Stories about Vietnam

If Your Blog Gets Hacked, Can WordPress Help?

  5 June 2013

In March, Vietnamese political news blog Anh Ba Sam underwent a series of attacks that left its content compromised and its administrators unable to access the blog’s back end. Although the site is now back under their control, restoring their ability access the blog was more difficult than administrators imagined.

Vietnam: Government Jails Three ‘Dissident’ Bloggers

  1 October 2012

Three Vietnamese bloggers have been convicted by a local court for allegedly spreading anti-government propaganda. One of them will serve a prison term of 12 years. Human rights groups immediately condemned the verdict and warned against the creeping online repression in the country.

Advocacy Recap

  7 February 2011

After blogging about free speech issues and dangers faced by bloggers and reporters in various parts of the world, I think it would be nice to look back and check on them. On October 20, 2009; I discussed about how the  city of Pittsburg-hosting G20 summit, harassed protesting activists and even tried...

Free Blogger Dieu Cay

  22 October 2010

Two and a half years ago, in April 2008, police in Vietnam arrested Nguyen Van Hai and detained him secretly for several weeks. Mr. Hai, now 58-years old, blogged under the nickname Dieu Cay which means “the peasant’s water pipe.” At the time, authorities denied targeting Dieu Cay for his writings even though he was then one of the country’s best known bloggers and government critics. Through his Yahoo 360 blog, Dieu Cay exposed government corruption, called for freedom of expression and was among the first Vietnamese to criticize a Chinese government decision to incorporate the Paracel and Spratly Islands—which are claimed by Vietnam and several other Asian countries— into an administrative unit under China’s Hainan island.

Hanoi arrested blogger Pham Minh Hoang for peacefully expressing his political view

  29 September 2010

Pham Minh Hoang, a blogger and lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City Polytechnic Institute was arrested on August 13, 2010 for his blogging on democracy and social justice in Vietnam. Initially, the Vietnamese government detained him quietly but later acknowledged his arrest together with his three other colleagues: Pastor Duong Kim Khai, Ms Tran Thi Thuy and Mr Nguyen Thanh Tam. This was only after these arbitrary arrests were brought to the international attention by their colleagues from Viet Tan, a Vietnamese pro-democracy group.

Southeast Asia: Sex and web censorship

  26 July 2010

Regulating internet content today is viewed as an anti-democratic practice but Southeast Asian governments seem able to justify it by invoking the need to save the young from the scourge of indecent sexual behavior.

2009 a bad year for bloggers and freelance journalists

  15 December 2009

Freelance journalists and bloggers did not have a good year in 2009. According to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ” At least 60 freelance journalists are behind bars worldwide, nearly double the number from just three years ago. CPJ research shows the number of jailed freelancers has grown along with...

Vietnam: Blogger and democracy activist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy beaten and arrested

  23 October 2009

Vietnamese authorities have arrested another blogger after sending nine internet activists to prison on two to six years terms for expressing their views on the internet. Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was arrested on the evening of October 8, 2009 after the police sent plain-clothes officers to her house to harass her, her husband, and their 13-year-old daughte

Vietnamese Government Cracks Down On Bloggers

  9 September 2009

In response to the fast growing citizen journalist movement, the Vietnamese government launched a new entity (Administration Agency for Radio, Television and Electronics Information) and decree to restrict Internet freedom, censor private blogs, and compel information technology companies to cooperate with authorities.

Vietnam: Bloggers arrested for criticizing China

  8 September 2009

Vietnam is continuing its crackdown against bloggers.Early morning on September 3rd blogger Nguyen Nhu Quynh, asleep with her young child was arrested by armed security personnel.In July blogger Nguyen Tien Trung was arrested for his free speech activism. According to Reporters Sans Frontières “The Vietnamese authorities have arrested another blogger,...

Democracy movement under attack in Vietnam

  20 July 2009

Vietnam's growing democracy movement is under attack from the state once again.Pro-democracy blogger Nguyen Tien Trung was arrested earlier this month. According to Reporters Without Borders “Nguyen Tien Trung’s arrest brings the number of journalists and bloggers held in Vietnam to at least 11. Nguyen Tien Trung, an active member...

Vietnam: Blogger Dieu Cay arrested

24 April 2008

If you go to YouTube right now you can easily find footage from most of the stops along the ongoing Beijing Olympic Sacred Flame torch relay. On the San Francisco leg, protesters went viral, covering the event through Twitter, video and even audio live updates. Come next Tuesday, however, what...