Increase the capacity to manage electronic information sites

(Baonghean) - Mr. NGUYEN BAO HAO, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications, answered an interview with Nghe An Newspaper

PV:Sir, currently, the situation of electronic information sites (TTĐT) and social networks is booming and operating somewhat complicatedly, causing difficulties for state management agencies; could you give some general information about TTĐT and social networks?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao talks with staff of the Editorial and Information Processing Department - Nghe An Provincial Electronic Information Portal. Photo: PV

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:According to the provisions of Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP of the Government on management, provision and use of Internet services and online information, then:

A general electronic information page is an electronic information page of an agency, organization or enterprise that provides general information based on verbatim and accurate citations of official sources and clearly states the name of the author or name of the agency of the official source, and the time the information was posted or broadcast.

An internal website is an electronic information page of an agency, organization or enterprise that provides information on functions, powers, tasks, organizational structure, services, products, industries and other information serving the operations of that agency, organization or enterprise itself and does not provide general information.

A personal website is a website established by an individual or established through the use of social networking services to provide and exchange information of that individual, not representing another organization or individual and not providing aggregated information.

Specialized application website is the website of an agency, organization or enterprise providing application services in the fields of telecommunications, information technology, radio, television, commerce, finance, banking, culture, healthcare, education and other specialized fields and does not provide general information.

A social network is an information system that provides the network user community with services for storing, providing, using, searching, sharing and exchanging information with each other, including services for creating personal websites, forums, online chat, sharing audio, images and other similar services.

PV:How will some individuals be handled if they use their personal websites or social networks such as Facebook and blogs to share news that is not in accordance with public morals and violates the law?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:In Clause 4, Article 20, Decree No. 72/2013 stipulates: "A personal website is an electronic information page established by an individual or established through the use of social networking services (such as Facebook) to provide and exchange information of that individual, not representing other organizations or individuals and not providing aggregated information". In Point b, Clause 2, Article 2, Circular No. 09/2014/TT-BTTTT (instructions for Decree 72), it stipulates: "Individuals have the right to share information that does not violate the provisions of Article 5 of Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on their personal website and are responsible before the law for the content of the information posted and shared; not representing other organizations or individuals and not providing aggregated information.

Prohibited acts in Article 5, Decree No. 72/2013 are as follows: Taking advantage of the provision and use of Internet services and online information for the purpose of: Opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; harming national security, social order and safety; undermining national unity; propagating war and terrorism; causing hatred and conflicts between peoples, ethnicities and religions. Propagating and inciting violence, obscenity, depravity, crimes, social evils, superstition, undermining the nation's traditions and customs. Revealing state secrets, military secrets, security, economic secrets, foreign affairs secrets and other secrets prescribed by law. Providing information that distorts, slanders, or insults the reputation of organizations, the honor and dignity of individuals. Advertising, propagating, buying and selling prohibited goods and services; disseminating prohibited press, literary, artistic works and publications. Impersonating organizations and individuals and spreading fake information and false information that infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals...

To put it simply, an individual has the right to share information from other people's sources, and must take personal responsibility for the content of the information he or she has shared. Therefore, if the information is prohibited, depending on the level of violation, the sharer may be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Decree No. 174/2013 on administrative sanctions in the field of telecommunications, information technology, and radio frequencies or be prosecuted for criminal liability according to the provisions of the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

PV:Through the survey and inspection process, what are the main violations of the current electronic information websites in Nghe An province, sir?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:Currently, the operation of electronic information sites is quite complicated. Recently, the Department of Information and Communications has received feedback from a number of organizations and individuals about some electronic information sites issuing letters of introduction as reporters to their unit's staff to go to localities to exploit news and articles in the form of advertising contracts; posting recruitment for reporter and editor positions like a press agency.

Some agencies and units set up a General Electronic Information page but did not apply for a license as prescribed, just registered a domain name and started operating, even circumventing the law by stating on the page that it is in a trial run, or not recording full information of the unit such as the governing body, license number; some license pages have expired but have not applied for re-issuance... including some pages of state agencies.

Many general electronic information sites, when citing news sources, in order to attract readers for advertising purposes, only focus on citing sensational news, mainly negative news (murder, robbery, rape cases, sexy images of models, actors...), which is very offensive to look at. In the long run, it will have a negative impact on the psychology of readers, especially the younger generation. Some sites, when citing, deliberately edit the title, re-edit the content... and consider it their own product, causing outrage for the press agency. Or some internal electronic information sites do not have aggregating functions but still provide general information...

PV:As a state management agency in the area, what solutions does the Department of Information and Communications have to rectify the above situation?

Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao:In fact, the work of building legal regulations to serve management in this field is not timely; state management capacity at times and in some places has not kept up with development; the effectiveness of propaganda work to raise awareness for individuals and business organizations is not high.

To overcome the above situation, the Department of Information and Communications has the following solutions: Advise on the issuance of legal documents to serve the management work; Direct press agencies to increase the time to propagate legal regulations to provide information to the people; Organize training for officials, especially grassroots officials on management work in this field to further improve state management capacity, promptly detect, prevent and strictly handle violations according to the law; Regularly organize inspections and reviews of electronic information sites in the area: In 2014, the Department reviewed and issued warnings to more than 30 general electronic information sites that violated, including some sites of state agencies and requested to apply for licensing procedures according to regulations, and at the same time punished 3 violating news sites. Through inspection, the Department of Information and Communications fined 3 electronic information sites: Nghe An 24h Media Joint Stock Company 5 million VND; Thanh Dai Duong Advertising and Marketing Company Limited 10 million VND; Vietnam Online Media Joint Stock Company 20 million VND for violations.

In the coming time, the Department will conduct a comprehensive inspection of electronic information sites in the province, resolutely and strictly handle sites that deliberately violate and do not comply with the provisions of the law on electronic information site operations. On the other hand, strengthen coordination with relevant agencies to better perform the management function, coordinate with the Youth Union, schools, agencies, social organizations... to propagate and orient individuals, union members, association members... to be responsible to themselves and society in posting and providing information on social networks, avoid being exploited, unintentionally assisting in illegal activities; coordinate with the police to strictly handle violations...

PV:Thank you!

PV(Perform)