RSF makes German newspaper taz accessible again despite presumed regime blocking
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently used its mirror site technology
"Operation Collateral Freedom" to restore online access to the German newspaper
taz, which had presumably been blocked by the Vietnamese regime.
RSF | 2023.08.08
On 8 August, RSF used its mirror site technology known as “Operation Collateral
Freedom” to restore
access to the German newspaper taz's website in
Vietnam. According to RSF sources, the website was blocked in the country,
presumably under official orders. Prior to its blocking, the taz newsroom
had published an investigation about a Vietnamese woman who had fled to Germany
to escape the regime’s authorities and is now at risk of being kidnapped by the
Vietnamese agents.
“The Vietnamese regime is systematically suppressing critical reports both
domestically and abroad, using a variety of tactics. We strongly condemn the
blocking of the taz website, which reveals the Hanoi regime's fear of
critical investigation.”
Helene Hahn
Advocacy Officer for Internet Freedom, RSF Germany
This is not the first time Vietnamese authorities have restricted German-based
critical media and journalists. In October 2020, four Facebook posts by
Germany-based journalist Trung Khoa Le, were
also blocked in Vietnam “due
to local legal restrictions”. They contained links to articles critical of the
government by German media, including the RSF website.
RSF’s Operation
Collateral Freedom is
able to quickly restore access to a blocked website by creating an exact copy or
“mirror” of the site and placing it on a Content Delivery Network (CDN) that
hosts many other services. Authoritarian governments cannot block access to the
CDN without suffering the collateral damage of blocking their own access to its
other services.
Vietnam ranks 178th out of 180 countries and territories in the 2023
RSF World Press Freedom Index and
is among the world’s worst jailers of journalists with 41 currently detained.
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REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES / REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS (RSF)
Cédric Alviani
Directeur du bureau de Taipei (Asie-Pacifique) / Taipei Bureau Director
(Asia-Pacific)
CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02