[AP] Last September, when police clashed with Catholic protesters over confiscated church land, the Vietnamese public did not need to rely on the sanitised accounts in the state-controlled media. They could read all about it on the blogs.The photos and translated Western news reports about outlawed prayer vigils were posted in a Vietnamese blogosphere where anything goes – from drugs, sex and Aids to blunt criticism of the communist Government.Until now the Government has generally taken a hands-off attitude. But officials at the Ministry of Information and Communications seem to be losing patience. They are preparing new rules that would restrict blogs to personal matters – meaning no politics.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10546926
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/06/AR2008120601285.htmlVietnam court upholds blogger’s jail term [AFP]
An appeals court in communist Vietnam on Thursday upheld a blogger’s two-and-a-half-year jail sentence for tax fraud in a case media watchdog groups have said was politically motivated.
http://news.smh.com.au/technology/vietnam-court-upholds-bloggers-jail-term-20081205-6rsj.html
http://news.theage.com.au/technology/vietnam-court-upholds-bloggers-jail-term-20081205-6rsj.html