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Communication ministry officials believe that new legislation on blogging will help create a healthier online environment.
The law aims to create a legal base for bloggers and related agencies to tackle violations in the area of blogging, Doan said at the conference on drafting the statute on November 27.
“Since this [blogging] is very complicated and sensitive by nature, it is a must to create a legal framework for it,” Doan said, adding that it was an issue in many other countries as well.
The law will not interfere with bloggers’ privacy, but will help in the healthy development of the Web-log environment, according to Doan.
Problems with definition
The deputy minister said the statute first aims to provide a [Vietnamese] definition of Web-logs to base the regulations on.
Most of the participants did not agree, however, with the definitions provided by the body that is drafting the law – the Administration for Radio Broadcast, Television and E-Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).
According to the drafter, blogs or personal e-information sites, which are created and registered on the Internet, are used to display personal information to store, exchange, or share with a group of people or a community using Internet services and blogs.
Nguyen Hoang Tuan Anh, a representative of local game operator Vinagame, said bloggers are not only blog creators but service providers as well.
Doan admitted there was confusion about the definition, saying that it would be clearer to use the original [English] explanation, but they need to write it in Vietnamese as it is a legal document.
Lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Hung from social networking website www.tamtay.vn, suggested creating a general statute about uploading information on the Internet, including blogs.
The Administration for Radio Broadcast, Television and E-Information should also consider the roles of the governmental blog management agency, service providers and users, he said.
If regulations for local social networking websites are too strict, users will turn to freer and more generous providers causing losses to the Vietnamese ones, according to Hung.
Eighty-five percent of Vietnamese people use blog services provided by foreign companies, Phap Luat newspaper recently quoted Anh as saying.
As a result there will be management problems, if the statute only targets social networking websites provided by companies registered in Vietnam, he said.
Luu Vu Hai, head of the administration, meanwhile, said under WTO commitments, registration was not required for the provision of services across the border.
Doan said they will study more so that the statute can ensure fairness between local and foreign businesses.
“To direct the activity properly, we have to combine law, technology, campaigns and education,” Doan told Phap Luat.
The MIC will contact Google and Yahoo! for cooperation in creating the best and the healthiest environment for bloggers, according to Doan.
Over the past 10 years, the Internet in Vietnam has experienced dramatic development, he said.
It is estimated that 24 percent of the Vietnamese population are using the Internet, which is a high rate compared to other countries in the Southeast Asian region, the deputy minister told Thanh Nien.
Vietnam issued a decree on the management, provision and use of the Internet and e-information on the Internet in August.
Indifferent bloggers
Most of Vietnam’s popular Web-logs, meanwhile, seem not to care that MIC is drafting a new statute, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Monday.
M.T., creator of a Web-log with more than two million hits, told the newspaper: “I have heard about it [statute] for a long time, but is it ever going to happen?”
“The Web-log is a virtual world,” said another blogger V. “Only when the administrators understand the world’s rules can they manage it. But it is called ‘virtual’, so it is hard to manage.”
Blogger X., meanwhile, said the problems were mostly caused by anonymous Web-logs. “Bloggers with clear identities will know how to change in line with regulations.”
In his latest entry, AD – a blogger – said: “The life of a Web-log is decided by Yahoo 3600 (service provider), public opinion and its owner.”
The world of Web-logs is random, therefore, it is not easy for the administrators to read all of them to decide which is “clean” and which violates the law, he said.
Nguyen Thi Mai Phuong and Dao Thi Huyen - two students from the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanity - have just completed research on the relationship between Web-logs and the mass media.
They said the authorities aimed to create a healthy environment for Web-logs, yet, it is impossible to create general regulations to manage Web-logs.
Vu Minh Tri of Yahoo! Southeast Asia rep office in HCMC told Phap Luat that self-management plays a very important role in creating a clean social networking website.
Tri said Yahoo! 3600 has a feature allowing bloggers to report “unhealthy or improper” blog entries of a blogger.
Yahoo! recently closed down a Web-log after many complaints from other bloggers, according to Tri. So, the supervision of the “netizen” community is very significant, he said.
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