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Man in China Sentenced To Five Years' Jail For Running VPN (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tough-luck dept.

A Chinese entrepreneur has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for selling VPN service, a government newspaper said, as Beijing tries to stamp out use of technology that evades its internet filters. From a report: Wu Xiangyang was also fined 500,000 yuan ($75,900), an amount equal to his profits since starting the service in 2013, according to a report in the newspaper of China's national prosecutor's office. The Great Firewall, as the censorship apparatus is commonly known, means people in China are banned from visiting thousands of websites, including Google, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Wu ran his VPN service from 2013 until June this year and claimed to serve 8,000 foreign clients and 5,000 businesses.

6 of 42 comments (clear)

  1. I try not to buy anything made in China by myid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I try not to buy anything made in China, even if it costs more to buy things made elsewhere.

    1. Re:I try not to buy anything made in China by Stolovaya · · Score: 2

      I would imagine because of labor conditions (Foxconn and their suicide nets comes to mind first). Unfortunately, it seems most technology companies use China for manufacturing, so it seems hard to buy non-Made in China technology.

    2. Re:I try not to buy anything made in China by myid · · Score: 2

      I try not to buy anything made in China, even if it costs more to buy things made elsewhere.

      May I ask why? Serious question

      I don't want to help China's economy. I don't want to support the economy of countries that have repressive governments.

    3. Re:I try not to buy anything made in China by AHuxley · · Score: 3

      Re "May I ask why? Serious question"
      Who really wants to help fund a totalitarian Communist regime?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  2. Re:How long before it comes to the US. by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 2

    We already have (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybersecurity_Information_Sharing_Act) this which theoretically undoes the onion router when combined with the repeal of network neutrality.

    Um, yeah. Remember, kids -- just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Or something like that.

  3. So much for Net Neutrality by AlanObject · · Score: 2

    Prohibition against VPNs is by no means restricted to China. In most of the Middle East you can be thrown in jail for using a VPN.

    They don't want people to bypass their firewall blocks for services like Skype that would undermine revenues for their Telco carriers. Which, usually, is owned by a close relative of the country's leader.