In response to the announcement by the State Agency for National Security (SANS) that it had closed down the rumour website Опасните Новини (Dangerous News) and that it would make the removal of anonymity on the internet in the country a priority, Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) commented that "in a democratic state, security services have little to do in and around media."

On September 5, SANS announced it had uncovered the owners of the site and forced it to close down. Reason given for closing down the site was that it allegedly had published rumours which included classified information. The website published anonymous rumours about well-known Bulgarians, including politicians and businessmen.

According to local media, SANS said that it was "ready to participate in a discussion on the removal of anonymity of internet sites on the territory of Bulgaria."
According to SANS, this should not be seen as sensorship, but as a call for responsibility for messages in the public domain.

According to BHC, the idea of lifting anonymity online could not qualified in any other way but as an attempt to impose sensorship in order to prevent the publication of information about illegal activities of those in power.

At a September 8 media conference, BHC qualified the closing down of the site as a blow to freedom of expression and warned that the next step would be lifting the anonymity of sources of journalists.

"Freedom of expression can not be qualified as a crime," Yuliana Metodieva, board member of BHC was quoted by Mediapool as saying.

BHC said "it should be clear that in a democratic country everyone, including senior officials, have the right to ask the court if a publication is libel or not."

According to BHC chair person Krasimir Kanev, the powers of SANS were alarming and were defined too broad.