The Cybersecurity Law does not prohibit people from expressing personal opinions.

Take advantage to spread bad and toxic information

Currently, we have nearly 100 million people and a very high rate of people using smartphones, using means, devices and using social networks (over 70 million subscribers). According to Associate Professor, Dr. Do Canh Thin, Deputy Director of the Center for Management and Administration of Non-Traditional Security, Hanoi National University, cybercrime occurs in most areas from violating national security, to fraud and appropriation of property, slander and humiliation of others, but the most dangerous today are hostile forces, disgruntled people often use social networks to oppose the Party and the State in many different ways.

Associate Professor, PhDDoctor Do Canh Thin said that taking advantage of cyberspace is the ability to spread quickly to every corner of social life and directly impact the subjects accessing information. The subjects often use many tricks, distorting the truth, exaggerating events, making malicious comments and setting up intentions. Bad, ambiguous information makes people accessing information not know what is true and confused, even losing faith in the Party and the State.

Associate Professor, Dr. Do Canh Thin.

Not only using social networks to sabotage the Party and the State at times when the country holds major political events such as Party Congresses, elections of National Assembly deputies and People's Council deputies at all levels, but alsoSocial networks are also fertile ground for fraud, property appropriation, defamation, and slander. Even the sale of prohibited goods via social networks is happening continuously and is becoming more and more sophisticated, such as impersonating police officers, prosecutors, and court officials to call and text to threaten and ask victims to transfer money to the subject's account; impersonating bank officials to text and ask victims to provide account numbers and OTP codes, then withdraw money; creating websites impersonating reputable agencies, organizations, and companies to mobilize investment capital for real estate projects; or "pie in the sky" business models to lure people who want to make money quickly to transfer capital; to impersonating Facebook and Zalo owners to text and borrow money to appropriate.

Faced with the complex developments of cybercrime, the police force has closely coordinated with internet service providers and management agencies to implement many synchronous solutions to combat and prevent it. As a result, hundreds of websites and thousands of network accounts with malicious and fraudulent content have been discovered, removed and handled; hundreds of criminals who violated national security, fraudulently appropriated property, trafficked people, and insulted the honor of others via cyberspace have also been brought to justice.

Fighting this crime is still difficult.

However, according to experts, the results are still not satisfactory. Because the fight against this type of crime is facing many difficulties. Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem, former Director of the People's Police Academy, acknowledged that for normal crimes, collecting and establishing evidence is very difficult. But for new crimes that we call non-traditional crimes, the evidence is mostly electronic evidence, so collecting and establishing evidence is even more difficult.

Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Yem, former Director of the People's Police Academy. Photo: People's Police Newspaper

The Cybersecurity Law has been in effect for more than 3 years, but social media users still do not fully understand the provisions of the law as well as prohibited acts in order to use social networks effectively and avoid regrettable violations. At the beginning of 2019, when the new Cybersecurity Law came into effect, besides the majority of people supporting it, there were still some opposing opinions. There were even subjects with bad purposes and motives who took advantage of the situation to incite and spread some contents stipulated in the law that would stifle democratic freedom and freedom of speech.

However, in reality, after more than 3 years of the law taking effect, people's freedom of speech continues to expand. The cyberspace environment has become more cultured and healthy.

Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh, Hanoi Bar Association, commented that the law does not prohibit people from expressing their opinions and sharing information on the Internet, but any freedom has its limits. Therefore, when sharing and commenting on information on the Internet, people need to pay attention to the source and accuracy of the information as well as the purpose of posting the information.

Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh.

“The Law on Cyber ​​Security does not prohibit people from expressing their personal opinions on cyberspace. However, when participating in comments or expressing personal opinions on cyberspace, people need to consider whether the content they participate in on cyberspace violates Article 8 of the Law on Cyber ​​Security or not?” - said lawyer Tuan Anh.

Ms. Nguyen Minh Hong - information technology expert shared that the Law on Cyber ​​Security together with other legal documents not only contributes to protecting national security, protecting social order and safety, better protecting the dignity and honor of citizens in cyberspace but also helps people to be more aware of their rights and obligations when participating in social networks. Besides, it is also a bitter medicine, preventing fake information.

Lawyer Nguyen Thien, Anh Vu Law Firm, believes that people's freedom of speech is not restricted but on the contrary is better guaranteed by the Cyber ​​Security Law, as long as those activities are within the limits permitted by Vietnamese law.

“Every freedom has its limits. Not only will those who post be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution, but even those who share this information without verifying it will be considered to have violated the law.”

With thousands of subjects having been administratively and criminally handled by authorities for spreading false information on social networks for the purpose of attracting likes, attracting views or distorting the Party's policies and the State's laws, hundreds of cases of citizens having to rely on law enforcement agencies to use the provisions of the Law on Cyber ​​Security to protect their honor and dignity on the Internet environment have shown that the Law on Cyber ​​Security is a practical law that comes into life to better ensure national security as well as the rights and legitimate interests of subjects on the Internet environment. However, to ensure their own safety, each social network user must always be alert to the information posted. More importantly, there must be a culture and respect for the law for the peace and development of society./.