[Ict4devwg] Yahoo's Delicate Dance in Vietnam

[Vern Weitzel]

Subject: [vnnews-l] IT: Yahoo's Delicate Dance in Vietnam
Date: Sun, 31 May 2009 00:58:11 -0700
From: Stephen Denney <srdenney at gmail.com>
To: vnnews-l at anu.edu.au

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2009/tc20090528_660986.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_technology


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Internet May 28, 2009, 7:31PM EST text size:

Yahoo's Delicate Dance in Vietnam The portal is expanding in the Asian
country but is taking pains to avoid being drawn into government efforts to
curb citizens' use of the Web

By Douglas MacMillan<http://www.businessweek.com/print/bios/Douglas_MacMillan.htm>

Internet titan Yahoo!
(YHOO<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=YHOO>)
is girding for growth in Vietnam. But as it expands in the Southeast Asian
country, it's taking steps to avoid becoming an accomplice to government
efforts to restrict citizens' use of the Web there.

Vietnam is among emerging markets that represent expansion prospects for
Yahoo. More than 95% of the country's 18 million Internet users have Yahoo
instant messaging and e-mail, according to a study conducted with researcher
TNS<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=7940277>.
Yahoo is helping to fund Internet cafés in parts of Ho Chi Minh City and
elsewhere. And the popularity of its blogging platform prompted the launch
of a Vietnamese-language version, Yahoo 360plus, in May 2008.

Yet Yahoo's expansion comes just as Vietnam calls for tighter restrictions
on citizens' online activities. Last fall the government created the
Administration Agency for Radio, Television & Electronics, a unit charged
with keeping watch of the Internet, and issued a federal edict that raised
the penalty for criticism of the government posted to the Web. According to
Paris-based human rights group Reporters Without Borders<http://www.rsf.org/>,
the rules also carry an implicit request for Internet service providers such
as Yahoo to provide data and reports on users.
"Enemies" of the Internet

In a March report, Reporters Without Borders included Vietnam on its annual
list of countries it considers "enemies" of the
Internet<http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090312_381922.htm>.
The group cited the 30 "cyber dissidents" Vietnam has jailed since
2002—seven of whom remain behind bars—and criticized Do Quy Doan, the
country's Deputy Minister for Information & Communications, for a statement
he made in February that "a blog is a personal news page. If a blogger uses
it for general news like the press, he is breaking the law and will be
punished." Vietnam's Ministry of Information & Communications did not
respond to a request for comment.

Yahoo's response to the government's stance on citizens' Web use reveals the
tightrope Internet companies must walk when they do business in countries
that may be viewed as intolerant of free online speech and government
criticism on the Web. Companies that run afoul of government rules risk
having operations curtailed, if not shut down. Those that comply with
restrictive government agencies are lambasted by free speech and human
rights advocates.

Yahoo's Chinese operations have come under criticism for providing
information to authorities in 2004 that critics say led to a 10-year prison
sentence for journalist Shi Tao. China Yahoo is operated by
Alibaba.com<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=38707079>,
minority-owned by Yahoo. "We've learned tough lessons as pioneers in the
emerging markets, and we've also taken that and tried to be a leader in
business and human rights," says Michael Samway, vice-president and deputy
general counsel of Yahoo.

Vietnamese authorities have not contacted Yahoo to ask it to cooperate with
the new standards, Yahoo says. Indeed, the fine print may excuse
non-Vietnamese companies altogether. "We haven't yet seen action steps from
the government suggesting they intend to apply these regulations to foreign
Internet companies," Samway says. Still, the company is taking steps it
hopes will help it avoid having to comply with rules it considers
restrictive. For one, Yahoo located the servers for its Vietnamese-language
services in Singapore.
Jailed Vietnamese Blogger

In April 2008, Vietnamese authorities arrested politically outspoken blogger
Nguyen Hoang Hai, who was charged with tax evasion. Human rights groups say
the arrest was meant to put a chill on other online criticism of the
government. "They cannot put all of the political bloggers in jail," says
Vincent Brossel, who covers Asian affairs for Reporters Without Borders.
"But they catch the most prominent and the most vocal, and the people who
write about strong issues—that's how they work."

Colin Maclay, managing director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet &
Society <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/>, says public criticism of the
Vietnamese government might backfire, presaging a "showdown" with Internet
companies whose tools are used by dissident bloggers.

Yahoo is taking other steps aimed at preparing for confrontations with
foreign governments. Last October it came together with Google
(GOOG<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=GOOG>),
Microsoft 
(MSFT<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?symbol=MSFT>),
the Berkman Center, and a variety of nonprofits to discuss what steps should
be taken to handle requests from foreign governments. The consortium, called
the Global Network Initiative <http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/>, has
met regularly to discuss these issues, has held public forums, and has
issued reactions to events in the news, such as the blocking of Google's
YouTube in China.

In addition to locating its servers in Singapore, Yahoo says it has adapted
its terms of service and legal structures to prepare for any action by the
government. "We take into consideration local customs and norms where we do
business, but we don't bend on our principles," Samway says. He adds that
the influence of foreign businesses is greater on developing nations such as
Vietnam than in the more robust economy of China.
Google's Cautious Moves

The tension in Vietnam has drawn the interest of other parties, including
the U.S. government. On Mar. 31, Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and 11 other
members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Yahoo CEO Carol
Bartz<http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=169928&symbol=YHOO>urging
the company not to comply with any requests from the Vietnamese
government to aid in its censorship. Yahoo's Samway responded, writing: "We
look forward to continuing to engage with you" on the topic.

Yahoo is not the only company treading gingerly in Vietnam. Google offers
its search, Picasa photo sharing, and Google Groups service, but it does not
provide access to its Blogger service on the local country domain. Nor does
it store personal data on Vietnamese users. "When we decided to provide our
products and services in Vietnam, we tried to do so in a way that would
protect Vietnamese users from their government's efforts to censor online
speech," says Nicole Wong, deputy general counsel for Google. Social
networking site
Facebook<http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=20765463>,
which was translated into Vietnamese in December and has seen a recent
uptick in activity in the country, declined to comment for this story.

Protecting access to these sites remains a top priority for many. "When you
don't have the right to assembly, when you don't have free speech, when you
don't have freedom of the press, one of the freest places to get information
about the outside world is the Internet," says U.S. Representative Sanchez.

Douglas MacMillan
<http://www.businessweek.com/bios/Douglas_MacMillan.htm>is a staff
writer for BusinessWeek in New York.