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Vietnam targets bad Internet
connections
By Tran Dinh Thanh
Lam
HO CHI MINH CITY - Vietnam is doing
everything it can to join the World Trade
Organization (WTO) this year, but at the same time
its communist government is doing its best to
restrict cyber cafes - the main window to the rest
of the world for ordinary citizens.
No fewer than four ministries -
Public Security (MS), Posts and
Telecommunications, Culture and Information (MCI),
and Planning and Investment - have joined hands to
"regulate and standardize the fledgling and
troublesome Internet cafes business".
Yet,
while conformists and officialdom are one in
welcoming new restrictions imposed last month as
an effective method of combating "evil schemes",
others see in them attempts by the government to
put more barriers on free access to cyberspace.
Since logging into the world wide web in
1997, Vietnam has supervised access to the global
information highway. A decree affirms the
government's determination to "manage and control
the Internet in Vietnam as well as services of
this network, manage gateways to abroad to be able
to link with Internet; control the content of
information on Internet".
But the
increasing number of Internet users, including
those who patronize the popular cyber cafes, has
made the government's efforts to control access to
web content cumbersome.
Last year, the
Vietnam Internet Center reported that the number
of Internet subscribers had jumped to more than 2
million from 823,000 in 2003. Alongside, the
number of web surfers at Internet cafes has
doubled and now represent 7.35% of the country's
population of 83 million people.
Following
the introduction of broadband services, Internet
cafes have become affordable places for young,
impressionable people to communicate with the
outside world.
"Teenagers and young people
are the main customers of these Internet cafes.
What are they doing there? They usually play
games, chat, write e-mail; but rarely research or
study," complained MCI deputy minister Do Quy
Doan.
Police seem ready to back up the
idea that some bad eggs are taking advantage of
lax controls to download or upload "illegal
content" from nude pictures of famous artists to
anti-government documents.
"Up to 90% of
young people have viewed pornographic sites, while
26 out of 28 supervised cafes had evidence of sex
sites on their computers," reported Nguyen Van,
head of a Posts and Telecom office investigating
team. He added that many cyber cafes allow surfers
to access explicit web sites.
To monitor
Internet cafes, MCI last year requested Internet
services providers (ISPs) to improve management by
setting up more effective firewalls that filter
out unacceptable web pages. MCI has also asked
individuals and organizations to apply for
licenses when they set up their own web sites.
The latest controls demand that cafe
owners register clients' details, including name,
age, address and ID number; to monitor sites
visited by means of software supplied by their
ISPs. They are also asked to close shop before
midnight and disallow under-14 children, unless
accompanied by adults.
MCI minister Doan
explains: "These regulations answer public concern
about the bad environment shown by the majority of
Internet cafes. Many people have come and told us
to do something right away if we don't want to
have to deal with more evil dens later on."
Doan was referring to raids conducted at
some karaoke bars and nightclubs in the national
capital and in Hanoi where hundreds of young
people were arrested for dancing or making love
while apparently under the effect of drugs.
In the past few years, drugs, pornographic
videos and abortions have become issues in schools
and colleges and cause for great concern to
parents and educators.
"Many young people,
particularly students, have begun using
amphetamines and ecstasy," Colonel Nguyen Duc
Nhanh, deputy director of the Hanoi Police said at
a news conference. "This is an alarming trend
among the nation's youth and if no measures are
taken, the phenomenon could reach epidemic
proportions and become part of Hanoi's mainstream
youth culture, undermining wider social
stability."
Apparently, measures to combat
the scenario painted by the police colonel include
tighter controls on Internet cafes.
"I
heartily appreciate the new regulations,"
48-year-old homemaker Nguyen Thi Thuong told IPS.
"My daughter usually goes to Internet cafes, but I
cannot know what she's doing there."
Nguyen Ba, 70, thought that asking cyber
cafe users to show their ID cards could limit many
abuses of the Internet, especially after midnight.
"At that time, Internet cafes become just a place
to look for sex partners online. Some prostitutes
even use webcams in cafes to market their charms."
However, the majority of Internet cafe
owners and their clients do not agree with these
assertions. "We are not policemen," said Tran
Trung, owner of Than Huu Net on Ly Thuong Kiet
Street, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City,
referring to the obligation for Internet cafe
owners to demand to see clients' IDs.
Regarding parents' fears of the bad
influences on the minds of their kids, Trung said:
"It is better for teenagers to come here and surf
the web in public than stay online alone at home."
"Do you need to show your ID card when
entering a bar or a nightclub? So, what is the
need to show it at Internet cafes? Are they worse
places than karaoke bars and dancing venues?",
wondered Van Thanh Trung, 21, a third-year student
at HCMC Polytechnics.
Trung told IPS that
he thought the real reason for the new laws may be
political rather than ethical and moral. "Last
year, they asked web site builders to apply for a
license so as to monitor the content uploaded to
the Internet. This year, they request ID card and
web page tracking in order to monitor downloaded
content."
The Vietnamese Communist Party
(VCP) is preparing for its 10th Congress, which is
expected to set new directions and choose new
leaders to guide the party into the era of
globalization and free market.
Several
Vietnamese dissidents and democracy activists
living in the country as well as abroad have taken
this opportunity to intensify their criticism of
the VCP on the Internet. "These sensitive times
demand more control of the Internet," Trung said.
Both the United States and the European
Union support Vietnam's entry into WTO, and this
country has been revising its laws to ensure that
end, although the new restrictions on Internet
access seem to run counter to the general policy
of opening up.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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