Vietnam Wrestles With Internet Growth

from the the-other-side-of-the-debate dept

Earlier today I posted the story about how technology and democracy were impacting South Korea. I mentioned that it was refreshing to see an article talking about how the internet is having a positive impact on government after reading stories about how governments are censoring the internet all over the place. As if to prove that point, here's an article talking about how the internet is taking off in Vietnam, but is being carefully controlled by the government - who will throw people in jail for putting "dangerous" material online. They also want to hold ISPs and cybercafes liable for anything bad that their customers do, saying that it's just like a restaurant with a health inspector: the restaurant must make sure it's not poisoning its customers, and the cybercafe needs to make sure it's not poisoning its customers minds. Yet another example of how governments can manipulate the internet to their advantage. I do wonder, however, what makes a government so insecure in its own ruling ability that it believes people will automatically go running to the opposition, if they even know they exist.