Residents of Belarus are now forbidden from accessing foreign websites. Any citizen who breaks the new law is liable to face a fine of up to US$125.
All entrepreneurs and companies in Belarus will now have to register as part of the compliance for the new law. If the company or private individual offers commercial services, only local email, hosting and payment providers can be used. This vaguely authoritarian decree is excessively harsher than the US’ proposed SOPA law, which aims to clamp down on copyright infringement.
An official document, issued by the US Library of Congress, explains that even internet cafes in Belarus will have to comply, or face a misdemeanour charge:
Additionally, the Law states that the owners and administrators of Internet cafés or other places that offer access to the Internet might be found guilty of violating this Law and fined and their businesses might be closed if users of Internet services provided by these places are found visiting websites located outside of Belarus and if such behaviour of the clients was not properly identified, recorded, and reported to the authorities.