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from the what-about-the-ones-you-did-NOT-catch? dept.
Chinese authorities have detained a software developer for selling computer services that allow internet users to evade China's "Great Firewall," which blocks access to thousands of websites, from Facebook to Twitter to some news outlets, a media report said Monday.
The software developer, who is from the coastal province of Jiangsu, near Shanghai, was arrested in late August and held for three days for building a small business to sell virtual private networks, the Global Times newspaper reported, citing the official Xinhua news agency. VPNs create encrypted links between computers and allow Chinese web users to see blocked sites by hiding the address from government filters.
Subscribers paid 10 yuan, or about $1.50, for one month of the developer's service. Authorities also seized the developer's earnings, which totaled 1,080 yuan, or about $165.
Some internet businessmen have faced far harsher punishments: Earlier this year, a 26-year-old entrepreneur who sold VPN services in Dongguan, near Hong Kong, was sentenced to nine months in prison.
How far away from having this happen in the West are we, really?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 19 2017, @10:37PM
...unless you look at e.g. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
Note that those places have STRONG LABOR UNIONS as major influences on their Democracies.
I read a really good article on the topic within the last 2 weeks and now I can't find it. 8-(
In the USA, I put major blame for weak Democracy on Lamestream Media and those poorly-informed people who still consume that corporate-friendly crap and think that they're well-informed.
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