Blogging in Vietnam

Vietnam needs to control blogs to prevent the spread of subversive and sexually explicit content, communist government officials said.

Weblogs have exploded in Vietnam in recent years, especially among youths, providing a forum for chatting about mostly societal and lifestyle issues and providing an alternative to the state-controlled media.

Recent anti-Chinese protests over the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands, which were halted following rebukes from Beijing, were organised and debated on the Internet but almost completely ignored by the official press.

The ministry responsible for culture and information, which controls traditional media, in July said it was drafting regulations that would fine bloggers who post subversive and sexually explicit content online.

Deputy Information and Communications Minister Do Quy Doan said: Once we have obvious regulations, I think no one will be able to supervise weblogs better than the bloggers themselves.

The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns a Vietnamese court decision to imprison blogger Nguyen Van Hai, better known by his penname Dieu Cay, on charges of tax evasion.

The court convicted Hai, 55, in a closed-door trial, sentencing him to 30 months in prison.

According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Hai was convicted for failing to pay 10 years of back taxes on a part of his residence that he rented to an optical shop. One of his lawyers quoted in the same news story said that the contract agreement with the shop stipulated that the tenant, rather than the owner, must pay the tax.

The DPA report said Hai belonged to a group of bloggers known as the League of Independent Journalists, and that his colleagues believed he was sentenced for his critical reporting on nationalistic protests launched in January against China's claims to the nearby Spratly and Paracel Islands.

We call in the strongest terms possible for the relevant authorities to overturn the trumped-up conviction of blogger Nguyen Van Hai, said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia Program director: Hai has an established reputation for critical commentary in Vietnam's blogosphere. There is little doubt that his arrest is due to his postings critical of the government.

With blogging on the rise in Vietnam, authorities plan tighter curbs and tougher monitoring.

Vietnamese authorities plan to police the content of dissident blogs through random checks and self-policing by the country's blogging community, a senior Vietnamese Internet security expert has said.

There should be a legal corridor to assure better operation of the blogs, the director of the state-run Bach Khoa Internet Security Center, Nguyen Tu Quang, told RFA's Vietnamese service. We'll manage them by randomly checking—we don't need to control all the blogs.

Earlier this month, Information and Communication Deputy Minister Do Quy Doan was quoted as saying Hanoi would seek cooperation from Internet giants Google and Yahoo! to help regulate the country's flourishing blogging scene.

The government will announce new rules this month, stressing that Weblogs should serve as personal online diaries, not as organs to disseminate opinions about politics, religion, and society, senior officials were quoted as saying.

Quang said under the draft rules being debated violators could face up to U.S. $12,000 in fines and up to 12 years of jail time.

Authorities currently block some Web sites run by overseas Vietnamese that espouse views critical of the government, and they often seek to shut down anything seen as encouraging public protest.

In September, blogger Dieu Cay was jailed for 2.5 years on tax evasion charges after he tried to persuade people to protest at the Olympic torch ceremonies in Ho Chi Minh City last summer.

Depraved Vietnam

Based on article from thanhniennews.com

Police in Ho Chi Minh City Thursday arrested 10 suspects allegedly involved in the operation of a pornographic website and charged them with distribution of depraved material.

Police plan to press similar charges against two other suspects.

Vietnam has tightened restrictions on internet blogs, banning bloggers from raising subjects the government deems inappropriate.

Blogs should follow Vietnamese law, and be written in clean and wholesome language, according to a government document seen by local media.

Internet service providers will be held accountable for the content of blogs they host.

The new rules, drawn up by the Ministry of Information and Communications, require internet service providers to report to the government every six months and provide information about bloggers on request.

The rules ban posts that undermine national security, incite violence or disclose state secrets.

In response to the fast growing citizen journalist movement, the Vietnamese government launched a new entity (Administration Agency for Radio, Television and Electronics Information) and decree to restrict Internet freedom, censor private blogs, and compel information technology companies to cooperate with authorities.

Since the end of last year, authorities in Vietnam have taken further steps to restrict freedom of expression by unleashing a systematic campaign against bloggers and internet activists. At least 15 bloggers have been arrested and harassed since September 2008.

A democracy activist could face the death penalty if convicted at a trial expected in Vietnam late this month, his father said.

Nguyen Tien Trung was arrested in July along with several others, including human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, and accused of anti-state activities.

Trung was arrested for propaganda against the state, which carries a prison term on conviction. But he is now facing the more serious charge of subverting the people's administration, his father said. The charge carries a maximum penalty of death.

French European Parliament member Nicole Kiil-Nielsen said in a letter to Vietnam's French embassy: He is a democrat and pacifist.

Vietnam has issued a new decree to censor the activities of journalists and bloggers that includes provision for fines of up to 40 million dong (2,000 dollars) in a country in which the average salary is 126 dollars.

The government is demonstrating its determination to tighten its grip on news and information just as the ruling Communist Party is holding its congress, Reporters Without Borders said: This decree is trying to apply the censorship already in force for traditional media to blogs.

The press freedom organization added: The protection of the confidentiality of sources is seriously threatened by this decree. The government is going after online anonymity by trying to prevent bloggers from using pseudonyms. This could make it easier for the authorities both to harass them and to arrest and jail them.

Due to take effect next month, the decree makes it an offence to publish information that is non-authorised or not in the interests of the people. By interpreting these vague definitions broadly, the authorities will be able to increase the number of arrests of blogger and journalists.

The decree also provides for fines of up to 3 million dong (155 dollars) for anyone who publishes documents or letters without identifying themselves or revealing their sources, and for up to 20 million dong if the documents are linked to an official investigation.