Jun 19, 2010
By Martin J Young
HUA HIN, Thailand – Search giant Google has expressed concern over new regulations that will allow the Vietnamese government to block access to websites and monitor the activity of Internet users. The decision, made at the end of April, affects commercial Internet access points in Hanoi city and could include cafes, hotels, restaurants and public transport terminals.
Vietnam is demanding that all retail Internet locations install “Internet Service Retailers Management Software recognized by the authority”, by 2011. The move mimics China’s attempt last year to force PC vendors to install third-party filtering software (see China adds brick to censors’ firewall, Asia Times Online, June 13, 2009).
Google policy analysts have criticized the move by stating that it “is a troubling example of a government threatening free expression online and an open Internet”. Human Rights Watch accused the government of “mounting a sophisticated and sustained attack against online dissent, including detaining and intimidating anti-government bloggers”.
The legislation at present applies only to Hanoi, but it is feared that it will soon become commonplace across the rest of the country. The convoluted list of prohibited actions for Hanoi’s Internet population is long and includes opposing the government, endangering national security, disrupting the harmony of the people, propagating war, stereotyping, inciting unrest, calling for unlawful demonstrations and gatherings, impairing cultural values and watching pornography.
A cyber-threat targeting Vietnamese Internet users was uncovered in March by Google, which claimed that tens of thousands of users may have become infected with malware designed to spy on them following the downloading of Vietnamese keyboard language software. The government denied any involvement.
Vietnam’s communist government is highly intolerant of dissent and has been known to jail bloggers and online activists as well as blocking high profile websites such as Facebook. It is rapidly climbing up a list of Asian countries including China, Thailand, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran that are increasing the censorship of information on the Internet.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.