{"id":1350,"date":"2012-06-29T14:19:03","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T18:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/herdict\/?p=1350"},"modified":"2012-06-29T14:19:03","modified_gmt":"2012-06-29T18:19:03","slug":"new-vietnamese-internet-mandate-may-further-curb-freedom-of-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/2012\/06\/29\/new-vietnamese-internet-mandate-may-further-curb-freedom-of-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"New Vietnamese Internet mandate may further curb freedom of speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article 19 reports<\/a> that Vietnam is implementing a new Internet regulatory mandate that may significantly alter free speech in the country. \u00a0They explain that the decree \u201crequires all online users to use their real names and personal details, which in turn will create an environment of self-censorship.\u201d \u00a0In addition to requiring real identities, the law also forces \u201cInternet companies to locate servers and offices inside the country, thereby placing them directly under Vietnamese law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Requiring companies to locate servers and offices<\/a> within Vietnam would \u201cforce popular social networking services like Facebook and Google to locate servers inside the country and set up a local presence in Vietnam.\u201d \u00a0Herdict\u2019s raw data<\/a> show that Facebook is frequently blocked in Vietnam; this law, then, would further exacerbate the hurdle for citizens\u2019 access to the site with its insistence on companies providing a local presence in the country. \u00a0Further, Vietnamese Internet service providers (ISPs) would be expected to enforce these requirements \u201con pain of sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CNS News, the US embassy has responded to the legislation in messages sent to Hanoi\u2019s communication and information ministry. \u00a0The US government has taken the position that the law \u201cwould be extremely difficult to implement and would impose such prohibitive regulatory burdens that many innovative suppliers simply might not be able to enter the market or, if currently present, might abandon it for other markets.\u201d \u00a0Additionally, the US is concerned about the provisions\u2019 likelihood \u201cto negatively impact individuals\u2019 rights to freedom of expression in Vietnam.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Internet activists and Vietnamese citizens alike, the decree is worrisome due to the increased opportunities for surveillance and censorship that it will create. \u00a0For instance, by forcing companies to locate servers within Vietnam, it will be easier for the government to demand records and track the online actions of its citizens. \u00a0Up until recently, the international media had not paid much attention to this legislation. \u00a0As the law\u2019s enforcement comes closer to reality, however, there has been a slight increase in public attention through Article 19\u2019s blog and CNS\u2019s coverage.<\/p>\n

This legislation is not new terrain for Vietnam. \u00a0The OpenNet Initiative\u2019s profile<\/a> on Vietnam explains the socialist regime\u2019s reputation for implementing multilayered filtering tactics. \u00a0The government states that they guarantee freedom of speech, but according to ONI\u2019s testing \u201cthe state concentrates its blocking on content about overseas political opposition, overseas and independent media, human rights, and religious topics.\u201d \u00a0These tactics and reports of the Vietnamese government detaining dissident bloggers<\/a> have caused EFF<\/a> and Reporters Without Border<\/a> to dub Vietnam an \u201cenemy of the Internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

This law has been on the books for months<\/a>, however, it is expected that the law will go into effect within the month. \u00a0Given Vietnam\u2019s complex Internet regulatory structure and their questionable history in free speech protection, this legislation is simply the latest addition to a long string of restrictive moves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article 19 reports that Vietnam is implementing a new Internet regulatory mandate that may significantly alter free speech in the country. \u00a0They explain that the decree \u201crequires all online users to use their real names and personal details, which in turn will create an environment of self-censorship.\u201d \u00a0In addition to requiring real identities, the law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4632,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[981,253,856,3616],"class_list":["post-1350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-facebook","tag-filtering","tag-legislation","tag-vietnam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4LdGs-lM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1350"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1353,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions\/1353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/herdict\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}