Cyber Security Police Cracking Down on VPN Users

The topic of internet censorship in China has been a hot one in recent months, after large-scale removal of VPNs on Apple’s App Store and rumors of blocking VPN services in the country altogether. And it seems that the country’s cyber security is set to tighten further.

Reported by The Waijiao amongst others, this week a woman in Guangzhou was questioned after she purchased a VPN router online. Police visited her home early on the morning of Wednesday 11 and she was told that she’d violated national cyber security law. The router was ultimately confiscated. Also, earlier this year, a man in Jiangsu was taken into custody for selling VPNs. Officers confiscated the income he had made and detained him for three days.

The two aforementioned cases are the lucky ones. A 26-year-old man named Deng Jiewei from southern Guangzhou province was arrested in August for providing charged VPN services and was convicted of ‘providing software and tools for invading and illegally controlling the computer information system’ this March. He was sentenced to nine months in jail, according to SCMP.

Accessing VPN connections or blocked websites may not be difficult at the moment, and it is unlikely that authorities are planning to roundup all VPN users in the nation anytime soon, but it certainly appears clear that the Chinese government is intent on tightening restrictions.

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