Freedom House: Belarus Internet Freedom Status -- Not Free

The report examines internet freedom in 37 countries around the globe. The study’s findings indicate that the threats to internet freedom are growing and have become more diverse.

"The authorities impose severe restrictions on all news outlets, and the security services have
increasingly attempted to introduce various internet surveillance technologies. A
presidential decree signed in February 2010 and subsequent regulations provide a legal basis
for extensive censorship and monitoring of the internet. The government’s desire to
suppress the free flow of information became even more evident during, and immediately
following, the December 2010 presidential election. The authorities blocked international
connections to the SMPT port 465 and HTTPS port 443, preventing users from securely
posting content on social media sites like Facebook, and sending secure messages through
Gmail. In addition, the government created fake mirror websites to divert users from
accessing independent news sources, and launched distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)
attacks against the opposition sites", says the Report.

The full text of the Report's section dealing with Belarus may be found below.