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China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

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Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only true in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, not any other city in china as far as I can tell.

My hotel in Shanghai last month had a VPN for guests too. The further you go inland the crazier the restrictions get.

This is because historically most Chinese revolts and movements started with the inlanders getting frustrated with the amount of trade the coast enjoys.

People in Beijing and Shanghai have it much better and do not have much reason to cause problems bad for business.

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#73
post #62
post #6

> "No unauthorized use of VPNs through March 2018." I was wondering, "what just happened internally in China that they want to censor for a year or so?" Then it dawned on me...they want to censor everything until the 2018 Winter Olympics is over with. I was wondering if Trump had tweeted, "free Tibet," or something like that.

they don't want people to have access to inconvenient information. dates are inconsequential.

Dates and events are very consequential within Chinese censorship. Censorship gets ramped up and down over time with events. Data example:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/09/daily-c...

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only true in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, not any other city in china as far as I can tell.

My hotel in Shanghai last month had a VPN for guests too. The further you go inland the crazier the restrictions get.

Ive never seen a vpn in shanghai or Beijing, while I get them by default in Guangzhou. They definitely aren't legal for the hotel to provide (if you setup a conference in Beijing, they'll deny this service as an option), but china isn't really a rule of law country (laws are only Enforced selectively).

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#75
This might sound like a naive or stupid question, so please help me out here:

Let's say I live in Shenzhen. Isn't it possible to connect via a normal phone line to a dial-up service in Hong Kong and enjoy an almost uncensored (albeit very slow) internet? Or is that a bit far-fetched?

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#76
post #75

This might sound like a naive or stupid question, so please help me out here: Let's say I live in Shenzhen. Isn't it possible to connect via a normal phone line to a dial-up service in Hong Kong and enjoy an almost uncensored (albeit very slow) internet? Or is that a bit far-fetched?

It would probably be quite expensive as, in most cases, calls to +852 are considered to be long-distance. I don't think internet access is as restricted in SZ as other parts of the mainland, as I am pretty sure that I bought an unrestricted SIM at the HK-SZ border last time I crossed.

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#77
Ugh, the general tightening of the Firewall will not have many short-term ramifications on the startup scene in China (it'll probably lead to a fair bit of protectionist lift actually for mainstream service providers) but the long-term issues of closeness will lead to inferior service providers thriving under the protection of the government.

Regardless of the research dollars China is throwing at technology, this is no way to build a successful/enduring technology infrastructure.

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#78
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My hotel in Shanghai last month had a VPN for guests too. The further you go inland the crazier the restrictions get.

This is because historically most Chinese revolts and movements started with the inlanders getting frustrated with the amount of trade the coast enjoys. People in Beijing and Shanghai have it much better and do not have much reason to cause problems bad for business.

Not to mention Xinjiang. By the time I got out there communication was basically a black hole. Out there apparently the police were actually enforcing the no-VPN rule kicking locals off the internet for extended periods of time.

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#79
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My hotel in Shanghai last month had a VPN for guests too. The further you go inland the crazier the restrictions get.

This is because historically most Chinese revolts and movements started with the inlanders getting frustrated with the amount of trade the coast enjoys. People in Beijing and Shanghai have it much better and do not have much reason to cause problems bad for business.

[deleted]

Re: China tightens Great Firewall by declaring unauthorised VPN services illegal

#80
post #76
post #75

This might sound like a naive or stupid question, so please help me out here: Let's say I live in Shenzhen. Isn't it possible to connect via a normal phone line to a dial-up service in Hong Kong and enjoy an almost uncensored (albeit very slow) internet? Or is that a bit far-fetched?

It would probably be quite expensive as, in most cases, calls to +852 are considered to be long-distance. I don't think internet access is as restricted in SZ as other parts of the mainland, as I am pretty sure that I bought an unrestricted SIM at the HK-SZ border last time I crossed.

You are right that it will be very expensive. Thanks for the tip about buying an unrestricted SIM-card at the border with HK. Will the SIM-card also work in remote parts of China? Or is it only usable in Shenzhen?
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