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Becoming a blogger couldn't be easier - you just need a computer with internet access. However, negotiating the defamation law is not so easy, as one blogger recently discovered. — VNS File Photo |
HCM CITY — Bloggers needed to possess a better sense of civic responsibility, and should adhere to ethical code and law as well, said a senior official of the Ministry of Information and Communications as he mentioned the arrest of a netizen in HCM City last week.
Le Nguyen Huong Tra, who blogs under the name of cogaidolong (Do Long Girl), was charged with "abusing democracy and freedom-of-speech rights, damaging the interests of the State and the legal rights of organisations and individuals".
Luu Vu Hai, director of the ministry's Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information, said that Tra violated a circular in December 2008 that regulates blogs in Viet Nam.
The circular was designed to encourage the expansion of interaction possibilities on the internet and to prevent bloggers from abusing the internet by, for example, spreading false information, said Hai.
It identifies the content that can be contained in blogs and the subjects bloggers should avoid.
In 2007, Tra was first taken to court by pop singer Phuong Thanh for posting entries with allegedly false information about her and her live show Mua (Rain).
"Bloggers' personal freedom does not mean freedom to violate others' privacy or freedom to violate the law," Hai said.
Other bloggers who do not have a clear understanding of the regulation have published allegedly false information harmful to the legal rights of other individuals, organisations and society, according to Hai.
Tra and other bloggers write blogs that are not private but open to public, so there are millions of people who can read them.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Tu of the Ha Noi-based Khanh Hung Law Office said Tra broke civil law by posting information that harmed an individual's personal freedom, moral reputation and lifestyle on a public forum that others can read and comment.
In addition, under the press law, the writer and editor must verify information before posting such information on public media that are read by many people, including social networks like blogs.
Once the information is posted, both the author and the publisher must bear legal responsibility.
"Bloggers are both author and editor for their pages. They must take entire responsibility," Tu said.
Nguyen Dinh Xuan, a deputy of the National Assembly, said bloggers could apologise or admit that the information was unfounded if the infraction was minor.
But they must take full legal responsibility for violating regulations, he said.
Cao Manh Tuan, an expert of the School of Economics and Business under the Ha Noi National University, who also owns the private website xahoimang.com, a popular blogger's forum, said Tra's blog was rather famous in the blogosphere.
Her blog connects with many writers and artists and has attracted a huge number of visitors because of its information about celebrities and people who are not well-known.
However, not all the information is reliable, and Tuan said he had to verify with other sources of information before publishing stories from Tra's blog on his website.
The case of Tra could be seen as a warning for bloggers on how to live in cyberspace, Tuan added.
Civic responsibility
Hai of the Ministry of Information and Communications said society needed to possess a better sense of civic responsibility, and bloggers should adhere to that as well.
CyberJournalist.net has created a model Bloggers' Code of Ethics by modifying the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics for the Weblog world, according to experts.
Several bloggers argue that they are not journalists, so they should not be expected to follow the same ethical codes of journalists.
But responsible bloggers recognise that they are publishing, and have certain ethical obligations to their readers, the people they write about, and society in general.
The code makes honesty and fairness in reporting and interpreting of information a top priority. It also prohibits plagiarism and encourages identification of links to sources, whenever feasible.
Ethical bloggers treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect, according to the code.
Bloggers should mini-mise harm and discomfort for concerned people, and admit mistakes and correct them promptly, the code says.
Recently, several countries have tried to manage blogs through ethical codes but blogs are not easy to manage. — VNS
