China is going after unauthorized internet connections, including tools known as virtual private networks, which can bypass China’s efforts to control the web.
The crackdown is part of a 14-month campaign from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that’s meant to clean up the country’s internet service provider market.
Unless authorized, ISPs are forbidden from operating any “cross-border” channel business, including VPNs, the ministry said in a Sunday notice .
The announcement is unusual. The country has typically withheld from openly campaigning against VPN use, even as government censors have intermittently tried to squelch access to them in the past.
However, China has been steadily tightening control over the internet. Earlier this month, the country essentially extended its reach to local app stores operating in the country by forcing them to register with the government.
The action against VPNs will may alarm businesses and local users in China who rely on the services to access the internet unfiltered. Sites popular in the West, such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, are blocked in the country due to China’s strict censorship that targets anti-government views.
