In a new decree expected to replace the existing one, known as Ministerial Decree No. 97/2008/ND-CP, by June this year, the Ministry of Information and Communications proposes to: (1) forbid the use of a nickname in securing Internet services (for instance, one must use one’s real name on Facebook and on one’s blog); (2) protect the personal security of Internet users–which is almost in direct contradiction with (1); (3) force Internet service providers such as Google and Facebook to have their servers in Vietnam so that they can be monitored by the Internet police.
Should the new decree go into effect, the freedom of Internet users will be further restricted in a country which for the last several years has been labeled one of the ten worst “enemies of the Internet” by Reporters without Borders.
