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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-07-04 Daily Xml
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Cybersecurity, Vietnam

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:54): Recently, there have been widespread protests never seen before by hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese in Vietnam and abroad against the Vietnamese communist government's proposals for three special economic zone areas and against the cybersecurity laws it recently passed. Today, I will speak about the new cybersecurity law that would give sweeping new powers to the communist authorities, allowing them to force technology companies to hand over potentially vast amounts of data, including personal information, and to censor users' posts on social media outlets.

These new laws give authorities choices to determine when expression must be censored as illegal. With the lack of meaningful protections for privacy in Vietnam, these provisions in cybersecurity law make it easier for the government to identify and prosecute people for their peaceful online activities. The Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, Mr Brad Adams, recently stated, and I quote:

This bill, which squarely targets free expression and access to information, will provide yet one more weapon for the government against dissenting voices. It is no coincidence that it was drafted by the country's Ministry of Public Security, notorious for human rights violations.

Some of the draconian measures in these laws are: internet companies such as Facebook being required to store data locally, verify user information and disclose user data to authorities without the need for a court order and banning the use of internet to 'prepare, post and spread information' that opposes the Vietnamese communist government or even offends the nation and the communist red flag.

The Vietnamese National Assembly, which is a puppet legislature for the communist regime, voted on these measures, amongst many other extreme laws, on 12 June this year, and they passed close to unanimously, with Amnesty International reacting with a statement, and I quote:

With the sweeping powers it grants the government to monitor online activity, this vote means there is now no safe place left in Viet Nam for people to speak freely.

Amnesty International has also written an open letter to the heads of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Samsung outlining its concerns and urging the companies to exert pressure on Vietnam's government. Part of the letter says, and I quote:

This law can only work if tech companies cooperate with government demands to hand over private data. These companies must not be party to human rights abuses, and we urge them to use the considerable power they have at their disposal to challenge Viet Nam's government on this regressive legislation.

The communist regime has established a paid army whose job it is to promote official propaganda. Perhaps more worryingly is that the regime has set up a military task force of 10,000 officers who are ready to combat online opinions every hour, every minute and every second of the day. These new measures, now adopted by the communist regime, are being implemented in the background of broader crackdowns on human rights activism in Vietnam. Several of these activists have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison by Vietnamese courts.

On behalf of the Vietnamese community in Australia and worldwide, I call on Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Samsung to exert their power against the communist government by refusing to comply with these new laws which only seek to cover up human rights abuses and government corruption in Vietnam.

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