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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Censorship - Communist crackdown on the internet


"Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government."
President Grover Cleveland



Communism in Action  -  A major attack on the internet and freedom in Vietnam
  • France-based Reporters Without Borders lists Vietnam as an “Enemy of the Internet.” 
  • At least three journalists and 17 bloggers are currently in jail in the one-party Communist state.


Internet giants like Google and Facebook may have to cooperate with government censors.

Google, Facebook, and other Internet companies may be required to censor their content in Vietnam, an overseas group based on draft regulations that have been released.

The Ministry of Information and Communications, would require foreign businesses to cooperate with Vietnamese authorities in removing information from their sites reports Radio Free Asia.

The new rules would have “grave implications” for the country’s netizens and Internet companies, the U.S.-based Viet Tan Reform Party, which pushes for reforms and monitors rights issues in Vietnam, said in a statement Wednesday.

Vietnam’s 30 million Internet users could be affected by the rules, which are the latest in “a pattern of sweeping Internet restrictions that are difficult to implement in practice, and harm both technology providers as well as end users,” Viet Tan said.

Communist Party crackdown on Bloggers



Real names

The new rules also address individual Internet users, who will be required to use their real names online.

Internet companies will be compelled to help the government enforce restrictions like these on individual users.

If users cannot use fake names or post information anonymously, the rules will “effectively prohibit all forms of anonymous blogging and discussion,” posing consequences for the country’s citizen journalists, Viet Tan said.

Bloggers are restricted from engaging in any “prohibited online activities” and will be held personally liable for all the published content on their blogs.   (Radio Free Asia)


Imprisoned Blogger Nguyen Van Hai (pen name Dieu Cay).

Bloggers Arrested  -  No Freedom of Speech or the Press under Communism

  • All politicians in all nations are frightened to death of free speech.


Communist Party Prosecutors in Vietnam have charged three well-know bloggers with spreading anti-government propaganda.

Lawyer Ha Huy Son said Monday that his client Nguyen Van Hai and two others, Phan Thanh Hai and Ta Phong Tan, have been charged. The state-run newspaper Ho Chi Minh City Law said the three are accused of posting 421 articles on their blogs that "distorted and opposed the State."

Nguyen Van Hai, known by his pen name Dieu Cay, was detained following his participation in anti-China protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics and later prosecuted on allegedly trumped-up tax evasion charges. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

But on the day of his scheduled release, Nguyen Van Hai’s family woke up to a pre-dawn police raid on their home. Police beat his wife and told neighbors he was facing new charges. 

The happy, merry workers support the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
and hate freedom of the press.

Nguyen Van Hai had been held incommunicado until he met with lawyers recently, rights groups said.

 “[He] has been detained incommunicado for the past 17 months in gross violation of domestic and international law, and he should never have been arrested in the first place. A trial under these conditions would be nothing other than a parody of justice,” Vo Van Ai, president of the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights, said in a statement Monday.

“Vietnam must respect its international commitments and call off this mockery of justice before it is too late,” he said.

Vietnam’s information ministry released new draft regulations that, if adopted, will require users to use their real names when posting online and will hold bloggers personally liable for all the published content on their blogs.   (Radio Free Asia)


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