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VPN Ban: China Denies The News
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VPN Ban: China Denies The News

These were some crazy few hours when Bloomberg reported that China planned to ban the use of personal VPNs quoting “people familiar with the matter“. The channel said the ban would take effect in Feb next year. The only problem was that it wasn’t true. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology denied the news as ‘false’.

Interesting : https://anonymster.com/vpn-ban-china-denies/

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Comments

  • blackblack Member

    Would they actually admit that they're banning VPNs though?

  • hzrhzr Member

    a reference to a site completely packed full of affiliate links and only exists to shove aff ads for garbage VPNs

    Thanked by 1netomx
  • 36062023606202 Member
    edited July 2017

    "Nobody has the intention to build a wall!"

    Walter Ulbricht, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany,
    shortly before they built the wall

  • @hzr said:
    a reference to a site completely packed full of affiliate links and only exists to shove aff ads for garbage VPNs

    bro its just quoting the world-renound news website known as Shanghaiist -
    http://shanghaiist.com/2017/07/12/vpn-ban-denial.php

  • hzrhzr Member

    maldovia said: bro its just quoting the world-renound news website known as Shanghaiist - http://shanghaiist.com/2017/07/12/vpn-ban-denial.php

    thank you that much better source. it doesn't have aff link

    Thanked by 1netomx
  • jhjh Member
    edited July 2017

    Problem for the Communist Party is it's so socially acceptable and so widespread to use a VPN that it'll just continue the cat and mouse game. Much like torrenting movies in the west.

    And in some ways the Party loses out from the VPN anyway - businesses want to communicate with their customers on Facebook, for example.

  • I agree

  • ronikoroniko Member

    Honestly i dont think they ever can ban VPN as this will impact business. be realistic..

  • @roniko said:
    Honestly i dont think they ever can ban VPN as this will impact business. be realistic..

    It is possible though because UAE banned the VPN.

  • jarjar Patron Provider, Top Host, Veteran

    Well "people familiar with the matter" reads to me like "this is the story our focus group said would increase ratings and we don't have a source."

    Thanked by 2sin WSS
  • BAKABAKA Member
    edited July 2017

    So I copy my comment here.

    Be careful when perceiving such "rumor busters".
    This reply is given by MIIT, stating "Our subdivisions didn't issue relevant notice. The previous report by foreign media is not true". But there are still other possibilities, for example:

    • It only applies to subdivisions of MIIT, but there are other authorities besides MIIT who may also issue policies over network. For example this one.
    • It only applies to "issuance" of notice, but some notifications are verbal (quite common nowadays).
    • It only applies to the past, but not the future.

    I know these seem very, very stupid, but there did exist some stupid "rumor busters" given by authority.

    On the other hand, expats in China never need to worry. Even if they block all Chinese citizens, they may still allow foreigners to access the Internet -- you have your passport & credit card issued by your home country as a proof.


    That said, from my understanding, they are just enforcing the notice issued in January, which aimed to take down:

    1. MPLS-VPN provided by licensed ISP but misused to access the Internet;
    2. Other VPNs provided by unlicensed vendor for commercial use.

    In China, no more than a dozen of companies - including 3 largest ISPs - are licensed to provide cross-border VPN business and the usage is limited to point-to-point communication (e.g. subsidiaries communicating with HQ) rather than accessing the Internet, and clients are limited to companies rather than individuals.
    But the reality was that ISPs may acquiesce in other usage by clients. Also, there are so many unlicensed VPN vendors providing "bypass GFW" service. So the government was angry and ordered to stop such commercial misuse. Many unlicensed VPN providers really terminated services during the past several months.
    No solid proof that gov is banning non-commercial/personal use of VPN, though rumor goes that several people were found for using Shadowsocks & educated by the police and ordered to write letter of guarantee (no severe consequence though).

  • Thanked by 2mayli cnbeining
  • BAKABAKA Member
    edited July 2017

    BTW, there was a funny story at the beginning of this month.

    One VPN vendor released a piece of news, claiming it was among the first batch of licensed companies to sell VPN. It even posted a photo of news press, claiming it's the photo of MIIT issuing the license. And there was a slogan on its front page: "I hold the imperial sword, sweeping a market worth 100 billion".

    Later MIIT had to issue a refutation. The company has never obtained such license. The photo was Photoshopped - original photo was another unrelated event.

    Moreover, people found out that the "journalist" of the fake news and the one who posted ads on forum was actually the legal representative of that company. lol

  • WSSWSS Member

    @BAKA said:
    BTW, there was a funny story at the beginning of this month.

    One VPN vendor released a piece of news, claiming it was among the first batch of licensed companies to sell VPN. It even posted a photo of news press, claiming it's the photo of MIIT issuing the license. And there was a slogan on its front page: "I hold the imperial sword, sweeping a market worth 100 billion".

    Later MIIT had to issue a refutation. The company has never obtained such license. The photo was Photoshopped - original photo was another unrelated event.

    Moreover, people found out that the "journalist" of the fake news and the one who posted ads on forum was actually the legal representative of that company. lol

    This really isn't any different than buying hardware from China. The certifications are generally fake, and much like bogus stories- it'll likely go down in flames.

  • cyberpersons said: It is possible though because UAE banned the VPN.

    Not exactly, there's a fine if you're caught using a VPN for 'illegal purposes'. I have no problems using VPNs at all in the UAE.

    Thanked by 1Ole_Juul
  • You can trust second rate "news" sellers like Bloomberg to get it wrong. They have no intention of getting it straight. Here's an article from The South China Morning Post.

  • BAKABAKA Member

    Further news:

    Apple has removed VPN apps from China’s App Store

    Apple Removes Apps From China Store That Help Internet Users Evade Censorship

    Btw, removed apps include not only VPNs, but also those utilizes Network Extension function which is often used by some Shadowsocks utilities. To name just a few: Surge, Shadowrocket, Potatso ...

    Thanked by 1mint
  • mytsing520mytsing520 Member
    edited July 2017

    Well. As a people from China mainland. I can use VPN normally.
    What a funny story that China bans VPN.

  • mintmint Member

    十九大 is coming...

  • ClouviderClouvider Member, Patron Provider

    @mint said:
    十九大 is coming...

    English please.

  • mintmint Member

    @Clouvider said:

    @mint said:
    十九大 is coming...

    English please.

    Look here, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_National_Congress_of_the_Communist_Party_of_China

    They always strengthen their censorship before this congress.

    Thanked by 2Clouvider Ole_Juul
  • sandyrobertssandyroberts Member
    edited January 2018

    there is a huge misconception about the VPN crackdown in China. The Chinese government only blocks the unauthorised and illegal VPNs working in mainland China and ask them to get authorised by Chinese Telecom.
    All the best VPN for China which operates outside the mainland China are working fine.
    Read this thread on Quora about Chinese VPNs working currently

    Thanked by 1Ole_Juul
  • mintmint Member

    @sandyroberts said:
    there is a huge misconception about the VPN crackdown in China. The Chinese government only blocks the unauthorised and illegal VPNs working in mainland China and ask them to get authorised by Chinese Telecom.
    All the best VPN for China which operates outside the mainland China are working fine.
    Read this thread on Quora about Chinese VPNs working currently

    There's almost no point on running VPN servers in Mainland China (except regional lock issues), so no point on only cracking down Mainland VPNs. please read again posts above...

    Thanked by 1Ole_Juul
  • BAKABAKA Member

    @sandyroberts said:
    there is a huge misconception about the VPN crackdown in China. The Chinese government only blocks the unauthorised and illegal VPNs working in mainland China and ask them to get authorised by Chinese Telecom.
    All the best VPN for China which operates outside the mainland China are working fine.
    Read this thread on Quora about Chinese VPNs working currently
    https://www.quora.com/Are-there-any-VPN-still-available-in-China-July-2017

    Unfortunately all those so-called best VPNs are no longer available on China App Store -- you have to download from other regions.

    Moreover, OpenVPN is one of the worst choice to go over GFW. It is secure, but security is not of first priority in this case.

  • sandyrobertssandyroberts Member
    edited January 2018

    @BAKA said:

    @sandyroberts said:
    there is a huge misconception about the VPN crackdown in China. The Chinese government only blocks the unauthorised and illegal VPNs working in mainland China and ask them to get authorised by Chinese Telecom.
    All the best VPN for China which operates outside the mainland China are working fine.
    Read this thread on Quora about Chinese VPNs working currently

    Unfortunately all those so-called best VPNs are no longer available on China App Store -- you have to download from other regions.

    Moreover, OpenVPN is one of the worst choice to go over GFW. It is secure, but security is not of first priority in this case.

    I have contacted ExpressVPN they said if you are in China and unable to access VPN websites you can use this link dicks.com to download its VPN App which works in China

  • KuJoeKuJoe Member, Host Rep
    edited August 2017

    sandyroberts said: www.xpress-vpn.com

    Really? They're going to bypass a country-wide VPN ban by directing people to a domain with "VPN" in the name? That's a waste of a domain registration fee, no DPI required to figure out what's on that website. LoL!

  • HxxxHxxx Member

    Is important to maintain the culture pure as much as possible... Right?

  • BAKABAKA Member
    edited August 2017

    @sandyroberts said:

    I have contacted ExpressVPN they said if you are in China and unable to access VPN websites you can use this link www.xpress-vpn.com to download its VPN App which works in China

    Well, my point is that if you have only Apple account in China region, then you'll not be able to install those VPNs from official China App Store because they're removed.

    If your iOS device is not jailbroken, you can only install from official App Store.

  • AndrewLoungeAndrewLounge Member
    edited November 2017

    [Necrospam removed by Mod.]

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