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- hellaHOMER, on 01/18/2009, -1/+22As horrible as this sounds, they can do it. All they have to do is study the tactics used by the pro-censorship, Communist China. Vietnam may even begin to hire people to scour the blogosphere and set a commission-pay system based off the number of pro-government comments and propoganda left on blogs and other websites.
- morningmatters, on 01/19/2009, -0/+21Yes, China cracks down on the internet too, but if the article is about Vietnam at least use the Vietnam flag in the picture instead of the Chinese flag?
- inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+20Thailand blocks websites as well. Its even more irritating because that country pretends to be a democratic free society
- RoflCoptah, on 01/19/2009, -0/+15dammit vietnam, this is why my family left you
- Branchex, on 01/19/2009, -1/+13Google and Yahoo should be ashamed to call themselves American companies. They are willing to sacrifice people's freedom to keep foreign governments happy just to make some money. I'm sure if they wanted to they could still reach the people in these countries even if they were blocked by the government.
- michaelpinto, on 01/19/2009, -3/+15hellaHOMER: I know they can do — and indeed do it. But I think one of the answers is to draw attention to and raise the issue. Also we shouldn't single out Vietnam — as you point out there are other nations that do this like China or Vietnam. But I'd hope that we can start a movement to speak out against this — much like there are folks abroad who speak out against the death penalty (least we Americans think we are perfect).
- inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+11Communists crack down on free speech? I'm shocked. There's gambling in the casino!
- one504, on 01/19/2009, -0/+10They're going about this all wrong. It would be much more efficient to fly some social media experts to Vietnam and hook them up with $500 gift cards to shop with for the weekend.
- michaelpinto, on 01/19/2009, -0/+7You Sir are correct — that was only the icon Digg gave me because the Post did a poor job of illustrating their article. But for the record here is the correct flag:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Vietnam - inactive, on 01/19/2009, -0/+8Charlie don't surf!!!
- FolkTheory, on 01/19/2009, -1/+9democracy and freedom are not the same thing.
- Time4SumWupAzz, on 01/19/2009, -1/+9Duh. What do you expect when you live in a comunist country?
- cleanyoungbob, on 01/19/2009, -0/+6When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty - Thomas Jefferson
Apparently in this case he was wrong! - jabbajabba, on 01/19/2009, -0/+6The campaign started in August, when the government published an edict giving police broad authority to move against online critics, including those who oppose "the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" and undermine national security and social order."
'national security' has become the motto of police states. - brettg102, on 01/19/2009, -0/+4You clearly have no idea what the Fairness Doctrine is. The Fairness Doctrine is a peice of legislation aimed at radio and TV that requires stations to give equal time to opposing views. This would mean the end of the formats as we know it of Fox News, MSNBC, Air America, and conservative talk radio. Media will once again become boring like it was in the 80s and you won't be able to watch or listen to something catered to you and your proclivities.
- seobro, on 01/19/2009, -0/+4The RIAA should move to Vietnam or Time Travel to NAZI Germany. They love police states. I still remember "Don't copy that floppy!"
- Testiculese, on 01/19/2009, -0/+3None from Vietnam here either. Venezuela and Jordan.
- Kyrgizion, on 01/19/2009, -1/+4"Pretends" is the right choice of words. Today, a writer was jailed there for 3 years for having made fun of the Thai royals in a book he published YEARS ago, (and, to add insult to injury, of which he only sold 7 copies).
Moral of the story: if you ever write fiction including any Thai Royals, do not holiday there. They don't take kindly to it. - arpad, on 01/19/2009, -0/+3Oh, I don't think it's as easy as that. The Chinese seem to have an ongoing war on net freedom which means they haven't won. They'll force off the casual complainer but that just means the people that are left are the more committed and more capable. It's a classic predator-prey arms race.
The only way the Chinese government has to be certain that they "win" is to cut off both internal and external Internet traffic since the flexibility of digital communication means the folks trying to communicate will all sorts of options and the government is in the position of trying to respond.
Trouble is, the rising level of repression those responses necessitate will have economic consequences pretty quick and the economic expansion of China's what's been keeping the lid on political dissent. - Testiculese, on 01/19/2009, -2/+5Most countries pretend to be a democracy. The USA likes to play pretend too.
- MacParrot, on 01/19/2009, -0/+3Totally agree. It's why you won't find a single blog criticizing GB, the Republicans, the Democrats, Obama, the US as a nation or any of it's policies written in the US...oh wait
- Finalreminder, on 01/19/2009, -3/+6meh, could be worse.
For instance, it could be like Great Britain where the Police are allowed to hack anyones PC at anytime without any kind of warrant or permission from an independant, outside source. - TommyHigh, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3Democracy doesn't exist... Not in the real world anyway.
- linagee, on 01/19/2009, -0/+2"Trying to undermine our authority with their 'truths'. Grrr!" -Chinese Govt.
- sjl127, on 01/19/2009, -0/+2Look at the tags on some of your clothes, "MADE IN VIETNAM."
- inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3If I want to view Google search results, I always search behind a US-based proxy. Otherwise Google is useless in Viet Nam for certain search terms. Twitter seems to be catching on over here as well as Facebook also. I doubt those two sites will be censored any time soon.
- Picer, on 01/19/2009, -0/+2@"delqueue"
Communists crack down on free speech? I'm shocked. There's gambling in the casino!"
Yeah but Australian and UK GOVTs have been floating internet censorship under the guise of child pr0n but most of the child pr0n people use TOR proxy (from what i have read) rendering censorship useless, the same equipment that blocks child porn once installed can block anything else, western governments are no better. - lovemorgul, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3The State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" and undermine national security and social order.
- hoisonsauce, on 01/19/2009, -0/+2Karl or Richard?
- Finalreminder, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3Since recently. The Government kept it hush
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/art ... - o3man, on 01/19/2009, -0/+2The Peoples Liberated Freedom Republic of Dugeon. :)
- nydwarf, on 01/20/2009, -0/+2Vietnam? I hear it's quite beautiful.
- woodrail, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3Here's a neat equation.
The internet increases human intelligence (playing the role of "metacortex" or "communal exomind" or whatever u wanna call it)
Censoring reduces this effect.
Thus the censored will be stupider than the uncensored.
The internet kills fascists. - LupeFiasco, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3Can't say I am surprised. I got a lot of family from Vietnam, but they do not seem to bothered by the censorship. I think a lot of people feel the same way. They are more concerned with where their next meal is coming from. Despite Vietnam's growing economy, there are still very, very poor people. The gap between the rich and poor is huge and widening, similar to China.
Hopefully when a good majority of people are well off enough, they'll start demanding some freedoms. Then again,China doesn't look like they are letting up anytime soon. - inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+3DU MA!!!!! LE BU CAC DI MAI!!!!
- AgmLauncher, on 01/19/2009, -2/+3Isn't communism a wonderful ideology?
- WoollyMittens, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2Yes, keep repeating that until they put your dissident ass against the wall. Brute force and terror will always beat intelligent ideals.
- alvination, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2My parents are in Vietnam for a couple weeks to visit family.
I don't think they know what a blog is though. - inactive, on 01/20/2009, -0/+1I'd like to replace my comment in light of what cleanyoungbob has brought to my attention:
When government fears giving up power (control over future status), it acts in a negative fashion. Citizens can suffer for their need, not greed, >need; for power.
Their fear for their potential loss of power over their future - not ours - drives them to try and keep everything the same so that they can control the future; and their spin tries to make us view their past words and deeds in a different light. Then we find out on the internet what really happened, and we spread it and the past is immortal.
So they want to remove annonymity from the interwebs. They want a picture, dna, name, number and point of origin for every purchase, comment you make, conversation you have, photos, friends, family, voting history...
...and know your mind and soul. Be a part of your lives.
Make everything neat and tidy.
For them.
:) - WoollyMittens, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2Most bestest comment ever. You won the internet.
- hellaHOMER, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2I agree. We've got to keep that coverage going. That's why I appreciated this Digg. Americans perfect? We only can dream. But change comes with time. It took us until now to elect a Black president. Maybe we might see within our lifetime, government censorship in countries abroad begin to at least lessen as the outcry of the people gets louder.
- motters, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2If we're not careful a similar fate might eventually befall western bloggers also. We're not living under communism, but many western governments have been moving in a decisively authoritarian direction in recent years.
- hellaHOMER, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2True but there are understandings between government, and I'm damn sure Google/Yahoo doesn't want to set some precedent. The Internet is such a grey area where the lines of jurisdiction and legalities are complex, blurred, and confusing. No one really wants to step on toes to get tied up in court systems, political red tape, and media-fueled controversy. Plus, Google/Yahoo have legal obligations to their shareholders who may not be so happy about such a move. The SEC would have their heads.
- twig978, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2A bit unproud to be Vietnamese. But what do you expect from communist? Actual rights?
- oxynom, on 09/24/2009, -0/+1I thought everyone is blogging, they don't in vietnam I guess
http://www.vietnamvacationpackages.info - inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2 We might as well stop commenting, no one's gonna top that.
- inactive, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2 First they have to chip away at net freedoms. Blocking hate speech would the logical first step. Anyone who complains could be denounced as defending Nazi's. Protecting the children is another good one.
- inactive, on 01/19/2009, -2/+3If you're frightened of your own people you shouldn't be in government.
- WoollyMittens, on 01/19/2009, -1/+2I'm sorry that governments are starting to discover the internet. We'll need a new secret one, now that the old tyrants found a new place to live our lives for us.
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