A special Police unit to tackle crime and democracy on line
Hanoi (AsiaNews) Internet is safe in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has in fact set up its own unit of cyber-cops who will fight internet crimes and stop the spread of forbidden information. In the last few days, three Vietnamese dissidents learnt this the hard way; they were jailed for spreading democratic ideas through the worldwide web.
"Officers are expected to start operations next month, said Colonel Nguyen Hoa Binh, director of the Public Security Ministry's Economic Police Department.
Vietnam has an estimated five million internet users out of a population of 81 million. Because of the high cost of internet service most people usually have access to the internet at cyber-cafés whose managers are however required to keep track of user information and report whenever any inappropriate site has been visited.
"Online crime is expected to become a major problem as more people begin using the internet and connection speeds increase," said Nguyen Tu Quang of Hanoi Technology University.
Dissidents often use internet to pass on information about the status of freedom and human rights in the country. Cyber-dissidents suffered the most from government repression according to the 2003 annual report of Reporters without Borders.
At the end of this July, for example, Dr Nguyen Dan Que, one of Vietnam's better known pro-democracy activists was sentenced to two and half years "for abusing democratic rights and infringing upon the interests of the State." The 62-year-old doctor was arrested after e-mailing a document to a relative in the US in which he called for political reform and protection of human rights in Vietnam.
Article 69 of Vietnam's constitution guarantees freedom of the press but also allows for prison sentences for revealing "state secrets" or information that can threaten "national security". (MA)
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