Many Vietnamese bloggers break the law, lawyer warns

Lawyear Nguyen Van Tu.

VietNamNet Bridge – Many bloggers have post others’ personal information on their blogs. They may not be doing this conciously but in fact, they violate the law, warned a reputed lawyer.

Famous blogger arrested

Lawyer Nguyen Van Tu from the Hanoi-based Khanh Hung Law Office gave the warning after blogger Co Gai Do Long was arrested in HCM City for slandering an official on her blog.

According to lawyer Tu, blogger Co Gai Do Long or Le Nguyen Huong Tra broke the law in two ways: Firstly, it is illegal to post information that harms other people’s personal freedom, morality and well-being on public channels, allowing others toto read and comment on it.

Moreover, publishing such information needs to be verified and the permission of the people in question obtained

Secondly, according to the Press Law, information spread on the Internet, social information channels and the media, accessed by large numbers of people, must be verified first. Once the information is posted, the author must bear legal responsibility for it.

For blogs, the blog owners must take entire responsibility for the information they post.

“As far as I know, Co Gai Do Long’s blog has a large number of visitors. So the information on this blog is widely spread,” the lawyer said.

Depending on the impacts of the information on the victims, bloggers can be fined or take civil or criminal responsibility, he added.

Vietnamese law permits freedom of speech but it also stipulates that the personal freedom and personal secrets must be respected.

The lawyer said that many bloggers have posted others’ personal information . They may not be doing this consciously but in fact, they have violated the law, he warned.

Source: VietnamNet

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