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China's VPN Developers Face Crackdown (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the crackdown dept.

China recently launched a crackdown on the use of software which allows users to get around its heavy internet censorship. Now as the BBC reports, developers are facing growing pressure. From the report: The three plain-clothes policemen tracked him down using a web address. They came to his house and demanded to see his computer. They told him to take down the app he was selling on Apple's App Store, and filmed it as it was happening. His crime was to develop and sell a piece of software that allows people to get round the tough restrictions that limit access to the internet in China. A virtual private network (VPN) uses servers abroad to provide a secure link to the internet. It's essential in China if you want to access parts of the outside world like Facebook, Gmail or YouTube, all of which are blocked on the mainland. "They insisted they needed to see my computer," the software developer, who didn't want us to use his name, told us during a phone interview. "I said this is my private stuff. How can you search as you please?" No warrant was produced and when he asked them what law he had violated they didn't say. Initially he refused to co-operate but, fearing detention, he relented. Then they told him what they wanted: "If you take the app off the shelf from Apple's App Store then this will be all over." 'Sorry, I can't help you with that'. Up until a few months ago his was a legal business. Then the government changed the regulations. VPN sellers need a licence now.

6 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Where do you think you are, the U.S.? by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I said this is my private stuff. How can you search as you please?

    Um, because you are in China???

    I find it amusing that people in the other parts of the world think that protections afforded citizens of other countries seem to apply to them automatically also.

    China is just a thinly veiled police state so they can search what they like, when they like. That's just the reality of being in China.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Where do you think you are, the U.S.? by sit1963nz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, its not like the USA will ever demand you unlock your phone at the boarder, demand you hand over what your social web site log/pass are, finger print you, etc.

      I guess its also lucky they asked questions first and did not just start shooting.

      Or perhaps they could throw you into a for profit prison and forced you to work, but its OK because they are prisoners not slaves.

      Maybe China needs to elect a sexual predator to their highest office

      From an outsiders perspective where we are not inundated and indoctrinated about how "great" the USA is, it actually looks just as sick as China, but just for different reasons.

    2. Re:Where do you think you are, the U.S.? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is possibly the most ignorant and narrow-minded comment I've ever read on Slashdot.

      How so? I lived in China for several years, travel to China regularly on business, and am currently working in Shanghai. You do not have much protection against search and seizure here. The police have much more power to collect evidence and compel compliance.

      But that doesn't mean more oppression. A Chinese citizen is much less likely to actually be arrested and incarcerated. Americans are more than four times as likely to be locked up.

    3. Re:Where do you think you are, the U.S.? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Someone in China has far more rights than someone in the US.

      It would be more accurate to say they have different rights.

      They have a fairer justice system

      They have a different justice system, with a different objective. American courts emphasize (at least in theory) individual rights. Chinese courts emphasize public order. China is mostly successful at that, and is a very safe country. Meanwhile, in America, the plea bargain system has eroded our right to a trial, trials are anything but "speedy", and the rich are far more likely to be acquitted.

      To see what is wrong with American justice, look at the trial of O.J. Simpson.

      To see what is wrong with Chinese justice, look at the trial of Bo Xilai.

  2. Probably just the usual cycle by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every 5 years the Chinese Communist Party has a big meeting and various leadership positions get shuffled around. It just so happens that another one of these is about to happen in a few months.

      Xi Jinping came into power in 2012 and it's widely believed that he will renew his position. Regardless, Chinese government always cracks down on various channels of dissent just before these meetings, or some other big event (such as Beijing Olympics). It usually blows over afterwards and things go back to normal.

  3. Re:There's more to it than that by cheesybagel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When it happens in these regimes it is quite usually a sign of Bad Things To Come like a major purge or something. Remember this is the country which had the Cultural Revolution. So far the purges have been limited to major party officials. But it makes you think why are they so focused on tightening the screws like that. It's like they expect a major conflict or something. Stalin's purges in the Soviet Union preceded WWII and the Cultural Revolution in China preceded the Sino-Vietnamese War.