Lukashists Take Away BAJ’s Domain Name
- 3.01.2024, 12:50
The organization turned to the international regulator.
The operational-analytical center under Lukashenka took away the domain name Baj.by from the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The organization considers this a gross violation of the right to property and yet another pressure on freedom of speech. BAJ is contacting the international corporation for managing domain names ICANN, the organization reported.
On January 3, the Operational Analytical Center suspended the delegation of the Baj.by domain name to its owner, allegedly due to identified violations. Now, when opening the site, a stub appears indicating that access to the resource is limited.
Earlier, the OAC, through the registrar company Open Contact, sent a notice to the domain owner, BAJ Deputy Chairman Aleh Aheyeu, of the need to provide documents confirming the accuracy of personal data.
Active actions by the authorities in this direction began immediately after the publication of the BAJ’s position regarding the holding of a regional forum on Internet governance in Minsk, according to the organization.
The Open Contact first suggested that the domain owner send a scan of the passport by email, but a few days later they reported that the OAC insisted on a personal visit to the office. Aheyeu, in response, informed Open Contact that the instructions on the procedure for registering domain names on the Internet do not provide for “personal visits” to the registrar’s office (domains in the .by zone can be owned, for example, by foreigners), and all the documents requested by the registrar were presented.
Despite this, the OAC decided to deprive BAJ of its Belarusian domain name.
Now BAJ is deprived of the ability to control the Baj.by website and any email accounts in the @baj.by domain. It is unknown how the authorities will use them in the future, so BAJ asks not to visit the old website, write or respond to any email messages from @baj.by email accounts. In May 2023, the organization moved to the new international domain Baj.media.
“We see the deprivation of a domain name as nothing other than robbery. In addition to the blatant fact of violation of the right to freedom of expression, the Belarusian authorities violated another fundamental right — to property,” the BAJ noted.
“The predatory actions of the authorities violate global rules for domain administration, so BAJ will inform ICANN, the international corporation for managing domain names, and will count on an appropriate assessment of the incident at the global level,” the organization said.
This is not the first case of domain raiding by the state against independent media, the BAJ emphasized. They believe that the bynet is discredited and dangerous not only for independent media, but also for any business that may become next.