In Vietnam, US adopts friendly approach to web pirates
With diplomacy options limited in Vietnam, the embassy has adopted a softer approach to fight
It's a wildly popular website laden with unlicensed songs and Hollywood movies, a prime exhibit of the digital piracy that is strangling the music industry in Asia and eroding legitimate online sales around the world.
The free-to-download bonanza has pushed Vietnam's Zing.vn into the ranks of the globe's top 550 websites. But a few clicks inside the site reveal a surprising presence: the US government, which maintains a bustling social media account there.
Washington is a vocal proponent of intellectual property rights in Vietnam as it is around the world, and a site like Zing would be shut down in the United States. But with space for public diplomacy limited in communist Vietnam, the American embassy uses its "Zingme" account to reach out to young people in the country as it seeks to build closer ties.
The embassy's presence shows just how mainstream pirate sites have become in Vietnam, where the government does nothing to stop them operating. But it also raises questions whether Washington is legitimising a renowned pirate site that record labels, singers and industry groups say ignores requests that it take down infringing material.
Coca-Cola and Samsung pulled their advertising from the site earlier this month because of piracy concerns following questions by the Associated Press. The move challenged Zing's business model and was praised by recording industry groups. Samsung said last week it was closing its Zingme account for the same reason.
The embassy said it recognised the concerns for US copyright interests posed by Zing. But it believes contact with the website's users could reduce traffic or infringing activity that takes place on it.
The mission sometimes uses its Zingme page to post about copyright infringement.