China is well known for its censorship practices that extend to the virtual realm with the so-called Great Firewall of China blocking locals from accessing major media sites and social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Facebook.
Said Firewall isn’t easy to bypass and not all VPNs are well suited for the job; thus we have a special section on our site highlighting the services that can get around limitations imposed by the authorities.
And you know what, some people want to access the Internet in its entirety, and are turning to those VPNs to be able to freely roam online. This has further paved the way for providers offering those tools to interested parties.
Chinese authorities took notice and have been arresting people offering VPNs since mid-2017. The latest arrest involves a 29-year-old man that they claim has made a fortune by selling VPN services.
According to a report from Litchi News, the suspect — identified only by the pseudonym of Gao — operated a VPN capable of bypassing the country’s Great Firewall since mid-2016.
The service was extremely successful, having brought in Gao over $1.6 million (11 million Chinese yuan) from more than 28,000 regular customers. That money, the report claims, is more than any other VPN provider arrested by Chinese authorities by this point.
Gao pleaded guilty and is currently awaiting sentencing, which is expected to be a lengthy one.
For what it matters, in September 2017, Chinese authorities sentenced a Dongguan man to nine months in prison for operating a VPN service which was estimated that brought in meager $2,000 in revenue. A few months later, in December 2017, a Pingnan man was sentenced to a whopping five years in prison for operating an unregistered VPN and making around $120,000 by renting access to 8,000 customers.
So, Gao’s sentence is most likely to be at least five years, if not greater.
While running a VPN service in China is not illegal, its providers must register with Chinese authorities and make sure it is not used for any criminal activity or to bypass the country’s firewall.
The government has even launched a 14-months-long coordinated campaign in January 2017 to take down all unauthorized VPN providers that had not registered with local authorities. As part of that effort, Chinese officials asked Apple to remove tens of VPN apps from the company’s Chinese version of the App Store; and… Apple complied.
It is worth noting that most VPN software restrictions are enforced for locals whereas foreigners have been using the software to keep up with uncensored global news and social media for quite some time now. If you’re in that group — i.e. work or plan to travel to China — make sure to visit our page with Best VPNs for China. There, you should find services that will keep you connected to the entire world wide web (and then some) no matter where you happen to be. Or wherever life takes you.