China is reinforcing the Great Firewall with a 14-month crackdown on unauthorized VPNs:
Beijing has launched a 14-month nationwide campaign to crack down on unauthorised internet connections, including virtual private networks (VPN) services – a technology that allows users to bypass the country's infamous Great Firewall. A notice released by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Sunday said that all special cable and VPN services on the mainland needed to obtain prior government approval – a move making most VPN service providers in the country of 730 million internet users illegal. The "clean up" of the nation's internet connections would start immediately and run until March 31, 2018, the notice said.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 24 2017, @03:34AM
If you can use them you probably didn't REALLY need them.
That's terrible advice. Every government on the planet is corrupt and authoritarian (though not all equally so) and people should try to protect themselves. Every government has different strategies to oppress its people; not all are as overt about it as China or North Korea. Attempting to protect yourself from mass surveillance is important, especially for whistleblowers, activists, journalists, etc. It's also important to provide cover for people who need encryption and anonymity more than you by using tools for those yourself.
You're delusional if you think governments like the US aren't oppressive. Just because they haven't gone after you personally doesn't mean they aren't harassing people who actually try to change the system.