China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a notice earlier this week that all unauthorised virtual private networks will be banned as the ministry rolls out a 14-month campaign to “clean up” and “regulate” internet connection services. It appears the crackdown will target Chinese businesses and individuals involved in providing unauthorised VPN services. The ministry said late on Tuesday that VPN networks of multinationals approved by Chinese authorities won’t be affected. Individuals using VPNs on their computers or mobile phones will not be targeted directly. “As for VPN users in China, this new regulation doesn’t make using VPN illegal”, the website VPNDada.com said in a statement. The regulation does not specifically address how the crackdown will affect providers outside China. In practice, Beijing has always tried to block such services that help Chinese internet users bypass the “Great Firewall”. In one infamous case, the US consulate in Shanghai in August last year published a Weibo post seeking “reliable” VPN service providers. The blocking of overseas VPN services could intensify even though the latest notice did not mention the move specifically. “It’s certainly possible that they will try to shut down us and move onto government VPNs,” Sunday Yokubaitis, president of the popular Golden Frog VPN service provider that boasts a big Chinese client base, told the China will find it easier to crack down on businesses and individuals based in the country.
