Hmmmm....
Having seen the growth in Vietnam's Internet availability between 1997 and today, I guess I'd disagree.
My brother-in-law went to his local Internet cafe last week (unheard of even a few years ago), opened a hotmail account, and sent photos to us in the States, no problem or hassle.
The cafe is owned by another relative, a young guy with no political connections whatsoever. Just smarts and ambition.
And when I was last there, no problems reaching any U.S. site, doing email, etc. People are running Skype and seem to have relative freedom with the Internet.
If there's any impediment it's the tired old state-owned monopoly telecomm system, which is as bad delivering simple landline telephone service as it is providing countrywide Internet connections.
Thank you for the information.