A growing number of for-profit websites featuring pornographic content have been established by Vietnamese Internet users, outside of the control of the authorities.

Aside from a large number of visitors, owners of theses web pages can earn money via advertising on their sites.

P.T.A., a resident of the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre who runs one of the porn sites, said he contacted service providers in the United States and Japan to buy a domain name and rent a server for his website.

He then uploaded a series of pornographic photos and videos, collected from a variety of websites, to attract local Internet users.

Thanks to his large ‘fan base,’ the website’s owner earned VND18 million (US$806.2) per advertising banner on his page.

The man later expanded his ‘business’ by setting up two more websites with similar content, accumulating over 25 million visitors and earning nearly VND1.2 billion ($53,748) from online ad sales.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, A. could be charged for spreading obscene material with his case being probed by the Ben Tre Department of Police.

Investigators say that the web owner must be criminally charged for distributing pornography to a large number of Internet users in Vietnam, confirming that they had sufficient evidence against the offender.

However, the provincial People’s Court and Procuracy did not consider A.’s action a violation of the Penal Code, explaining that he only provided his visitors with links to foreign porn sites.

The website owner says that the pornographic pictures and videos on his site are solely there for ‘business purposes,’ to attract online banner ads, rather than to distribute obscene material, the judicial body added.

He has subsequently been slapped with an administrative fine of VND20 million ($895.8) for violating regulations on posts, telecommunications, and information.

Lack of specific law

According to legal experts, the varying opinions in A.’s case arose from a lack of specific regulations on the matter.

The current Penal Code says that individuals who distribute obscene content to a large crowd can be fined between VND5 million ($223) and VND50 million ($2,239) or seven to 15 years in prison.

However, the law did not state specifically what kind of material is considered obscene and how many people a “large crowd,” constitutes,  said Vietnamese lawyer Vu Manh Quynh.

A new set of laws have been established to deal with the issue but are yet to take effect.

Once the new rule comes into force, those who spread more than one gigabyte of indecent content to over 10 people will be criminally charged.

Regarding A.’s case, Nguyen Minh Son, a high-ranking procurator in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the website’s owner had violated the Penal Code.

Debate occurred between investigators and local judicial bodies because of the different viewpoints on the offender’s motives.

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