huridocs-tech Vietnam: Magazine protests internet controls

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## author     : sdenney@OCF.Berkeley.EDU
## date       : 19.05.00
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                         BBC Monitoring World Media
                    Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring

                            May 19, 2000, Friday

   HEADLINE: Vietnam: Magazine protests state internet control
   SOURCE: Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon', Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnamese 11
   May 00

   Excerpts from report by the Vietnamese magazine Thoi Bao Kinh Te
   Saigon' ('Saigon Economic Review') on 11th May; subheading as
   published
   From November 1997, when Vietnam was officially connected to the
   Internet, until now we only have about 60,000 Internet subscribers,
   with about half of them Vietnamese. The figure is rather modest,
   especially at present when there are over half a million computers and
   over two million telephones nationwide. A survey conducted in
   September 1997 showed that 12 per cent of households in Ho Chi Minh
   City have computers at home.
   The low rate of Internet subscription does not correspond with the
   demand for the development and integration processes. The efforts of
   the Internet service providers in recent months to cut usage fees and
   to launch promotion campaigns did not help to boost the number of
   Internet subscribers as expected. On the other hand, Vietnamese
   Internet users so far do not have the benefit of having access to many
   necessary and useful websites that are created by domestic
   institutions. This important task should have developed strongly in
   the past several years to help the masses access and exploit this
   modern technology.
   It seems that high price is not to blame for the slow development of
   the Internet in Vietnam. More importantly, it is the management policy
   and the view of state agencies and domestic organizations towards this
   new communication medium that have caused the problem. The author of
   this item wishes to discuss these issues, especially after the
   circulation of a document issued recently by the cultural and
   information management authority.
   A new sub-permit?
   In early April, the Ministry of Culture and Information sent a
   circular to all Internet service providers in the country. The
   circular reveals that the ministry "is considering the issuance of
   permits to the web sites," which the circular calls "parasites of ISPs
   Internet service providers and ICPs Internet Content Providers ,"
   created by organizations and enterprises. These "parasite" web sites
   can only be created "after permits are obtained from the Ministry of
   Culture and Information."
   Regarding enterprises alone, there will be some confusion when this
   regulation takes effect. Enterprises build their own web sites to
   advertise and promote their products, introduce their companies,
   employ staff, give notices on changes of address, put unused machinery
   on sale, introduce their new branches or agents, and so forth. It is
   in no way different from putting a commercial advert or a notice on
   the classified page of a newspaper or on the radio. In the past
   companies did not need a permit to put a commercial ad in a newspaper,
   but now they have to apply for a permit to advertise on the Internet.
   And this is a permit from the ministry! Is this a new sub-permit? Just
   think about the time when Internet use becomes more popular than now.
   How will the ministry manage to issue permits to the huge number of
   web sites that will be built? At present thousands of notices and
   commercial adverts appear every day in papers like Saigon Giai Phong'
   Liberated Saigon and Tuoi Tre' Youth without their having to apply for
   any permits. Therefore it is difficult to understand why we need
   permits for web sites...
   If we continue to think in the old way, that citizens are entitled to
   do only what is allowed by the state, then there will come a day when
   the state will be unable to cope with the unimaginably large volumes
   of social demands requiring state permits to control them. In fact,
   this old management style hampers social development...




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