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Background Briefing: Vietnam: Decree 72 On Internet Management Carlyle A. Thayer August 1, 2013

[client name deleted] Vietnam has just issued Decree 72 on Internet Management. A copy in Vietnamese may be found at the link below: http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id= 1&_page=1&mode=detail&document_id=168699 Key points seem to be: Internet users will be only allowed to exchange personal information and will be banned from quoting general information... information from press agencies or other state-owned websites", according to Hoang Vinh Bao, chief of the government Department on Radio, TV and Electronic Information. Foreign Internet Services Providers [ISPs] will not be allowed "to provide information that is against Vietnam, undermines national security, social order and national unity or information distorting, slandering and defaming the prestige of organizations, honor and dignity of individuals".

We seek your assessment of the following issues: Q1. Is this an attempt to ban political blogging? ANSWER: Decree 72 aims to stem the flow of information that the government wishes to control. Yes, it is a deliberate attempt to prevent the circulation of news and views by bloggers that the state would rather suppress. Q2 To create a stronger legal framework to prosecute bloggers? ANSWER: Yes, the Decree provides an additional legal avenue for the government to prosecute bloggers in addition to the Penal Code. Q3. Is it enforceable? ANSWER: No, it is not enforceable especially if the bloggers defy the government in large numbers or use deliberate circumlocutions or coded expressions designed to skirt restrictions. The government will have to arrest individual bloggers to make an example of them to deter other bloggers. Q4. What difference will it make?

2 ANSWER: The Decree will have a chilling effect on ordinary bloggers. It is unlikely to prevent more determined Internet activists from continuing to post blogs. Q5. What about the impact on foreign ISPs? ANSWER: Foreign ISPs are likely to resist the Decree initially and then move to protect themselves from legal action by going through the motions of meeting the spirit of the Decree. The key will be how aggressively the government moves against a foreign ISP and what penalties it enforces on it.

Suggested citation: Carlyle A. Thayer, Vietnam: Decree 72 On Internet Management, Thayer Consultancy Background Brief, August 1, 2013. All background briefs are posted on Scribd.com (search for Thayer). To remove yourself from the mailing list type UNSUBSCRIBE in the Subject heading and hit the Reply key. Thayer Consultancy provides political analysis of current regional security issues and other research support to selected clients. Thayer Consultancy was officially registered as a small business in Australia in 2002.