 |
The draft decree, supposed to be present to the Government this third quarter, adds provisions that only identified social network accounts can post, comment, and livestream content. This has attracted much interest from the public, as reported by SGGP Newspaper.
Chairman Nguyen Tran Binh of District 11 People’s Committee (HCMC) said that the authentication of a social network account via real name and a valid phone number before being allowed to post, comment, and livestream content is necessary to eliminate hi-tech scamming potentials (fraudulent sales livestreams on Facebook and Tik Tok platforms, sex broker livestreams, deepfake video calls for scamming, investment scams on Telegram platform) and the spreading of harmful news or copyright violation content that have been rather common lately in Vietnam.
The management of digital accounts contributes to erasing negative content on cyberspace that breaks the applicable laws and harms the society, and thus able to protect the rights and interests of individuals, organizations while raising the awareness of Internet users when they enter the cyberspace.
However, the implementation of this new decree might encounter certain obstacles such as the use of software to fake IP addresses when carrying out the authentication steps for social network account registration. Social network platforms usually allow the use of accounts of other services to in the registration procedure, and ill-intention people might take advantage of this to obtain multiple accounts. Adding to that is the easy purchase of non-original mobile SIM cards to be used later for authentication steps.
Therefore, without close collaboration among related state agencies in this matter, the identification process for a social network account will meet various challenges.
Technology Director of Vietnam National Cyber Security Technology Corp. Vu Ngoc Son shared that the anonymity mode to interact with others has been popular even before the development of the Internet. Hence, it is extremely difficult to eliminate this mode, and it requires the efforts of the management agencies, service providers, and users.
However, the most remarkable advantage of a clear identity in interactions is transparency and convenience, especially when people are now considered digital citizens.
What should be considered now is the willingness to provide sensitive personal information (citizen ID card number, date of birth, residential address) when carrying out the identification process on social network platforms. This is because the public is still rather concerned about information safety to protect their privacy right.
Lawyer Trinh Phi Long from HCMC Veterans Association stressed on the necessity of this new decree as it introduces a stricter regulation on the identification of social network accounts in close connection with the personal information of account owners (full name, age, current address, citizen ID card number, mobile number).
Recently, there has been too much fake news without verification being spread widely on the Internet. They have purposedly harm individuals, Party and State organizations. When such an incident happens, it takes much time and effort for state agencies to handle. Therefore, it is necessary for news spreaders to be responsible for what they share and comment on cyberspace, especially on social networks. And the first step is to use their real identity to post content.
