November 04, 2010
A WELL-known political and social blog in Vietnam has been hacked, its founder said Thursday, adding to what watchdogs say is a mounting crackdown in the country.
The anhbasam blog has been damaged since Tuesday, said its founder, Nguyen Huu Vinh, 54. “I’m not surprised,” he told AFP. “Because I think some people don’t like democracy, open information for all people.”
He did not specify who he thinks was behind the attack but it is the latest of its kind, for which observers have blamed the communist authorities.
A fresh crackdown against bloggers is taking place ahead of the ruling Communist Party Congress scheduled for January, watchdogs say. The five-yearly Congress determines top leadership posts.
Vinh, a former policeman, said he started his blog three years ago, initially to store for himself articles that he read. Then he decided to translate and post articles written in English, which he thought other Vietnamese might like to read.
The blog also included his own comments.
At first glance, the hacked blog appears to look normal but all the files have disappeared and been replaced by an article and photos critical of an overseas-based Vietnamese dissident writer.
Vinh vowed to re-launch his blog.
The hacking of his website came on the same day that state-linked media reported that another Vietnamese blogger had been detained for “infringing on the interests of the state” after she allegedly criticised a security official and his family.
News of the arrest of Le Nguyen Huong Tra, 35, who blogged as Co Gai Do Long, came days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern about Vietnam’s rights record.
“The government should realise that, regardless of what it does, people will continue to criticise the authorities online,” said the Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “This is a battle that the government has already lost.”
The government says concerns over free expression in Vietnam are groundless.
