Firewall
Case David, Big Brother Is Alive and Well in Vietnam-And He Really Hates the Web, Wired magazine, Nov 1997,
http://hotwired.lycos.com/collections/connectivity/5.11_vietnam9.html
Clarke Roger (Roger.Clarke@anu.edu.au), FC: Human Rights Watch criticizes Vietnam Net-censorship (3/17/97) http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link9703/0156.html
Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA
Information Sciences Building Room 211 Tel: +61 6 249 3666
Grams Etika <grame@ils.unc.edu>, FC: Vietnam to Censor Net (fwd) http://metalab.unc.edu/pjones/ils310/msg00193.html
Lovering Daniel, Chronicle Foreign Service, The communist government is nurturing Internet entrepreneurs to catch the wave, Dot-Com Vietnam, Tuesday, March 13, 2001, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/03/13/MN111996.DTL
Reporters sans frontières, le 15 Mars 2002.
Watkin Huw, Vietnam's Net censorship counterproductive
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/dailynews/story/0,2000010021,20183227,00.htm, ZDNetAsia news, 23/2/2001
Big Brother Is Alive and Well in Vietnam-And He Really Hates the Web
By David Case
Wired magazine, Nov 1997
http://hotwired.lycos.com/collections/connectivity/5.11_vietnam9.html
In anticipation of the "real Internet," as it is called, a handful of similar systems have popped up in the past year. "We'd like to provide Internet service, but the government won't let us," explains one of the young hacks at the computer expo. "So we created an intranet." These are among the most jam-packed booths at the show.
I shoulder my way down the aisle to meet a troop of geeks dressed in identical white polos emblazoned with the name of a would-be ISP. Their guru, Pham Thuc Truong Luong, a young computer engineer, is perhaps unique among the crowd at the exposition. Luong has actually seen the Net, while studying in Hungary. He understands his government's concerns, and, like most young Vietnamese, he's no foot soldier of free speech. While I browse Luong's Web site, the screen displays text that reads, "Firewalls are what keep the jerks out while you get your business done." He tells me officials are constructing a firewall to protect against social evils. "In Hungary," he says, "I had a chance to access information not suitable to Vietnam. We must find a reliable way to filter out damaging content, like porn, neo-Nazi propaganda, and political information."
While the Net has a reputation
for being impossible to control, Vietnam is attempting to do just that. Under
temporary rules, intranet services face severe restrictions that forecast the
harsh climate that is likely to exist when full access to the Internet becomes
available. The final regulations will be enacted in the spirit of a Politburo
decree that says the "expansion of the Internet must not be carried out on
a massive scale and at random."
Many people expect that
licensing procedures and fees will be used to discourage the general public. For
those who manage to get access, the depths of Net censorship may be dramatic.
The litany of online no-nos currently includes content that would "report
false information, libel the prestige of organizations, insult national heroes
and great men, or incite superstition or social evils."
How will it be policed? "Officially,
the government is allowed to screen and check everything," says John Barnes,
an Australian computer consultant who is working with one of the would-be ISPs.
And to overcome the essentially anonymous nature of cyberspace, the government
is holding responsible nearly anyone who plays a role in making the Net
accessible - whether they be ISPs, company managers, computer room
administrators, or parents. For example, says Barnes, "if the rules are
violated by a user, the service provider's license for operation can be
suspended and their equipment confiscated." Essentially, Vietnam's security
apparatus found cyberspace to be so unwieldy that it has decided to delegate its
duties.
To put this in context,
Vietnam's Internet regulations conform to a great tradition of the Marxist/Leninist
order, whereby laws are so strict that they are widely violated. This makes most
people into outlaws and places them at the mercy of police and security
officials, who get rich turning a blind eye. In practice, those who keep to
themselves or are well connected can expect to live in peace.
Back at the expo, I bump into
Chang, a middle-aged geek with disheveled hair. An embattled purveyor of flatbed
scanners, Chang pokes me hard in the arm and launches into a passionate plea for
help. "You don't understand!" he implores, wiping beads of
perspiration from his brow. "Business is tough. So many scanners stuck at
Customs. The government requires a license for every scanner! No joke!
Publishing tool, scanners are. Can influence people's ideology! Very hard for
anyone but state media."
What's at the root of all this
paranoia? Barnes, the computer consultant, has an answer. "The government
is frightened of the radical element" overseas, he explains, referring to
the many Vietnamese who have escaped the country since the waning days of the
American War.
By day, Hien Do Ky is a telecom
engineer in Canada. By night, he's an activist, fighting for freedom and justice
in Vietnam via the Internet. We've never met, but through email, he has taught
me much of what I know about the dark side of Vietnam.
Nearly two decades after
fleeing Vietnam, Hien, like most of the "boat people," still has
strong feelings for his motherland. "I had many friends there. Some of them
died in the Cambodian war. Some died in the angry seas, and some escaped."
In their memory, he says, "I want to see a homeland that is free and fair
to all its citizens."
In their adopted countries
across the Western world, overseas Vietnamese have regrouped and reorganized.
Their numbers are substantial: Hanoi has compiled a blacklist of 130 overseas
groups, according to the activists. But for years, they have been separated from
Vietnam and one another by the vast geography of the globe. The Internet has
changed that, bringing them as close as the nearest modem.
Individuals like Hien can now
make an impact. From him, I receive weekly email reports (accessed by an
international call) of goings-on censored by the régime in Hanoi. The activists
send news of high-level corruption, a crackdown on an underground political
magazine, and an elderly dissident whose family noodle shop is threatened with
closure if he continues to advocate civil liberties. In fact, while I'm living
in Saigon, email from overseas brings news about what's happening in Vietnam -
events that I would never know about even if they happened just across town.
"The government is really
scared about dissident information from overseas," confirms a well-placed
European executive working on one of the country's latest Internet schemes. He
says that information from email is said to be showing up among clandestine
student groups. Human Rights Watch reports that activists have even managed to
spam Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet's email account.
For the curious among the
Vietnamese, the Net would certainly be an eye-opener. In comparison to the vapid
fare served up by the state media, it would offer a mind-boggling array of
opinions and information. Since 1975, very few people in the country have had
access to any information that wasn't put forth by the government, and until
recently, even fewer have traveled overseas. As such, the critical skills -
taken for granted in the West - that enable readers to discern the sincere from
the sinister are largely underdeveloped. There will, undoubtedly, be mishaps.
Nearly three months have passed
since the cybercafés were shut. The monsoons have arrived, and each day the sky
is heavy with undulating clouds that cast a gray hue over Ho Chi Minh City.
Whenever I ride past TâmTâm, the iron gate out front is down. Inside, the
computers remain sealed.
From New York, Rapp emails me
that they still don't really know what happened. He and Vu suspect that they may
have been sabotaged or denounced by a disgruntled rival, but legal recourse is
basically nonexistent. "The fear is gone now," he writes, "except
for the fact that the money might be gone forever, and has been replaced by a
kind of sodden depression. Vu is very depressed, and I feel utterly helpless to
affect anything. An unhappy time."
I decide to pay Vu another
visit. Back at the café, I bang on the drawn gate, and wait. On the wall, a
sign reads, "Café will be closed a few days," but the words are
barely legible, bleached by the sun and washed by the rain. When Vu arrives, he
looks haggard. Seated next to his outcast computers - which remain sealed and
shrouded in plastic - I wait for more than an hour as he haggles with his
landlords. With no customers, he later explains, he's fallen behind on rent
payments.
When we finally speak, I'm
struck by how worn out he has become. No longer looking me in the eye, he stares
into the distance. He says, "I'm trying my best to reopen. I don't want to
lose the café, but at the same time, if I'm allowed to reopen I won't be happy
staying in Vietnam." As we sit - once again sipping Coke, but this time in
darkness - it becomes painfully clear that he's been defeated. For now, the
police state has won.
But as the pressure for capital builds, people's expectations mount, and cyberspace becomes more vital to business, Vietnam may find it difficult not to throw the doors open, let the Internet grow, and let its talented populace profit. Next century, Vietnam's battles will be fought in cyberspace.
Roger Clarke (Roger.Clarke@anu.edu.au)
Wed, 19 Mar 1997 11:02:20 +1100
This
is re-posted from Declan's Fight Censorship list; but it's so well
expressed that I think *all* linkers would like to have a read of it!
>Date:
Tue, 18 Mar 1997 15:25:46 -0800 (PST)
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu
>Subject: FC: Human Rights Watch criticizes Vietnam Net-censorship
(3/17/97)
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Sender: owner-fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu
>X-FC-URL: Fight-Censorship is at http://www.eff.org/~declan/fc/
>
>[Some general information about international Net-censorship is at
>http://www.eff.org/~declan/global/
--Declan]
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> Dear Declan, We would appreciate if you can circulate following letter
> we sent yesterday.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Jagdish Parikh
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> By Fax: 202 861 0917
>
> March 17, 1997
>
> Mr. Vo Van Kiet, Prime Minister, Socialist Republic of Vietnam Mr. Do
> Muoi, Secretary-General of the Vietnam Community Party
>
> Dear Prime Minister & Secretary-General of the Vietnam Communist
> Party,
>
> We are writing on behalf of Human Rights Watch/Asia to express our
> concern over the recent decision by the government of Vietnam to
> establish strict controls on Internet use.
>
> Under a new decree which we understand will take effect March 17, the
> government will manage domestic use of the Internet, supervise all
> Internet content, and control international links between Vietnamese
> users and the World Wide Web.
>
> This decree may have unfortunate consequences for Vietnam, as it comes
> at a time when the government is trying to foster high-technology and
> export-oriented industries. It will prevent Vietnamese citizens from
> gaining inexpensive access to the Net through a server outside the
> country and thus prevent them from exchanging ideas on how to
> integrate Vietnam's economy into global market. It will also narrow
> the opportunity for international communications and exchange of ideas
> on topics that could benefit Vietnam's development. Internet, as it
> exists today, provides one of the best way for scientists and
> academicians to share knowledge globally and learn from each others
> experiences. Any attempt to control the content can discourage free
> flow of information even among this community.
>
> The Vietnam government's own use of Web pages demonstrates how the
> Internet can be used to propound a particular point of view. Its
> citizens, so long as they are not using their site for purposes
> incompatible with freedom of expression, for example, inciting
> violence, should have the same opportunity to share views as their
> government.
>
> As stated in Article 19 (2) of the International Convention on Civil
> and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a party:
>
> Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right
> shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and
> ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in
> writing, or in print, in the form of art or through any other mediam
> of his choice.
>
> We hope that the Vietnam government will retract these new regulations
> and support the development of an unfettered Internet.
>
> Sincerely,
> ___________________ ______________________
> Dinah PoKempner Jagdish Parikh
> (Deputy General Counsel) (On-line Research Associate)
>
> cc:
>
> Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State,
> Steve Coffey, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human
> Rights and Labor
> 2201 C St. NW
> Washington DC 20520.
>
> Gopher Address://gopher.humanrights.org:5000
> Listserv address: To subscribe to the list, send an e-mail message to
> majordomo@igc.apc.org with "subscribe hrw-news" in the body of
the
> message (leave the subject line blank).
>
> Human Rights Watch
> 485 Fifth Avenue
> New York, NY 10017-6104
> TEL: 212/972-8400
> FAX: 212/972-0905
> E-mail: hrwnyc@hrw.org
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>"subscribe fight-censorship-announce" to majordomo@vorlon.mit.edu.
>More information is at http://www.eff.org/~declan/fc/
>
Roger
Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 6 288 1472, and 288 6916 mailto:Roger.Clarke@anu.edu.au
Visiting
Fellow, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA
Information Sciences Building Room 211 Tel: +61 6 249 3666
>From the fight-censorship mailing list:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
03/11/97 - 01:47 PM ET - Click reload often for latest version
Via USA Today Web Site
Vietnam to censor the Net
HANOI, Vietnam - All information coming into Vietnam through the Internet
will be censored and the government announced Tuesday it will control who
has access to online services.
It also will limit the gates through which Internet servers in Vietnam
are linked to the world's largest information network.
The new regulations, to take effect next week, were widely publicized in
state-controlled media.
The controls were issued in a decree by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, who
said information servers must be based in Vietnam. This will ensure that
information entering and leaving Vietnam goes through a
government-filtered gateway, the Communist Party newspaper, The People,
reported.
The government has been looking for efficient ways to allow Internet
service, while restricting its contents.
By The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Dot-Com Vietnam
The communist government is nurturing Internet entrepreneurs to catch the wave
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/03/13/MN111996.DTL
Daniel Lovering, Chronicle Foreign Service
Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam
-- The steel railings and concrete walls of the Saigon Software Park give Truong
Dinh Street, an avenue lined with trees and airy French colonial villas,
an
institutional look.
But
the scene at Realtimedia on the fourth floor of this monolithic office building
is anything but institutional.
Tran
Van Tuan, the new firm's 29-year-old owner, puffs on a cigarette while listening
to heavy metal music. Nearby, a dozen computer programmers sip coffee while
creating Web sites and software programs for clients in Vietnam, California,
Ireland, Denmark and elsewhere.
"We
work with the Internet because we love it," said Tran. "And we have a
flexible work environment."
Fortunately
for Tran, Vietnam's communist government has finally embraced the Internet. When
the Web first surfaced in Vietnam three years ago, many party cadres worried it
would threaten their ability to control public information and protect national
security. Police closed down Internet cafes and carted off computers.
But
now the state envisions high technology as an economic boon that will create
employment, and it is willing to give young entrepreneurs like Tran a chance to
nurture dreams of Silicon Valley-style fortunes.
Reporters sans frontières, le 15 Mars 2002.
ZDNetAsia news
Daily News
Vietnam's Net censorship counterproductive
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/dailynews/story/0,2000010021,20183227,00.htm
By Huw Watkin
23/2/2001
Vietnam
has developed a significant capacity to intercept and control Internet
communications, but its efforts to censor the Net are already failing and will
ultimately do more harm than good, according to industry sources.
HANOI
(SCMP.com)
- Hanoi's Ministry of Public Security says it now has the technology to
eavesdrop on e-mail communication and is likely to upgrade that capacity amid
escalating concerns from the country's leadership about the threat from
"hostile external forces".
State-controlled
media reported this week that exiled Vietnamese groups were increasing their
efforts to slander Hanoi via the Internet by exaggerating ethnic conflicts and
fanning religious tensions. A report in the Saigon Giai Phong said human and
religious rights groups and pro-democracy activists were escalating an
electronic propaganda campaign in an attempt to create instability ahead of the
Communist Party Congress, a key five-yearly leadership and policy forum
scheduled for next month.
"This information only tells some of the truth, the rest is a distortion,"
the report said. "It deliberately targets an audience which has limited
political awareness and lacks information." The article came a week after
the quelling of widespread anti-government demonstrations in the Central
Highlands by ethnic minorities protesting at the alleged seizure of traditional
lands for coffee-growing and other agriculture.
Hanoi
dismissed the unrest as the work of agents provocateurs and imposed an effective
information blackout by banning travel to the region by all foreigners. But
ethnic minorities who fled overseas following the communist victory in 1975,
fearing recriminations for their allegiance to the United States during the
Vietnam War, have embraced the Web to tell their side of the story.
A
Web site set up by exiled hill-tribe members carried allegations of heavy-handed
retaliation against their clansmen by Vietnamese security forces, including the
use of heavily armed troops, tanks and aircraft. Those charges have proved
impossible to verify independently and have been rejected by authorities in
Hanoi. But they prompted Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacker to write to
Secretary of State Colin Powell alleging that hill-tribe protesters had been
"mown down" by helicopter gunships in "a second Tiananmen
massacre".
Fear
of the political fallout from such allegations has prompted Vietnamese security
forces to increase the resources devoted to controlling Internet information
including, according to one computer systems engineer, the ability to block Web
sites through the use of a so-called "firewall", and to intercept
e-mail.
"It's
actually quite simple. Software is available now which identifies key words in
e-mail messages or headers," the engineer said. "The e-mail is then
diverted to a network administrator who can even decode encrypted messages and
either censor or delete their content.
"The
trouble with a country like Vietnam is that the vast majority of Internet
messages are in foreign languages. The security apparatus can target individuals,
but it doesn't have the linguistic capacity to deal with even a fraction of the
Internet traffic."
Local
information technology experts complain, however, the Government's concern about
subversion through the Web is damaging attempts to develop Vietnam's ability to
participate in the global information economy.
"We
have problems with insufficient infrastructure, but the Government's policy
prevents us from developing and is increasingly useless in terms of censorship,"
said a leading Vietnamese software engineer.
"The
firewall, for example, can be applied only to particular sites. Change the name
of a site and it is no longer blocked by the firewall. The number of sites is
also increasing every day, but the use of a firewall just slows the whole system
down," he said.