Ninh Tuyết Vi
Ninh Tuyết Vi 寧雪微 | |
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| Born | 14 September 1974 Tuy Khoang, Lang Lãnh Province, Quenmin |
| Alma mater | Calat University |
| Occupation | Network and Database Security Consultant |
| Employer | Trang Kiến & Phó Ðông |
| Known for | Disclosure of classified documents that led to the Pagayabas Scandal |
Notable work | 1994 and Now: Extrapolations from the Scandal |
| Political party | Blue Unicorn Natechun |
| Allegiance | Calat 8 (1993-1994) |
| Motive |
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| Conviction(s) | 1994:
2018: |
| Criminal penalty | 7 years imprisonment (commuted to 4 years); discharge from current profession |
| Details | |
| Country |  Quenmin |
Date apprehended |
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| Imprisoned at |
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Ninh Tuyết Vi (14 September 1974) is a Quenminese whistleblower and activist who is recognized as a member of the Calat 8, the perpetrating group of the Pagayabas Scandal. Vi, with her expertise in information technology, hacked into government servers and leaked classified documents regarding the Pagayabas Accords to Unicorn Liberal newspaper, sparking nationwide controversy and paved the resignation of then-Prime Minister Nguyễn-Thạch Sĩ Chiến.
From her membership in the Calat 8, she was arrested by the government and was convicted a twenty-four-year sentence for sedition. However, due to mounting public dissent against the Sĩ Chiến government, she served it for less than a year. She was eventually released on 17 January 1995 along with the rest of her colleagues. After graduating from Calat University, she was immediately employed by the information technology consulting firm Trang Kiến & Phó Ðông. From there, she provided advice on networking and database infrastructure and security. Eventually, Vi was fired from the firm after being accused and convicted of intellectual theft against Phuria Systems in 7 June 2018. She is currently serving her seven-year incarceration at the Hoàng Minh Hiếu I & II Correctional Institution, though from recent appeals, her sentence was commuted to four.
To this day, Vi is an outspoken advocate for privacy rights, the prevention of a surveillance state, and ihe conservation of research and development. In 2013, she wrote a memoir titled 1994 and Now: Extrapolations from the Scandal and was published about two months after the year's Biometric Security Act was halted. She regarded it as a "warning towards optimistic futurists and free citizens" about a possible proliferation in government surveillance.
Early Life
Vi was born to a father who is an employee at a Khắc Ninh Luận Communications and a mother who is an employee at CECOINAS. Vi also had an older brother who served in the Imperial and Royal Quenminese Ground Force, of whom would eventually serve tours in the Rice and Oil War. She was known to be a curious child, even to the point of interrupting, if not intruding, the work of her parents and her older brother. Moreover, this demeanor got so intrusive, that her family had to apply two rolls of duct tape to muffle her for hours when she was six years old. Even so, she would be bullied from several of her classmates for being a teacher favorite and a know-it-all. From there on, Vi had learned to discipline herself in curiosity.
Growing interested in digital technology, Vi excelled in subjects relating to math during her elementary and high school years. She eventually enrolled in Calat University to study for a Bachelor's in Information Technology, taking courses in Fortran, Pascal and C.
Career Life
Calat 8 Membership
Since she was a senior in high school, Quenmin retained a repressive environment perpetuated by the military-led government of Prime Minister Nguyễn-Thạch Sĩ Chiến. Over the years, Vi felt increasingly aggravated and dissatisfied against them, once she became more aware of how much political and information freedom had been restricted. Furthermore, Vi had also witnessed the pervasive and subtle presence of CECOINAS agents on the streets of the city that were trailing suspected political dissidents. She recalls the atmosphere, below:
It's terrifying...and horrendous. It's terrifying how they're pretty much everywhere like phantoms. Even when you're at some cafe with your friends, you always get the feeling that they're watching you near or afar. On top of that, it's also horrendous how many opinions and views have been suppressed back then [during the Sĩ Chiến government], compared to the 80s. You could not even read Erratum whenever it was on the market, because it's not even there. And that's saying something.
— Ninh Tuyết Vi, Syntax, 13 June 2014
Because of this discontent, Vi was recommended by one of her friends to join an underground anti-authoritarian organization named the Mouvement Plaisir de la Liberté at her university. From attending its seminars, she grew acquainted with future members of the Calat 8: Tiêu Thế Dân, Chử Khắc Triệu, Trịnh Vĩnh Toàn, Đào Thiên Hương, An Chính Hữu, An Duy Quang and Lê Kim Anh. Together, they had made plans to incite protest and disaffection for the government in whatever way possible without considering violence. Vi helped build a group website named Truyen Batudo on a private network, which was popular among members of their underground organization. Eventually, at the end of the Rice and Oil War, when Chiến announced to adjust the constitution in order to prolong his government's rule, the group grew immensely aggrieved. In one meeting on 15 September 1994, Vi intended on hacking government servers to spill whatever secrets the government beheld. The group, especially Dân, Toàn and Hương, agreed to do it, despite some initial reluctance from other group members. On 1 October, numerous documents of the government's involvement in covert deals with various Tamauite corporations alongside the Pagayabas Accords and plans for silencing opposition with the assistance of CECOINAS and the Tư Giao Criminal Investigation Office were released on the Internet, which contributed to the Pagayabas Scandal.
First Incarceration
Vi was apprehended, along with her cohorts, on 23 November, while attempting to leave for Akashi for asylum. In a televised trial, Vi and the rest of the Calat 8 were convicted for theft and sedition on 8 September 1994. She was sentenced to serve a 25-year sentence at the Imperial and Royal Penitentiary, Cao Khoát.
However, her whistleblowing efforts led to public outcry against the military government. Eventually, when Chiến resigned from office from public pressure and Lê Tấn Nguyên was appointed Prime Minister, it changed for her. After the Cải Sau Chiến Reforms were implemented, Nguyên secured the release of Vi and the rest of the Calat 8 on 15 January 1995, pardoning them and declaring them "national heroes." After leaving the Penitentiary two days later, Vi was allowed to complete her education at Calat University, and eventually graduated summa cum laude with her intended degree in 1997.
Consultant Career
For her proficiencies in programming and networking, including her adeptness in hacking, much to the Scandal, Vi was employed by a digital technology-based consulting firm Trang Kiến & Phó Ðông after graduating in 1998. Her occupation was Network and Database Security Consultant. Vi was complacent about her job, and was happy with providing advice to other companies.
In her years, she had provided advice on security and infrastructure towards a multitude of companies and government organizations. Some of the noteworthy ones include Helios Informatics, Sieu Phuong Technologies, the Sanam Group, and CECOINAS. Vi had also contributed to the integrity and security of cloud computing services.
Her relations with CECOINAS were described by her as a "love-hate relationship leaning towards hate in every minute."
Second Incarceration
On the evening of 30 April 2018, Vi was apprehended in Yên Bí by city police. When searching her home, they discovered from her laptop files containing the designs for facial recognition cameras and the overarching system from Phuria Systems.
Activism and Literary Works
Vi had been outspoken against the surveillance state and the exploitation of research and development for its proliferation, and is a fervent advocate of privacy rights. After her release, she had written short pieces and essays concerning the unrestricted surveillance of the Sĩ Chiến government. Examples of such works include As a Whistleblower (1996), When to Fight for Freedom and Your Rights (1997) and Authoritarianism and Surveillance (2003). She had been invited as a speaker and panelist in certain organizations, events and television shows, such as that of Freedom Connection, Students' Union for a Democratic Society and Questions & Questions.
On 11 February 2013, Vi joined an event organized by a non-profit organization Citizens For Privacy to protest the Biometric Security Act of 2013. She was also invited as one of the speakers, with her speech asserting that the legislation would "only escalate the means of discomforting the populace via a potentially wanton surveillance apparatus." Concordantly, they argued that the Act would prove detrimental against a free citizenry. From her speech, the demonstration garnered support from not only the Blue Unicorn Party, but also from the Nationalist Party, the Labour Party, and Natechun.
About two months after, Vi had authored and published a memoir titled 1994 and Now: Extrapolations from the Scandal, which elaborated on the circumstances leading and her contribution to the 1994 disclosures and their implications of the increasing possibility and proliferation of a surveillance state in Quenmin and other parts of Tyran. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews, and became a bestseller in the Cong Binh Tribune, the [[ Bai Bien Ngao Herald]] and the Da Nang Daily.
Political Views
After her release, Vi had advocated the liberal policies of the Blue Unicorn Party. She had also commended the past policies of then-Blue Unicorn Prime Ministers Thạch Liễng Chánh and Quách Tấn Có, asserting that they "knew how to preserve liberty and a free atmosphere greatly."
Aside from the Blue Unicorn Party, Vi also showed support for Natechun, on their emphasis on burgeoning public education and research and development. She had also issued warnings towards party members on possible ways their vision and policies can be manipulated and blemished.
She has voted for such parties in recent elections over the past three years.
Personal Life
Vi is married to Quách Hồ Bắc, the COO of a small coffee company in Hoi Cai, and bore with him three children.
She also is a practitioner of Haimeism.