A new Vietnamese Internet law that will put curbs on the types of information that can be exchanged on blogs and social media was criticized on Monday by a 21-nation inter-governmental group.
The Freedom Online Coalition said Vietnam's Decree 72 "risks harming Vietnam's economy" and "appears to be inconsistent with Vietnam's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as its commitments under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."
Decree 72 is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 1. It restricts the use of blogs and social media to the exchange of personal information. Posting of information that "harms national security" or "opposes" the government is banned. Further, it requires Internet companies and providers of information in Vietnam to cooperate with the government on enforcement of the decree.
The law has been widely interpreted as an attempt to silence the use of the Internet by government critics. Already this year, several bloggers have been jailed for postings they made online.
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