Warning! Using a VPN in China Can Now Get Fined

The attempted crackdown on VPNs in China seems to have stepped up another gear in the city of Chongqing, where web users caught using a VPN to jump over the country's ‘Great Firewall’ now face a fine of up to 15,000 yuan (£1,750, US$ 2,200).

The punishment would be meted out to people using virtual private networks to access banned sites for commercial purposes. But Amnesty International said the wording was vague enough that it could affect any business or individual.

Anyone who skirts censorship controls in the southwestern metropolis of 30 million people will receive a warning to disconnect from the internet, the Chongqing government said Monday.

Those who make a profit of more than 5,000 yuan (US$730) while using VPNs will be fined 5,000-15,000 yuan, according to the updated internet security regulation which came into effect in July but only announced this week.

The move is a departure from authorities' previous approach of reinforcing the government's ‘Great Firewall’ to block VPN providers, who provide virtual tunnels that allow users to evade China's vast censorship system.

"It looks like such practices might be extended to other parts of China if Chongqing police succeed in punishing people using VPNs," Amnesty International's China researcher Patrick Poon told AFP.

While China is home to the world's largest number of internet users, a 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that the country had the most restrictive online use policies of 65 nations it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria.

But China has maintained that its various forms of web censorship are necessary for protecting its national security. Sites blocked due to their content or sensitivity, among them Facebook, Twitter, Google Search and Gmail, cannot be accessed in China without VPNs.

Source: channelnewsasia

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