Spam email in Vietnam

17:54' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Advertising email marketing services on a website of Vietnam. VietNamNet Bridge - Spam mail delivery service has been professionalised in Vietnam. In Hanoi, tens of companies publicly announce they provide this service to clients. Those companies are ready to help their clients to send spam emails to a million mailboxes a day. They also sell mail delivery software products and lists of millions of e-mail addresses of Vietnamese people and even the software to make forged websites to illegally collect e-mail addresses at very cheap prices. If one makes the mistake of registering his email addresses on some email lists to receive news at some websites, he will need 5-10 minutes or more each morning to delete spam emails. Complaints from offices about spam email, especially those in Vietnamese language, are becoming more and more common. Spam email delivery: from free to professional service “Our company now has a promotional programme: providing free of charge a software product to send advertising e-mails to 10,000 email addresses every day. This software can deliver advertising e-mails very fast, with high rate of success. We also have professional e-mail delivery software which is much better!” A young man named T advertised the above services of his company, which is based in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, and specialises in services related to advertising via email, to VietNamNet reporters. At the website of this company, services offered by this firm include selling email address lists, sending advertising emails of large number, selling professional spam email delivery software. This website advertises that their software can send from 30-50 million spam emails a month. The price of such software, according to the young man, is less than VND500,000 (US$30). By searching on Google, VietNamNet reporters found tens of other companies with addresses and telephone numbers which stated they provided spam email delivery solutions which are ‘very professional’. VietNamNet reporters called the phone number on one of the websites and a young girl confirmed that it was the number of a limited liability company in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi. When the reporters said that they wanted to advertise a personal website, the girl confirmed: “The most effective means is sending e-mails”. According to her, some male students who presented websites to their girlfriends paid several hundreds of thousand dong to send spam mails to advertise those websites. “We have around 10,000 email addresses. They are classified to serve different requests of customers. Our professional email delivery software can send emails with 100% success, which are not hindered by Vietnamese Internet service providers. The price for this service is only VND400,000 ($25),” the girl said. Solutions to collect email addresses As a new advertising service, many companies are offering solutions to collect email addresses without paying attention to the owners of email addresses. A limited liability company advertises that it sells software to search for email addresses for VND500,000. This software can search email addresses by key words, for example email addresses with @hn.vnn.vn. This company is also ready to search for email addresses in narrower fields, for VND100/email address. Many illegal software products have been commercialised by IT companies to collect email addresses. These software products are installed on the homepages of websites, which ask visitors to register their email addresses to receive news or become members. They then automatically classify email addresses into different groups based on the information that email address owners provide. Most websites and forums don’t commit to keep the email addresses of their members secret so many people accidentally provide their email addresses for spammers when they participate in online forums. Who knows? So I’m not scared Playing the role of an employee of a private company, a VietNamNet reporter met with the salesman of spam email delivery software of an IT company in Hanoi. The reporter said that his newly established company wanted to advertise their operations through email but the company wanted to be sure that email advertising solutions that it bought were legal. “What law? What rule is there about it? Nobody in Vietnam bans you from sending advertising emails. Moreover, our software allows you to add any email address to the sender status so nobody can know that you are the spammer,” the salesman said. Who suffers? Internet users, of course! In 2005, one of the Internet service providers in Vietnam was named on the list of senders of huge numbers of spam emails. Companies that use services of this ISP could not send emails abroad because their mails were barred. Thus, the user is the sufferer. “Recently, the number of spam mails in Vietnamese has boomed, causing many troubles and losses for our company. Sometimes the network of our company is blocked and we can’t send emails because of spam mails,” said Viet, the deputy director of a company in Hanoi. Spam mails not only inconvenience users but also affect the operations of many organisations since their networks are jammed by spam emails. Not only users but also ISPs and Internet resources are affected by spam emails. This worry has become a fact as spam email delivery services are offered on many websites. Vietnamese Internet users are waiting for measures from management agencies to control spam emails. Viet Nam Net

Having babies: effective way to avoid imprisonment

17:50' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Nguyen Thi Thoan and Do Thi Bao VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thi Thoan from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai publicly deals drugs but she is not arrested because she is always pregnant. There are many female drug traders who are sentenced but not in prison because they are busy having children like Thoan. Arrested so I must have baby Many female offenders use motherhood for a legal defence. In many cases, they have been sentenced but for some reason they are allowed to be out on bail. When the verdicts take effect and they must go to jail, legal agencies can’t send them to prison because those female offenders are pregnant. To avoid going to jail, many female offenders have children without stopping and nobody can touch them. Though there are no official statistics about this subject of female offenders, the number is quite large. In Lao Cai province, there are around 50 women of this kind, all of who are drug traders. The most ‘famous’ case is Nguyen Thi Thoan, a primary teacher in Lao Cai province, who publicly deals drugs but police can’t arrest her because she is always pregnant. Every time police invite doctors to examine Thoan, she is always pregnant at around 4-5 months and police, thus, must wait for three years. But when her verdict comes into effect, Thoan continues to be pregnant. This woman has stated: “If you arrest me, I’ll have more babies.” Lai Chau province has Do Thi Bao, a drug criminal who is also a ‘child delivery machine’. Notably, though she is not married she continuously has babies. In HCM City, there is also a female drug trader who has delivered 7-8 children to avoid being arrested. Another case, a female offender named Dieu Thi Huong, who can’t have children, has adopted abandoned children to dodge the law. How to deal with them? Some legal experts said that this problem results from a gap in the law. According to Article 88 of the Penal Action Code, women who are pregnant or have small babies of less than 36 months are not put in prison except for the cases in which their out-on-bail can hinder investigation. This is a humanity policy of the Vietnamese state for pregnant women and those who are nurturing small babies of less than 36 months, but this policy has been abused by offenders. According to Article 55 of the Penal Code, the prescription for a verdict is five years for those who are sentenced to three years in jail or less, ten years for those who are sentenced to 3-15 years in jail, 15 years for those who are sentenced to 15-30 years in jail. Under documents guiding the implementation of the Penal Code, the prescription of a verdict is applied for verdicts that are effective but are not implemented due to being forgotten or being lost. In case the verdict is temporarily canceled for some reasons, after this time the defenders must perform the verdict. However, offenders who are sentenced to less than three years in prison and are ill or have babies can enjoy sentence cancellations many times. If the time of cancellation is equal to the prescription of their verdict and during this period they don’t commit a new offence they will be exempted from imprisonment. This is the gap that has been abused by offenders. According to Phan Tanh, vice presiding judge of the HCM City People’s Court, this situation has stirred discontentment in the public but there is no way to deal with it because ‘that’s the law’. Viet Nam Net

M Dung nominates government personnel

08:59' 01/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung proposed a list of five Deputy Prime Ministers and 22 ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies on the afternoon of July 31. The five nominated deputy PMs include the three current deputy PMs. They are Politburo members Nguyen Sinh Hung, who was born in 1946 and is Permanent Deputy PM; Truong Vinh Trong, who was born in 1942 and is Deputy PM in charge of home affairs and Deputy Permanent Head of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption; and Pham Gia Khiem, who was born in 1944 and is Deputy PM and Foreign Minister. The two others are Party Central Committee members Nguyen Thien Nhan, who was born in 1953 and Minister of Education and Training, and Hoang Trung Hai, who was born in 1959 and Minister of Industry. He also proposed Pham Gia Khiem as Deputy PM and Foreign Minister and Nguyen Thien Nhan as Deputy PM and Minister of Education and Training for a time. Hoang Trung Hai, 48, has become the youngest to be nominated as Deputy PM of the Vietnamese Government in its 12th tenure. The list of 22 ministers and ministerial level agencies 1/ Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh (who is currently Minister of Defence) 2/ Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh (who is currently Minister of Public Security) 3/ Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem (who is currently Minister of Foreign Affairs) 4/ Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh (who is currently General Director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism) 5/ Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen (who is currently Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment) 6/ Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang (who is currently Secretary of the Party Committee of the northern mountainous province of Lang Son) 7/ Minister of Information and Communications Le Doan Hop (who is currently Minister of Culture and Information) 8/ Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan (who is currently Deputy Minister of Home Affairs) 9/ Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong (who is currently Deputy Minister of Justice) 10/ Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh (who is currently Minister of Finance) 11/ Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat (who is currently Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development) 12/ Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung (who is currently Minister of Transport) 13/ Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan (who is currently Minister of Construction) 14/ Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc (who is currently Minister of Planning and Investment) 15/ Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (who is currently Deputy Minister of Trade) 16/ Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong (who is currently Minister of Science and Technology) 17/ Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan (who is currently Minister of Education and Training) 18/ Minister of Public Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu (who is currently Chairman of the Ha Noi People’s Committee) 19/ Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu (who is currently Deputy Director of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Organisation) 20/ Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Nguyen Van Giau (who is currently Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam) 21/ Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen (who is currently Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate) 22/ Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc (who is currently Permanent Deputy Director of the Government Office) After discussing in groups, the NA deputies will vote for the list of five Deputy PMs and 22 ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies on August 2 with the result to be announced later that day. (Source: VNA, Viet Nam Net)

Taiwan rejects Vietnam’s tea imports?

17:28' 01/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Asked to make comments about the news that Taiwan rejected tea imports from Vietnam due to discovery of pesticide residues, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association Tran Van Gia said that he has not received any official announcement about that from the Taiwanese side. Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on July 27 reported that the Food Sanitation Bureau (FSB) under the Taiwanese Department of Health (DOH) has discovered pesticide residues in a batch of green tea imported from Vietnam. Taiwanese authorities have decided to return 21 tonnes of o long (black dragon) tea imported on July 10, which contained the higher-than-allowed level of pesticide. CNA quoted Cheng Hui-wen, Director General of FSB as saying that the batch of green tea discovered on July 27 contained the residues of dicofol with the concentration of 0.15 ppm. Prior to that, a batch of 21 tonnes of o long tea was discovered to contain dicofol 0.09 ppm. On June 28, FSB decided to take compulsory examination on tea imports from Vietnam. Also on July 27, the online network in Spain language of CNA reported that a Taiwanese senator, Lai Shin-yuan, called on Taiwanese authority to prohibit importing tea of all kinds from Vietnam, and to consider the import resumption only when pesticide residues is solved. Prior to that, Hsieh Ting-hung, Deputy Director General of FSB, said that Vietnam’s o long tea, "mainly being planted by Taiwanese farmers in Vietnam", account for 73% of the total Taiwan’s tea imports. Mr Hsieh Ting-hung said that from 2005 to May 2007, FSB regularly examined tea imports from Vietnam and did not discover any violation of food safety rules. Mr Cheng Hui-wen said that Taiwanese authorities have informed Vietnam about the problem, and ask to tighten control over the use of pesticide in farm produce for export. The official has also threatened to take tougher measures if Taiwan discovers more imports that contain prohibited substances. Also according to Mr Cheng, DOH announced that from 2008, all kinds of packed food, including tea, must show the origin of product on the package. Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association on July 28 said that the association had not received any information from the Taiwanese authorities about the quality of tea imports from Vietnam. Mr Gia said that if the association receives the official announcement from the Taiwanese side, it would check the quality of tea exports. Meanwhile, Mr Gia has also mentioned the possibility that the bad news were spread in order to force the import price down. According to Tran Van Gia, every year Vietnam exports 500 tonnes of o long tea to Taiwan, while Taiwan needs 20,000 tonnes a year. There are 20 Taiwanese-invested tea companies in Vietnam among a total of 40 foreign-invested tea firms in the country. Taiwanese farmers also come to plant o long tea in Vietnam.. (Source: Tin Tuc, Viet Nam Net)

Labour quality – thorny problem for Vietnam

16:48' 31/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Job seekers at an employment fair in HCM City. VietNamNet Bridge – In its official reports, Vietnam always confirms that it has abundant human resources that can meet the requirements of economic-social development in the future. However, the quality of Vietnam’s human resources is now a thorny problem. Lack of high-grade labour By the end of 2006, Vietnam had a total of 45.3 million workers, three-fourths of whom were rural labourers. According to Nguyen Dai Dong, Head of the Labour and Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the human resources can’t satisfy the needs of the labour market. The official said that just 32% of the labourers were trained and 14.4% had short-term vocational training certificates. The report on the labour market made by the MoLISA says: “Vietnam seriously lacks qualified technical workers and qualified service labour for the finance and banking, tourism sectors so Vietnam has to hire foreign labourers. Meanwhile, labourers for export are under-skilled.” As the need for highly-skilled manpower is increasing along with the growth of the economy in recent years, labour quality has become a hot topic at many forums. At a conference held by the MoLISA early this year, commenting about the information that Thailand was forecast to bring its workers to Vietnam in the next 8-10 years, Minister Nguyen Thi Hang expressed her worry that Vietnamese labourers could lose their home. “We may have to export unskilled workers and import skilled ones,” Ms Hang said. The low quality of workers also leads to difficulties in labour exports. On the other hand, low quality also makes salaries for high-class workers soar since employers don’t have many choices. The annual survey on investment costs by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), which was published in late May 2007, showed that salaries of mid-level employees had increased suddenly, especially in HCM City. “While the average salary increase level for mid-level staffs in other countries is 7%, it is 40% in Vietnam. This is considered the least competitive factor of Vietnam in drawing foreign investment,” JETRO’s report says. According to some labour experts, the fields that are in serious shortage of human resources are information technology, finance, auditing, law and industrial sectors. Many labourers are not fluent enough in foreign languages though this situation is being improved thanks to the increasing flow of foreigners coming to the country and the number of Vietnamese people trained abroad returning. What solutions? To solve the problem, the Government and the MoLISA are working on large-scale vocational training programmes. According to Mr. Nguyen Dai Dong, the MoLISA has submitted to the Government a programme with solutions to develop the labour market: developing the source of supply of labour, developing the need for labour, promoting transactions on the labour market, reforming the salary-wage system, perfecting the labour market institution, and the most important solution – developing vocational training. At the conference on vocational training, job and labour export held in May 2007, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung expressed his concern that Vietnam ranked 77th in the world in labour productivity and had around 10 million unemployed people. National programme on employment to 2010 Most recently, the Prime Minister approved the national programme on employment to 2010, under which Vietnam will spend around VND6 trillion (US$375 million) on vocational training in the next four years. Specifically, from 2006 to 2010, this programme will create jobs for 2-2.2 million people, modernise 30-40 employment service centres and complete the information system on the labour market, and train 75,000 employees of employment related agencies from the local to central levels. The programme includes three major projects: borrowing capital to create jobs, exporting manpower, and developing the labour market. Relating to labour export, this programme aims to send 40,000 to 50,000 workers abroad. Those people will be trained vocationally by state funding. Of the VND6 trillion for this ambitious programme, more than VND4.8 trillion will come from the state budget, VND560 billion from local budgets, VND500 billion from the community and around VND30 billion from the international community. The Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs is the head of the steering board of this programme. (Source: TBKTSG, Viet Nam Net)