<IT WORLD> Vietnam strengthens firewall 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.
Gaming The digital entertainment
industry got a well-deserved boost this week at
the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in
Los Angeles. The three-day event. which started on
Tuesday, showcased the best in computer and video
gaming equipment and accessories to trade and
industry professionals. All the big names were in
attendance including Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony,
Intel, Nvidia and a multitude of lesser-known
gaming companies.
Unfortunately for
thousands of gamers the E3 show was not open to
the general public; the Internet however has been
awash this week with news and reviews from the
event.
Microsoft stole the show with a new
system called Kinect, which allows full-body
motion capture without the use of a controller.
The Xbox 360 booth became the center of attention
as people queued to try out the revolutionary
console, which enables players to jump about and
move to dodge digital distractions on the screen.
The latest version of the company's cult game,
Halo, was also demonstrated. Microsoft hopes that
the action-packed Halo Reach will boost sales of
their console.
Sony had a strong focus on
3D, although the majority of 3D games will not be
available until next year. The company did
showcase its motion controller, called Move, which
seemed to be based on Nintendo's popular Wii
platform but Sony says its own product has greater
precision. Sony ranks third in games console sales
with its PlayStation 3 and has a lot of work to do
to catch up with Microsoft and Nintendo. The
latter showcased a few new games and offered a
sneak peak of its 3DS handheld platform, which has
two screens, three cameras and motion sensors.
Telecoms As predicted, Apple and
AT&T have made a big mess of the pre-ordering
system for the recently announced iPhone4. Not
taking any heed of experience in previous product
launches, which saw excessive demand overload
servers and websites, AT&T, the exclusive
carrier for the device, suspended pre-orders this
week after its website suffered technical glitches
that resulted in the leak of confidential customer
information.
While Apple was boasting that
it had received 600,000 pre-orders for the new
iPhone, its exclusive partner was apologizing for
the data leak and website failure. While the
pre-order figure sounds impressive, it is unlikely
that these are all new customers as many will be
coming to the end of their contract with the
carrier and looking to cash in on upgrading their
old iPhone for the new one.
Yahoo has
targeted Asia to expand its mobile services as
more people in the region are currently using
them. India and Indonesia will be specifically
targeted as key markets as their data networks
such as 3G are being expanded. Yahoo plans to link
up with phone suppliers to boost data usage.
Other potential markets in the region,
such as Thailand, are still lagging behind their
neighbors for 3G adoption due to government red
tape and squabbling over profit sharing.
India has 500 million mobile phone
subscribers, with only 15 million using data
services, whilst Indonesia has 130 million users
with around a quarter of those using smart-phones.
Yahoo recently teamed up with India's Alcatel to
offer a low-cost smart-phone bundled with Yahoo
content for around US$100. Apple offers no such
incentives in emerging markets such as India and
its iPhone costs around $600 in comparison.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
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Gaming
