Activists Worry About a New "Green Dam" In Vietnam

alphadogg writes "Human rights activists are worried that new software mandated by Vietnamese authorities may lead to an Internet clampdown in the country's largest city. In April, local officials issued new regulations covering Internet cafes and service providers in Hanoi, ostensibly designed to crack down on hacking and other service abuses. Buried in the regulations is a mandate that service providers must add special software to their domain servers, used to authenticate systems on the network. Nobody quite knows what the software is, but activists in the US worry that it may be used to clamp down on Internet usage in a country that has seen more and more grassroots information-sharing on social networks over the past year. Last year China tried to force PC makers to ship Green Dam censorware with all computers sold in the country, saying the software would help crack down on online pornography. But Chinese authorities — already known for their notorious Great Firewall — eventually backed off from their plans after critics raised a host of privacy, security and system stability concerns, and Chinese Internet users showed no interest in installing the program."

Comments

Jump to conclusions?

[girlintraining]

Since nobody knows what the software does, and a copy hasn't been released yet to be installed, anything said about it is pure speculation. "Internet Service Retailers Management Software" could be just about anything.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[biryokumaru]

Yes, because perfectly innocuous software needs a legal mandate requiring universal adoption.

People are drawing conclusions from what is known.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[girlintraining]

Yes, because perfectly innocuous software needs a legal mandate requiring universal adoption.

Universal adoption? It applies to ISPs, not every computer in the country. It could be something to impliment a HIPPA-like data retention and protection plan, or to secure financial data, or provide more robust encryption between DNS servers to thwart hijacking attempts. Or it could be a complete spy package.

It's never good to make assumptions -- you have to work with what you know. The moment you step away from that, you're in the land of conspiracy theories and what-if logic.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[0123456]

It's never good to make assumptions -- you have to work with what you know. The moment you step away from that, you're in the land of conspiracy theories and what-if logic.

True. I'm sure that secret software mandated by a communist government to be installed at their ISP is entirely in the best interests of their population.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[D H NG]

Considering that this government already attacked critical websites using a DDOS attack, it's not out of the question for them to attempt something like Green Dam.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[Tubal-Cain]

We need a +1 Sarcastic mod.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[Pharmboy]

What does communism have to with this?

Crack a book some time. The fact that communist countries have the worst track record in oppressing religion and free expression isn't new, or even controversial. As fucked up as the laws are in the USA and Europe, they don't even compare to the restrictions that the former USSR, China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba have instituted over the years.

Go ahead, pick any communist country, and show us how they are less oppressive than the US, Australia or any EU country. I won't hold my breath.

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[Monkeedude1212]

And there no other oppressive regimes other than communist ones?

No, but pretty much all the communist ones have been oppressive, so one might be correct in assuming all existing communist regimes are oppressive regimes.

And if that is the case, its better to be accurate as opposed to ambiguous - since not all Oppressive regimes are communist, calling a communist regime an oppressive regime when it is a communist regime (which implies oppressive) would be silly.

Following along?

Re:Jump to conclusions?

[ozmanjusri]

Cyprus

Hanoi not biggest

[D H NG]

Hanoi may be the capital but it's not the most populous city, not even by a long shot. It recently gobbled up a nearby province but it's still smaller than Saigon, now officially Ho Chi Minh City.

Re:Help yourself before helping others.

[Microlith]

Why don't we let these figure it out for themselves

Because there are those in power who never want them to figure it out.

let them ask for help when they need to

Well if we don't raise the issue then the ones in power will work to ensure they cannot. See Iran and their crackdown a year ago.

only get concerned when they get a new line of centrifuges going

At which point it's obvious the government gives not a damn for its people and instead exists only for itself and whatever broken ideology it follows.

Domino effect in effect

[newdsfornerds]

This could spread to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. From there it's just a short swim to Australia!

I think TFA is wrong...

[Funnnny]

I'm living in VietNam, and I think the article have some misleading
The government only require the Internet Cafe have a server that install a Internet cafe management software accepted by the government, although the accepted list isn't issued yet, but they don't force the Internet Cafe to install any software. It's mostly to prevent student to access porn and some other blacklisted site in Internet Cafe.
I think it's fine, because most internet cafes are using one, like Vinagame's CSM