HOAX - REGISTRATION OF BELARUS INTERNET USERS

["Robert Horvitz" <horvitzr@omri.cz>]

From:             "Igor A. Tavgen" <igor@tavgen.minsk.by>
Date sent:        Fri, 31 May 96 13:01:13 +0300


Dear colleagues,
Thank you very much for your interest in Belarus and in particular
Internet in Belarus. I made  a request to our two organizations which
are responsible for regulating Internet users in Belarus: the Deputy
Director of the Belarusian Security Council's State Information
Security Center (The Presidential administration department) and the
Head of Computer Sciences department of the Belarusian Ministry of
Communications replied that the report in PCMagazine #2, !996 about
"the Presidential administration's special instruction obliging all
Internet users..." is not true. The editor-in chief of PC World
Belarus Magazine told me by phone that it was a joke because this
issue of the magazine was for April 1, and made excuses for the poor
April Fool's joke.

Sincerely yours
Igor Tavgen
Networking Program Coordinator
Belarusian Soros Foundation




------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 30 May 1996 15:58:49 -0700
From:          Alexei Shulgin <easylife@glas.apc.org>
Organization:  Moscow WWWArt Centre
To:            Pit Schultz <pit@contrib.de>
Cc:            nettime-l@desk.nl, syndicate@aec.at
Subject:       New regulations for the Internet in Belarus

May 23, 1996

New regulations for the Internet in Belarus.

The President administration has issued a special instruction,
obliging all Internet users in the country to register at a police.
Everyone who has an e-mail account in a state or non-state net
division must register at [...] According to official version, these
regulations are related to "struggle against anti-state information
and suppression of anti-people provocations". The registration term is
set up in 30 days. The trespassers will be seriously punished, though
the text of the instruction contains no details on it. According to
top administration authorities, this new instruction will contribute
to "the healthy development of the information [...]"

PC World Belarus magazine
#2, 1996



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Robert Horvitz, International Coordinator, OSI Internet Program
Motokov Building - Room 518, Na Strzi 63, 140 62 Praha 4, Czech
Rep., tel 42 2 6114-2751, fax 6114-2750, email horvitzr@omri.cz