CHINA BANS UNAUTHORISED VPN SERVICES

GREAT WALLS OF FIRE!

Chinese authorities recently announced that virtual private networks (VPNs) would hereby need to “obtain prior governmental approval” or be deemed illegal. VPNs provide invaluable access for many Chinese internet users to websites such as Google, The New York Times, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which lie beyond the country’s Great Firewall of censorship. According to the announcement, the Chinese internet service showed “signs of disordered development that requires urgent regulation and governance”.