The authorities in Vietnam have created a Vietnamese-language search engine, (www.search.com.vn), that only searches official webpages. They have blocked access to the websites of the main human rights organisations, including the Reporters without Borders site and the sites of Vietnamese dissidents in exile. The few sites hosted in Vietnam must request permission from the authorities to operate.
Vietnam follows the example of neighbouring China, where web content is extensively censored and e-mail is monitored in order to track down "subversive" Internet users. Seven cyber-dissidents have already been jailed.
