Vietnam always keeps very cautious when setting up the regulations on Internet service management, because Internet not only brings big benefits, but also immeasurable consequences.
Therefore, state management agencies and local authorities tend to impose strict control over Internet services, and in many cases, they apply extreme solutions. In order to avoid the bad impacts of online games, for example, state agencies once intended to prohibit online games in Vietnam.
State agencies said extremism must not exist
Statistics show that by June 2011, Vietnam had had 36,295 Internet service agents. Of these, the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group VNPT is the biggest supplier which is holding 68.9 percent of the market share, followed by Viettel, which is holding 16.2 percent, and FPT 8.7 percent. The remaining market shares are being held by other service providers including EVN Telecom and CMC TI. Most of Internet agents provide online and non-online games, together with other basic services, such as website surfing, emails and chatting.
Pham Quoc Ban, Director of the Hanoi Information and Telecommunication Department, said that the city’s authorities have sternly eliminated the Internet agents which cannot meet the requirements, especially the agents located near schools, in order to create a healthy learning environment for students.
According to Ban, most Internet agents provide online games, mostly violent games.
“It is necessary to conduct inspection tours to Internet agents regularly. We should not forget the benefits of the whole society,” Ban said.
Hanoi has been applying technical measures to control Internet agents. It has forced the agents to install the software to control violent games, cut the transmission line from 10 pm every day and reconsider the operation license granting. However, all the measures seem to be useless.
Nguyen Hoa Nha, Deputy Director of the Long An provincial Information and Telecommunication Department, said that 90 percent of Internet agents in the locality try to attract young children with online games services, while only 10 percent provide other services. The department has issued the regulations stipulating the operation hours of the Internet agents in the province, from 9 am to 9 pm.
HCM City is considered the locality which applies tightest measures to control Internet agents. The enterprises which provide online games services have been forced to provide services to the IP addresses given by ISPs, stop providing games from 10 pm until 8 am of the next morning.
However, though having applied drastic measures, state management agencies still say they are not sure about the efficiency of the measures, since Internet agents, game providers and even ISP still have the ways to dodge the laws.
Ministry requested to change management method
Le Manh Ha, Deputy Chair of the HCM City People’s Committee, said that management agencies should remove the prejudice that considers public Internet as a “sensitive business”, and considers Internet agent as a “place of evils”, while it is necessary to exploit the positive aspect of the issue.
Ha said that no need to prohibit online games, but it is necessary to say “no” to violent games. It is clear that nowadays, the “virtual world” is also as important as the real world.
Also according to Ha, HCM City is now considering allowing enterprises to provide their products through their own agents, not to Internet agents. If so, it will be not necessary to set up complicated regulations for the management work.
Source: TBKTSG
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