Rights groups take aim at Vietnam's new internet laws

Rights groups take aim at Vietnam's new internet laws

CNN September 2, 2013

A controversial law to prevent Vietnamese internet users from sharing news articles drew criticism on Tuesday from human rights groups which said the decree is designed to clamp down on dissent in the one-party Communist state.

Known as Decree 72, the new law which came into effect on September 1 not only limits blogs and social websites to exchanging 'personal information' - original material generated by users - but requires foreign internet companies to locate their local servers inside Vietnam.

While the Vietnamese government has defended the law saying that it is aimed at stemming the illegal dissemination of intellectual property, critics say the law -- which also bans the online publication of material that 'harms national security' - is further evidence of Hanoi's crackdown on the Internet.

Reporters Without Borders says as many as 35 bloggers and netizens are currently jailed in Vietnam on anti-state charges, some of them serving sentences as long as 13 years.

"This is Vietnam vaulting to the head of the crowd on internet censorship in South East Asia," Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch told CNN.

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