Kazakhstan's parliament has approved a law tightening state control of the internet, which, media rights activists say, will limit freedom of speech in the former Soviet state.
The bill would subject blogs, chat rooms and social networking sites to possible criminal prosecution, enabling the courts to block all websites considered in breach of Kazakh law.
Media rights activists say the law is designed to allow arbitary crackdowns on anyone opposing Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's president.
