Info/Law

The OpenNet Initiative, of which I’m a proud member, has just released its study on how Vietnam filters the Internet. Though theoretically Vietnam is worried about its citizens accessing porn, the state doesn’t actually block sexually explicit Web sites – instead, it concentrates on making sure users can’t get to information on opposition political parties, dissidents, or anonymizers. The report is highly detailed and paints a disturbing picture of a one-party state determined to wall off information that might threaten its political hegemony – and rapidly getting better at doing so.

Update (15 August 2006): there’s been some press coverage. Nick Jesdanun at the AP had a good piece picked up by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The Southeast Asia Press Alliance covered the study, and I did an interview with Radio Free Asia’s An Nguyen (note: this is in Vietnamese). Coverage also by the AFP at My Broadband, Bruce Kesler at Democracy Project, David Weinberger, PRI’s The World, Rebecca MacKinnon, and Information Policy.
Most interestingly, a spokesperson for Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry responded to the study, denying that the state filters for political purposes, and maintaining the system is in place to “prevent youngsters from unhealthy sites.” Um, how does that work, when you don’t filter any porn, but block over three-quarters of political opposition sites?? (Props to Yahoo’s Frank Zeller for the great piece, and to TODAYOnline for picking it up.)

Filed under: Berkman, Filtering, ISP, Intermediaries, Internet & Society