Vietnam

Overview

Vietnamese investment in ICT development has helped expand economic opportunities, but has also had adverse effects on the citizenry’s freedom of expression. Forty percent of people in Vietnam use the Internet, with the majority of those users getting online from home. The government controls the largest telecommunication companies and uses its influence to regulate what Vietnamese users can and cannot access. Vietnamese ISPs filter content based on a blacklist of URLs, mostly relating to politics, human rights, or the country’s territorial disputes with China. While Facebook is blocked in the country, circumvention is easy, and the site remains popular. Several laws criminalize posting material online that threatens the state, and the government frequently arrests or imprisons bloggers and journalists. As of 2013, over 30 netizens remained in detention, second only to China. Websites with dissident content are also frequent targets of cyber attacks.

Access

Vietnam identifies ICT investment as a key component in its economic development. Internet penetration in Vietnam stands at 40 percent, with 5 percent accessing the Web via fixed broadband connections. Nearly all users (88 percent) have home Internet access, and free Wi-fi connections are available in many public areas such as restaurants, cafes, hotels, and airports. Coverage in rural areas still lags behind that of cities and towns. Three out of ten users access the Internet via smart phones, with an equal number utilizing cyber cafes. Owners of cyber cafes must record customers’ ID card information and install software that tracks users’ activity and blocks certain sites. Some of these cafes are also subject to an 11pm curfew as a result of a recent government law aimed at limited the amount of time youth spend playing games online. The Vietnamese government and military control 85 percent of the ISP market, about 90 percent of the mobile phone market, and four of the country’s six Internet gateways.

Control

Vietnamese ISPs filter based on a blacklist of URLs, mostly relating to politics, human rights, or the country’s territorial disputes with China. OpenNet Initiative testing in 2012 found that, similar to previous tests, the country’s three major ISPs block certain URLs, but do so inconsistently. Internet users can circumvent blocks fairly easily, a fact that has rendered the country’s ban on Facebook essentially moot. Several laws legitimize censorship, including one passed on June 15, 2013 that bars anyone from using the Internet to oppose the state, harm national unity or national security, or foster hatred among ethnic groups. It also requires all Internet companies operating in the country to comply with government demands to identify users. Other laws reinforce that users cannot create content that opposes the state and hold Internet companies responsible for information users create, distribute, and store. Several government bodies regulate Internet content, and the Administrative Agency for Radio, Television, and Electronic Information provides guidelines for blogs and manages media licenses. Among Asian countries, Vietnam is second only to China in jailing journalists and online activists. Bloggers have been arrested or jailed for allegedly spreading pro-democracy information, misusing democratic rights, disseminating false information, or denigrating the state. Even those who have not been arrested have faced travel restrictions, job losses, and/or physical violence. Cyber attacks have plagued websites containing dissident content since 2009. Though no evidence proves the government was behind the attacks, some suggest that a hacking group that supports the Vietnamese Communist Party launched the attacks.

Activity

Despite severe monitoring and censorship, Vietnam boasts robust Internet activity around non-political topics. Blogging was particularly popular until the country’s most popular blogging platform, Yahoo!360, was shuttered in 2009. Several home-grown web services such as search engine Coc Coc and social networking platforms Zing Me and state-supported GoOnline have been launched but have largely failed to capture users from global giants Google, Facebook and YouTube, which remain the top three most visited sites in the country.

Vietnam identifies ICT investment as a key component in its economic development. Internet penetration in Vietnam stands at 40 percent, with 5 percent accessing the Web via fixed broadband connections. Nearly all users (88 percent) have home Internet access, and free Wi-fi connections are available in many public areas such as restaurants, cafes, hotels, and airports. Coverage in rural areas still lags behind that of cities and towns. Three out of ten users access the Internet via smart phones, with an equal number utilizing cyber cafes. Owners of cyber cafes must record customers’ ID card information and install software that tracks users’ activity and blocks certain sites. Some of these cafes are also subject to an 11pm curfew as a result of a recent government law aimed at limited the amount of time youth spend playing games online. The Vietnamese government and military control 85 percent of the ISP market, about 90 percent of the mobile phone market, and four of the country’s six Internet gateways.

Vietnamese ISPs filter based on a blacklist of URLs, mostly relating to politics, human rights, or the country’s territorial disputes with China. OpenNet Initiative testing in 2012 found that, similar to previous tests, the country’s three major ISPs block certain URLs, but do so inconsistently. Internet users can circumvent blocks fairly easily, a fact that has rendered the country’s ban on Facebook essentially moot. Several laws legitimize censorship, including one passed on June 15, 2013 that bars anyone from using the Internet to oppose the state, harm national unity or national security, or foster hatred among ethnic groups. It also requires all Internet companies operating in the country to comply with government demands to identify users. Other laws reinforce that users cannot create content that opposes the state and hold Internet companies responsible for information users create, distribute, and store. Several government bodies regulate Internet content, and the Administrative Agency for Radio, Television, and Electronic Information provides guidelines for blogs and manages media licenses. Among Asian countries, Vietnam is second only to China in jailing journalists and online activists. Bloggers have been arrested or jailed for allegedly spreading pro-democracy information, misusing democratic rights, disseminating false information, or denigrating the state. Even those who have not been arrested have faced travel restrictions, job losses, and/or physical violence. Cyber attacks have plagued websites containing dissident content since 2009. Though no evidence proves the government was behind the attacks, some suggest that a hacking group that supports the Vietnamese Communist Party launched the attacks.

Despite severe monitoring and censorship, Vietnam boasts robust Internet activity around non-political topics. Blogging was particularly popular until the country’s most popular blogging platform, Yahoo!360, was shuttered in 2009. Several home-grown web services such as search engine Coc Coc and social networking platforms Zing Me and state-supported GoOnline have been launched but have largely failed to capture users from global giants Google, Facebook and YouTube, which remain the top three most visited sites in the country.