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Communist regimes and dictators really do not like Facebook. We’ve written about China blocking Facebook on an ongoing basis, and now Vietnam is possibly blocking the site as well. According to Ben Stockton of AP, “Over the last week, access to Facebook has been intermittent in the country, whose government tightly controls the flow of information.” We’ve seen access to Facebook limited before but this is the first time we’ve heard of issues in Vietnam.
While we’ve reached out to Facebook, we’ve yet to hear back from the company. Vietnam currently has approximately 1 million users according to Facebook’s own advertising estimates. The primary source of concerns about Facebook being shut down, is “an unauthenticated document circulating on the internet—which says it was issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security”. The document, “instructs Internet service providers to block Facebook”.
While Facebook has been seen by some as a tool for spreading democracy around the world, the biggest hurdle to doing so is clearly regimes who decide to block the site all together. Whether it’s Iran, Vietnam, China, or other countries, censoring the internet is critical to the survival of oppressive regimes. For the time being we’ll have to wait and see how this story evolves, but it appears that Facebook may have to deal with yet another country blocking access to the rapidly expanding site.
Update
Facebook has provided us with the following statement: “We have seen media reports that users in Vietnam are having problems accessing Facebook. We would be very disappointed if users in any country were to have difficulties accessing Facebook.” In other words, they aren’t confirming or denying issues but they pointed us to the following site which reports on websites that are inaccessible. However the level of inaccessibility appears to be relatively low. We’re reaching out to a few other people to see if we can get any more information.
Here’s my FAQ on the Vietnam block of Facebook
http://huyzing.com/2009/11/17/faq-on-vietnam-block-of-facebook/
I’m currently living in Saigon, Vietnam and can attest to the fact that Facebook is indeed being blocked. I’ve spoken with several friends that use different ISP’s and they are also blocked.
I am still able to access FB via a proxy server or VPN, but direct access is blocked.
Best Regards,
Antony in VN
BLOCKED in Vietnam as of Nov 16th…………
I have been living in Vietnam for 7 years. On November 11th Facebook was blocked without prior notice. This is fact, I live here. I have also tried to access it from my office. In their “constitution” the Vietnamese are proud to have put in “freedom of the press, religion, and speech” however, in the last 7 years I have seen all of the aforementioned oppressed.
I Have in HCM city now, i cannot log in Facebook at all this morning and it turns out the rumour is truth.
Everytime i try to go into FaceBook site, it will direct me back to any site i had visited previously.
There you go, the big brothers are still here. THis annoyance will surely irritate a lot of young users. Ciao
Yes, indeed, Facebook is blocked. It’s been blocked in vietnam sice the 16th November. I have gotten around the restriction by using a custom DNS server (openDNS). To protest against the blockage, I have uploaded a proxy to my german server specifically for accessing Facebook.
I will be so happy to get back to germany, my home country, next year. Democraty is just less painful.
If you are good at computing, change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
Like this you will be able to access Facebook just like you used to. It worked for me, i hope it’ll work for the others, too.
The reason it works is that the block of Facebook does not block Facebook itself, but only the Website. For your computer to open a website, it needs the website’s IP, which it would normally get from your DNS server. Now, the vietnamese DNS server has no entry for facebook, making it look like facebook.com doesn’t exist. The IPs i mentioned earlier are IPs of a public DNS sevrer, openDNS, which has entrys for Facebook, and by using it you will be able to access Facebook.
Hope i could help
facebook has ben blocked in Da Nang Vietnam since 12th November. I am an expat living here for a long time, I can tell you its BLOCKED. I changed the DNS yesterday and was able to access it fine. Tonight using the new DNS, i can still not access it.
Still works fine for me. As far as I know Facebook still hasn’t been unbanned, so this will probably be a permanent ban.
Btw “an unauthenticated document circulating on the internet—which says it was issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security” was referring to is located on: http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Vietnamese_order_to_block_Facebook%2C_VietTalk_24_and_others%2C_27_Aug_2009
Officials: Vietnam not blocking Facebook
“HANOI, Vietnam, Nov. 21 (UPI) — Officials in Vietnam said the country’s government is not actively blocking the social networking Web site Facebook despite scores of connectivity complaints”
Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/11/21/Officials-Vietnam-not-blocking-Facebook/UPI-33831258824999/
y r u guys blocking facebook u8 no alot of people need to use this website so they can keep in touch with there friends overseas u guys r seriously retarted
Reporting from Hanoi. Yes, it has been blocked. Unable to access it from desktops. However, still accessible from your PDAs.
I have made a tutorial on how to un-block facebook if you live in vietnam - it might also work in other countries, but I only know for sure it works in vietnam. Here’s the link: http://blackbyte.homelinux.org/facebook
Ive been travelling around Vietnam and now Lao and it seems everywhere I go, I can connect for 15 seconds before its blocked completely! From south Vietnam to up North and even in Lao!!! But I found a way to bypass this so it aint that bad. Google it and youll find it to!
I live in Saigon and have not been able to access for nearly a month, the post by Patrick Elsen (copy below) worked instantly for me, thanks for the tip Patrick!
Patrick Elsen - November 18th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
If you are good at computing, change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
Like this you will be able to access Facebook just like you used to. It worked for me, i hope it’ll work for the others, too.
The reason it works is that the block of Facebook does not block Facebook itself, but only the Website. For your computer to open a website, it needs the website’s IP, which it would normally get from your DNS server. Now, the vietnamese DNS server has no entry for facebook, making it look like facebook.com doesn’t exist. The IPs i mentioned earlier are IPs of a public DNS sevrer, openDNS, which has entrys for Facebook, and by using it you will be able to access Facebook.
Hope i could help
Hi guys some tip how to get through face book while yours on Vietnam.
The first change the DNS servers in your router to 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220
How to Change it follow step as the below.
1. Select Control Panel from the Start menu.
2. Click Network Connections from the Control Panel choices.
3. Choose your connection from the Network Connections window.
4. Click Properties button.
5. Select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Properties.
6. Click the radio button Use the following DNS server addresses and type in OpenDNS addresses in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server fields.
Have fun
I am in Au but im in VN Because i’m at hoilidays with my grand parents my brother wanted to accese facebookk it didn’t work he tried searching for proxy website and it worked but yeah it looked ugly tough