China: Telecom carriers ordered to block VPNs by Feb 2018

Event

According to media reports on Tuesday, July 11, the Chinese government has ordered state-run telecommunications firms, including China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, to prevent individuals from accessing virtual private networks (VPNs) by February 1, 2018. While it is still not clear how the order will affect multinational firms that have operations in China, unnamed sources providing information to media outlets claimed that such companies will be able to lease access to the international web in return for providing usage records.

Context

VPNs are used by individuals and businesses to view websites normally inaccessible due to China’s Great Firewall, an information blockage system that prevents access to sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

In January, the Ministry of Industry and Information announced it would crackdown on unauthorized VPNs. A popular VPN provider, GreenVPN, ended its service on July 1 due to an order from regulatory authorities.

According to the Vice-President of the US-China Business Council, VPNs are so crucial for multinational firms operating in China that previous efforts to end internal corporate VPNs have caused companies to consider reducing or ending operations in China.

Advice

Individuals are advised to monitor the situation and follow any government directives regarding the use of VPNs.