cces

sd

ate:

28.

02.2

011.

19N

o ex

act

dat

a av

aila

ble

for

all p

aram

eter

s.20

Acc

ord

ing

to

tut.

by’s

ow

n d

ata

from

TU

T.B

Y: 1

0 ye

ars

in t

he h

isto

ry o

f BY

net

(05.

10.2

010)

//

[E�r

esou

rce]

Mod

e of

acc

ess:

htt

p:/

/it

.tu

t.by

/202

279.

Acc

ess

dat

e: 2

8.02

.201

1.

173

Belarusian Association of Journalists). The portal belsmi.by waslaunched in early 2011 to provide a single access point for state mediaonline, and offers the following news and material: an electroniccatalogue of Belarusian state media, digests of articles from thenational and regional state press, and journalists’ blogs.

Naturally, the modern online media landscape has undergoneserious changes since the appearance of various social media and theirincrease in popularity. This trend was evident in 2010, and in Belarus21,the social network vkontakte.ru, youtube.com video hosting, and blogplatform livejournal.com entered alexa.com’s Top 10, along withbrowsers, e�mail, and the major portals.22 The dynamics of these sites’growth in popularity in 2009–2010 (according to Google Trends) canbe seen in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. The dynamics of social media popularity growth(youtube.comyoutube.comyoutube.comyoutube.comyoutube.com; twitter.comtwitter.comtwitter.comtwitter.comtwitter.com; livejournal.comlivejournal.comlivejournal.comlivejournal.comlivejournal.com; wikipedia.orgwikipedia.orgwikipedia.orgwikipedia.orgwikipedia.org)in Belarus 23

21 This is due not only to the increasing popularity of social networks worldwide,but also to reduced costs for broadband Internet access.

22 Top Sites in Belarus // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/BY. Access date: 10.02.2011.

23 Google trends: youtube.com; twitter.com; livejournal.com; wikipedia.org //[E�resource] Mode of access: http://trends.google.com/websites?q=www.youtube.com%2c+twitter.com%2c+livejournal.com%2c+wikipedia.org&geo=by&date=all&sort=0. Access date: 10.02.2011. Peak activity ontwitter.com, youtube.com and livejournal.com came during the second halfof December – the time of protest action surrounding the Belarusianpresidential election campaign and its final results.

174 ���������������� ����

Social networks, blogs, microblogs, wiki, social bookmarking,photo, video and music hosting, and file�sharing services are the socialmedia on which the Belarusian Internet audience is most active. Socialnetwork vkontakte.ru has been the leading social media since 2007,usually followed by another Russian site, odnoklassniki.ru. In 2010,the online media landscape was dominated by the global facebook.comnetwork, and the Russian network my.mail.ru24 (Table 2).

Table 2. Top 10 most popular social media websites in Belarus(of the Top 100 websites)

Source: alexa.com25

Unfortunately, due to a shortage of comparable statistics on usersof Belarusian social network sites (i.tut.by, vseti.by, face.by, parta.by,svyzi.ru, vsevmeste.by and belarusy.by), it is hard to assess theirdevelopment or user activity. The data we do have allows anapproximate comparative assessment of Belarusians’ increased useof the vkontakte.ru, vseti.bу and facebook.com networks (Fig. 3). Thefile�sharing sites rapidshare.com, depositfiles.com, torrents.ru,letitbit.net, and Belarusian file�sharing sites freespace.by andtorrents.by are all in the Top 20 of the Belarusian rankings.26

24 Google trends: my.mail.ru, facebook.com // [E�resource] Mode ofaccess: http://trends.google.com/websites?q=my.mail.ru%2c+facebook.com&geo=by&date=all&sort=0. Access date: 10.02.2011.

25 Sources: http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_sites?cc=BY&ts_mode=country<=none; http://www.e�belarus.org/news/200901171.html; http://www.e�belarus.org/news/200812171.html; http://www.e�belarus.org/news/200712171.html.

26 Akavita // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://www.akavita.by/top/be/all/all/30days/visitors/by. Access date: 10.02.2011; Open.by // [E�resource] Modeof access: http://all.by/rating/rate__d_sb_1.html. Access date: 10.02.2011.

175

Fig. 3. Dynamics of the number of Belarusian users on the social networksVkontakte.ruVkontakte.ruVkontakte.ruVkontakte.ruVkontakte.ru, vSeti.bуvSeti.bуvSeti.bуvSeti.bуvSeti.bу, Facebook.comFacebook.comFacebook.comFacebook.comFacebook.com, December 2010 – January 2011

Source: estimated data 27

Belarusian Internet users definitely visit social bookmarking sites(delicious.com, digg.com, stumbleupon.com, etc.), geosocial sites(foursquare.com, gowalla.com, altergeo.ru), photo and video hosting(flickr.com, sevenload.com, viddler.com, vimeo.com, dailymotion.com,metacafe.com, etc.) and social navigation sites (trapster.com,waze.com, etc.), but the amount of users is too small to figure in theglobal profiles of Google Trends.28 Very little Belarusian Internet useractivity has been recorded on social news sites (nowpublic.com,reddit.com, world3news.newsvine.com, etc.).29

Internet Regulation

Since 2010, the functions of the state ICT regulator have been takenover by the Belarusian presidential News and Analysis Centre (NAC),which now has two rather incompatible functions – to guarantee In�ternet security (especially the security of state information systemsand sites), and to “independently regulate” ICT development.30 De�

27 Pravdin I. Analysis of social networks (December 2010) [E�resource] Mode ofaccess: http://blog.opsome.by/?p=2031. Access date: 10.02.2011; Akavi3ta // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://stat.akavita.by/stat/stat.pl?id=30802&lang=ru. Access date: 10.02.2011.

28 In this respect, youtube.com is an exception, however.29 See, for example: http://www.nowpublic.com/search?type=story&fulltext

=1&keys=belarus; http://www.reddit.com/search?q=belarus& restrict_sr=off&sort=relevance; http://www.newsvine.com/_vinesearch?q=belarus&sa=search&cx=012943277593349087480%3axx9wfuef0se&cof=forid%3A11&searchIn=u.

176 ���������������� ����

cree № 515 “On several measures to develop the Belarusian data trans�fer network” (30.10.2010) also provides for the creation of a unifiednational data transfer network to link up “civilian” data transfer net�works in the country (this will go into operation on January 1, 2012).

A “National Traffic Exchange Centre” (registered on 15.11.2010)will open at the end of 2011.31 One of its functions will be to issue permitsfor relaying international Internet traffic and connecting to e�networksin foreign countries.32 The technical administration of the .BY domainis performed by the Belarusian presidential NAC and Reliable Programs(the .BY domain’s technical administrators since September 2010).33

In 2010, several acts were passed in accordance with a Belarusianpresidential decree “On measures to improve use of the nationalsegment of the Internet network” (01.02.2010).34 The process of

30 An Internet monopolist larger than Beltelecom to emerge in Belarus (04.10.2010) //[E�resource] Mode of access: http://news.tut.by/it/199191.html. Access date:10.02.2011; NAC appointed as ICT regulator in Belarus (04.10.2010) //[E�resource] See: http://news.tut.by/it/199194.html. Access date: 10.02.2011.

31 National Traffic Exchange Centre registered in Belarus // [E�resource] Modeof access: http://news.tut.by/it/204886.html. Access date: 10.02.2011.

32 National Traffic Exchange Centre created in Belarus (03.12.10) // [E�resource]Mode of access: http://www.interfax.by/news/belarus/84001. Access date:10.02.2011.

33 NAC and Reliable Programs sign technical administration agreement for the.BY domain (18.11.2010) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://it.tut.by.Access date: 10.02.2011.

34 Belarusian Council of Ministers resolutions № 644 of April 29, 2010 “Onseveral issues of improving use of the national segment of the global computernetwork Internet”; № 645 “On several issues regarding Internet sites for statebodies and organisations…”; and № 647 “On registering Internet shops inthe Belarusian Trade Register, and mechanisms for monitoring theiroperation…”; Belarusian presidential NAC and Ministry of Communicationsand Computerisation resolution № 4/11 of June 29, 2010 “On approvingregulations to restrict Internet users’ access to information prohibited fromdistribution according to legislation”; Belarusian presidential decree № 129of March 3, 2010 “On approving regulations for electrical communicationsoperators’ interaction with bodies carrying out investigative activities.” InOctober 2010, a draft bill “On administrative responsibility for violation ofrules governing the use of sites on the Internet network” was submitted tothe government; Belarusian presidential NAC order № 60 of 02.08.2010 “Onapproving regulations to select Internet service providers and personsauthorised to offer Internet services to state bodies and organisations whoseactivities use information that constitutes state secrets”; Belarusianpresidential NAC order № 7/1277 of 05.07.2010 “On several issues ofregistering domain names in the space of hierarchical names of the nationalsegment of the Internet network”, and others.

177

devising and implementing legislative amendments governingInternet regulation clearly showed a lack of competent specialists,and the ineffectiveness of state�monopolized decision�making onInternet management. These factors were the motive behind adialogue between state officials and private businesses.

Also in 2010, an interdepartmental consultative council wascreated to examine issues of developing the national segment of theInternet. This council includes state management representatives(from the Belarusian presidential NAC and the Ministry of Informa�tion), state and commercial organizations working with informationtechnology, and the IT�lobbying association Belinfokom. It is chairedby the head of the Belarusian presidential NAC. The council met twicein 2010, with representatives of Internet access providers and mobilenetworks also present.35

Belarusian society began to focus on Internet management issueson a global, regional and national level in 2010. On May 18, theresearch group e3belarus.org and the Belarusian Institute for StrategicStudies (BISS)’s agency for policy expertise organized a discussionentitled Internet Management: European Dialogue on InternetGovernance (EuroDIG) and Belarus. On September 20, a round�tablediscussion on Internet management issues was organized by theDelegation of the European Union to Belarus and the BelarusianAcademy of Science’s institute of philosophy. Taking part wererepresentatives from the government, business circles, the academiccommunity, and civil society.

On October 25, 2010, a discussion on Belarusian Internet: Problemsand Development Prospects was held between the OSCERepresentative on Media Freedom, the Ministry of Information, andthe Belarusian presidential NAC. At this discussion, the “analysis ofthe recent provisions regulating the Internet in Belarus”, prepared byA. Rikhter36, concluded that “the merits of Decree № 60 and actspassed subsequently are rather desultory, and have shortcomingswhich limit the freedom of expression and media freedom on theInternet”37. The OSCE put forward a number of recommendationswhich would bring Belarusian Internet management legislation into

35 See: http://news.tut.by/it/198065.html.36 Rikhter А. Analysis of the recent provisions regulating the Internet in Belarus //

A report commissioned by the OSCE Representative on Media Freedom.Minsk: OSCE, 2010.

37 Rikhter, op. cit., p. 4.

178 ���������������� ����

line with the national constitution, as well as international legislationsigned by Belarus. Generally, however, the discussion exposed thestate bodies’ and the public’s differing points of view on almost allissues.38

Content.monitoring and violations of Internet users’rights

In 2010, the government took steps to introduce a range of Internetsurveillance and censorship measures. Decree № 60 and related leg�islation directly postulated the need for monitoring and filtering ofthe Internet. In June 2010, the Ministry of Communications and theBelarusian presidential NAC issued a resolution requiring the cre�ation of two lists of sites to be blocked.

On October 25, the Belarusian authorities confirmed they hadbegun filtering in order to restrict access to undesirable content, andwere in possession of a list of sites to be blocked. One list is public,and currently contains no sites at all, while the other is a limited�accesslist for Internet service providers only.39 According to the Belarusianstate electronic communications inspectorate (BelGIE), that listcontains about 20 sites which are as yet undisclosed.40

Of serious concern were violations of Internet users’ rightsperpetrated by Belarusian state bodies. For example, on December19–20, 2010, Belarusian Internet users faced the following obstacles:fake websites, DDoS attacks, traffic shaping, and blocking of HTTPS443 sites. At least five sites suffered DDoS attacks (charter97.org,belaruspartizan.org, udf.by, zapraudu.info, nekliaev.org). On theelection day, December 19, Internet users were unable to access

38 Zolotova М. How officials and experts discussed the present and future ofBYnet (27.10.2010) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://news.tut.by/it/202710.html. Access date: 20.02.2011; Internet Management: EuropeanDialogue and Belarus (29.06.2010) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://nmnby.eu/news/xlibris/2790.html. Access date: 10.02.2011; Bykovsky P.Belarusian officials and OSCE experts find no common ground regardingthe regulation of BYnet (28.10.2010) // [E�resource] Mode of access:http://www.dw�world.de/dw/article/0,,6162453,00.html. Access date:10.02.2011.

39 Limited3access lists // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://belgie.by/node/216. Access date: 10.02.2011; BelGIE has started drafting a “blacklist”(09.07.2010) // Ibid.

40 Bykovsky, op. cit.

179

Google, Twitter and Fаcebook due to the blocking of HTTPS 443sites.41

Conclusion

We should expect the aforementioned trends to continue in future.Of course, the number of Internet users in Belarus will continue togrow, and the Internet penetration discrepancy between Minsk andthe regions should become gradually less apparent over time.

State bodies will uphold their policy to extend Internet penetrationand modernize the IT sector, but will also continue their policy ofincreased Internet�monitoring, and will introduce Internet censorship,which will inevitably lead to violations of users’ rights to accessinformation. In Belarus, due to its closed information space, thepopularity of news portals will continue to be high, which is unusualfor the region, but we should also expect rising numbers of BelarusianInternet users on social networks.

41 Belarusians denied access to opposition sites and leading social networks(19.12.2010) // [E�resource] Mode of access: http://news.open.by/it/42978.Access date: 10.02.2011.