Chinese VPN user fined for accessing overseas websites

[BananaInSandals]

Source: 

South China Morning Post

HK01 (in Chinese)

 

Quote

Chinese authorities have issued a disciplinary warning to a Guangdong man and ordered him pay a fine of 1,000 yuan (US$164) for setting up an unauthorised Virtual Private Network (VPN) service to connect to international websites

Individuals and organisations can only connect to international networks through channels provided by the government, according to regulations listed on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website.

China blocks access to 135 out of 1,000 of the world’s top websites, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to Greatfire.org

Quote

In 2017... ...a Chinese man from southwest Guangxi province, Wu Xiangyang, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison for selling VPN services online. Wu also had to pay a fine of 500,000 yuan (US$72,790)

Quote

網傳消息指，朱某某真名為朱雲楓，他用自己的手機安裝翻牆軟件藍燈（lantern Pro），連接到自己家的寬頻網絡「翻牆」上網，最近一周登錄487次。

(Rumours online say that Zhu's real name is Zhu Yunfeng. He installed Lantern Pro, a VPN app, on his mobile and connect to the broadband network in his home for internet censorship circumvention. In the past week, he has used it for 487 times.)

 

 

Personal thought:

Not gonna lie but I've been using VPN for YouTube and Facebook whenever I went to China... And there are a lot of people doing so as well. In light of this, people who use VPN in China for whatever reason should be more careful. If you're using Lantern, change to something else. It might have been compromised. (Insert Linus PIA ad here lol)

[Princess Luna]

Is this really news worthy? we all know this stuff is part of China's reality and it probably happens on daily basis.

[suicidalfranco]

Just China doing China things, if it doesn't bother the Chinese, I have no issues with it 

[Jurrunio]

Ehm, gonna try Tor then

[RejZoR]

14 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Is this really news worthy? we all know this stuff is part of China's reality and it probably happens on daily basis.

Like the west is any different? Except over here, people do this to each other. Uh oh, you have an undesired opinion about gays/blacks/women/cats, lets fuck up your life so hard you'd wish you'd only get a 5 year and a half sentence in a prison...

[BananaInSandals]

20 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Is this really news worthy? we all know this stuff is part of China's reality and it probably happens on daily basis.

It is as many tourists or business people from other parts of the world goes to China. A lot of them uses VPN to use Gmail, Facebook and whatnot. And given the tension between China and the U.S./Canada, with Canadians "randomly" arrested in China, it's always good to be prudent.

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, BananaInSandals said:

.

If you enter a different country, you respect their laws, it is that simple.

 

If you do not agree with the country legislature you simply don't go there instead of going to break local law just because you disagree with it.

[porina]

There's a difference between blocking something, and fining people for using ways to get around it. If they're going after individual users, that's more noteworthy than if they go after those enabling others to do it on a commercial scale.

[williamcll]

You can actually get a commercial VPN license in China, like some hotels and Google do.

[zhubaohi]

Simply using VPN here in China is not illegal, what's illegal is using an unauthorized VPN to make profits. (Same thing about porn in china. Watching is fine, selling is a big no no) This guy uses VPN to make profits according to the police, and that's why he got arrested.

 

I use VPN on a daily basis for gmail/youtube/reddit and twitch, as long as I keep it to my self, I'm not violating any rules/law.

[TetraSky]

More reason not to travel to China... especially not now when they are arresting people left and right for spurious reasons(especially westerners), in retaliation for Canada arresting that Huawei woman by the US's request.

 

Though that man, as a resident of that country, should've known better than to try and circumvent the "great wall"... If he wants to use Google and other blocked sites, there are hotels that have this functionality.(Though I'm not sure if they allow local residents to use it...)

[Tom is a Door]

1 hour ago, zhubaohi said:

Simply using VPN here in China is not illegal, what's illegal is using an unauthorized VPN to make profits. (Same thing about porn in china. Watching is fine, selling is a big no no) This guy uses VPN to make profits according to the police, and that's why he got arrested.

 

I use VPN on a daily basis for gmail/youtube/reddit and twitch, as long as I keep it to my self, I'm not violating any rules/law.

So in order to get authorized do you have to sign up to share all the users data or give up some sort of control? 

[BananaInSandals]

7 minutes ago, Tom is a Door said:

So in order to get authorized do you have to sign up to share all the users data or give up some sort of control? 

Nah. You just have to play Hail Emperor Xi the God and Savior every hour on computers using your VPN.

 

Jokes aside, they'll probably ask you to save all the data traffic and block locals from using it.

[Murasaki]

[Tom is a Door]

4 minutes ago, Mayushii said:

GOTEM

[zhubaohi]

1 hour ago, Tom is a Door said:

So in order to get authorized do you have to sign up to share all the users data or give up some sort of control? 

Using an VPN, even an unauthorized one, is not illegal if you are not making any profit from it. 

 

If someone, say an international company like Huawei,  wants to make profits thru VPN, he will need to get authorized by talking to the cyber security division and get a dedicated VPN line. One can only get authorized as a company, so personally I have no experience in this category.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

If you enter a different country, you respect their laws, it is that simple.

 

If you do not agree with the country legislature you simply don't go there instead of going to break local law just because you disagree with it.

I don’t even respect the laws in my own country.

[Thaldor]

10 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

I don’t even respect the laws in my own country.

Who does? I would be amazed if there was someone who would have never broken the law (remeber jaywalking is also breaking the law, it's just usually not punishable).

 

I don't know how bad Chinese jails are for foreingers, but would be kind of great resume material to be jailed in China and when asked why in an job interview telling them that you were jailed because you used VPN so you could use Google Maps to find your way to a restaurant to make a food video for your YouTube channel about traditional Chinese food... Or even better, using VPN to make a video to YouTube about how to register a VPN so that you can make videos to YouTube and monetize them without being jailed

[79wjd]

 

7 hours ago, BananaInSandals said:

In light of this, people who use VPN in China for whatever reason should be more careful.

Ummmmmm, yeah, no shit? Isn't it pretty much common sense to NOT intentionally break laws, eepecially in a foreign countries where you're less familiar with the legal system and should generally assume have much more severe punishments.

[Brooksie359]

6 hours ago, valdyrgramr said:

China Senpai then looked Jurrunio-Chan in the eyes   "You so fined, Jurrunio-Chan."

Jurrunio-Chan then turns and blushes   "Senpai you musn't!"

Why are you speaking a mix of English and Japanese when talking about China? 

[Trixanity]

20 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Why are you speaking a mix of English and Japanese when talking about China? 

Because anime was a mistake.

[ScratchCat]

1 minute ago, Trixanity said:

Because anime was a mistake.

That's a brave thing to say in a forum where every second pfp is a waifu...

3 hours ago, 79wjd said:

 

Ummmmmm, yeah, no shit? Isn't it pretty much common sense to NOT intentionally break laws, eepecially in a foreign countries where you're less familiar with the legal system and should generally assume have much more severe punishments.

Except that action is common place in most other countries, heck with Wireguard there will be a VPN built directly into the Linux kernel on mainline.

 

As a comparison, would you check in a foreign country if it is legal to burn an ISO? 

[79wjd]

31 minutes ago, ScratchCat said:

Except that action is common place in most other countries, heck with Wireguard there will be a VPN built directly into the Linux kernel on mainline.

 

As a comparison, would you check in a foreign country if it is legal to burn an ISO? 

There's a difference between burning an ISO and something that is very easily traceable. That's like comparing using a fake ID to get into a bar and drinking a glass of wine at home. The former could easily land you in a lot of trouble whereas the latter is pretty much undetectable for all intents and purposes.