The traditional media are hard to control, however. Customs seizes offensive books coming into the country but they pop up at street stalls in photo-copied knockoff editions. Pornographic videos are widely rented despite frequent police raids on video shops. The Internet, with its instantaneous transmission of countless pieces of data, far outstrips even the most diligent contingent of manual inspectors. In Vietnam's case, these likely would be overseas Vietnamese groups that oppose communism or champion jailed Buddhists and dissidents.
Special software can search for certain words to key in on.
Dao has caused the most concern by proposing that Vietnam Datacommunications be designated the nation's sole gateway to the Internet, giving it the authority to license service providers and potentially limit use through high prices. Some wonder if the government isn't exaggerating the Internet's threat. There are only an estimated 60,000 computers in the entire country of 70 million people, few in private homes. If they want to circulate political criticism, they already have access to photo copiers, faxes and telephones, a Vietnamese communications buff pointed out. In 1987, Vietnam had only nine international telephone lines.