Man punished for using a VPN to scale China’s Great Firewall and watch p0rn

[Mista]

A man in southern China received administrative punishment after he bypassed the country’s strict internet censorship system to watch p0rn, state media reported on Wednesday.

The man, surnamed Chen, was apprehended by the local police in the city of Jinshi, located in Hunan province. The police said Chen was using an app called Shadowrocket, which allows users to connect to proxy servers using the censorship circumvention tool Shadowsocks, among other protocols.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are the most common tools used in China to hop the country’s Great Firewall that blocks access to foreign websites and apps. Facebook, Google and several of the world’s top news sites are all blocked in the country. But Chinese authorities introduced new regulations in 2017 that require VPN providers to officially register with the state, which led Apple to purge VPN apps from its iOS App Store in China.

Some circumvention techniques are more advanced – like Shadowsocks. While often referred to as a VPN, Shadowsocks is technically a disguised SOCKS5 proxy specifically designed to get around the Great Firewall.

While VPNs and Shadowsocks encrypt internet traffic, authorities suggested they were still able to figure out what Chen was browsing. Police said Chen’s main crime was accessing pornographic websites, according to the media report, which cites a now-deleted WeChat post from the city’s public security bureau.

Police didn’t say how they discovered Chen’s online activities. But encryption isn’t necessarily enough to protect users depending on where that data is going. Shadowrocket doesn’t provide any servers itself, just the software used to connect to them.

Authorities didn’t say what Chen’s punishment was, but the Jinshi police hinted at what it could be. They said that people using their own channels to access international networks could be fined up to 15,000 yuan (US$2,142). Those that sell the service could even face prison time.

Some people have already been arrested for selling VPN services in China. A man was arrested for it in 2017, where he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and fined US$76,000. Police said another man, arrested earlier this year, made US$1.6 million from selling VPNs since 2016.

https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/ar...pn-scale-chinas-great-firewall-and-watch-p0rn

Edited the word and link because the word is censored.

 

[Imran Khan]

there must be intertainment immunity like diplomatic immunity for watching **** . damn how can be watching **** is a crime you monsters

 

[Mista]

Time to confess my crimes.
-Every Chinese male netizen

 

[vi-va]

hehe, there are millions of Chinese doing this, if not tens of millions. So one case doesn't mean anything.
It's not final yet. He can appeal, the judge is ridiculous.

 

[kankan326]

Time to confess my crimes.
-Every Chinese male netizen

Probably there are other reasons that are not very convenient to tell the public. He is anti-CCP, anti-China guy.

 

[Mista]

Probably there are other reasons that are not very convenient to tell the public. He is anti-CCP, anti-China guy.

Then that's applying the law selectively, finding some random law to 'fix' you. I don't think so, the guy probably just got fined as implied by the police.

My take is that the authorities know many Chinese scale the firewall regularly and it's technically impossible to stop all from doing so. I mean, there are famous people like Hu Xijin or Li Ziqi who obviously do the same.

But from time to time the law has to be enforced to gently remind the general population that scaling the firewall is prohibited by law, and although most Chinese will not be detected and persecuted, the purpose is to send a signal and discourage such attempts. Out of millions of people who scale the firewall regularly, that guy was simply just unlucky to be made an example of for the public.

Why else would the state media report such a minor crime which so many Chinese are guilty of, if he was truly anti-CCP or whatever?

 

[jamahir]

Not this person but those idiots in China who sell their kidney to buy an iPhone, these idiots should be named and shamed.

 

[Lincoln]

hehe, there are millions of Chinese doing this, if not tens of millions. So one case doesn't mean anything.
It's not final yet. He can appeal, the judge is ridiculous.

Exactly. Many Chinese use VPN. He was probably said something against the government or something similar.

 

[kankan326]

Then that's applying the law selectively, finding some random law to 'fix' you. I don't think so, the guy probably just got fined as implied by the police.

My take is that the authorities know many Chinese scale the firewall regularly and it's technically impossible to stop all from doing so. I mean, there are famous people like Hu Xijin or Li Ziqi who obviously do the same.

But from time to time the law has to be enforced to gently remind the general population that scaling the firewall is prohibited by law, and although most Chinese will not be detected and persecuted, the purpose is to send a signal and discourage such attempts. Out of millions of people who scale the firewall regularly, that guy was simply just unlucky to be made an example of for the public.

Why else would the state media report such a minor crime which so many Chinese are guilty of, if he was truly anti-CCP or whatever?

>90% Chinese VPN users are pro CCP or neutral. This guy must be special. He must cross the line. Badmouthing government doesn't violate any law in China. The government just indirectly warned him.

 

[Bengal71]

Is watching p0rn illegal in China?

 

[xuxu1457]

I am using VPN in China, this person is because the use of VPN every day on pornographic sites.

China almost tens of millions of people in the use of VPN

 

[Paul2]

A man in southern China received administrative punishment after he bypassed the country’s strict internet censorship system to watch p0rn, state media reported on Wednesday.

The man, surnamed Chen, was apprehended by the local police in the city of Jinshi, located in Hunan province. The police said Chen was using an app called Shadowrocket, which allows users to connect to proxy servers using the censorship circumvention tool Shadowsocks, among other protocols.

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are the most common tools used in China to hop the country’s Great Firewall that blocks access to foreign websites and apps. Facebook, Google and several of the world’s top news sites are all blocked in the country. But Chinese authorities introduced new regulations in 2017 that require VPN providers to officially register with the state, which led Apple to purge VPN apps from its iOS App Store in China.

Some circumvention techniques are more advanced – like Shadowsocks. While often referred to as a VPN, Shadowsocks is technically a disguised SOCKS5 proxy specifically designed to get around the Great Firewall.

While VPNs and Shadowsocks encrypt internet traffic, authorities suggested they were still able to figure out what Chen was browsing. Police said Chen’s main crime was accessing pornographic websites, according to the media report, which cites a now-deleted WeChat post from the city’s public security bureau.

Police didn’t say how they discovered Chen’s online activities. But encryption isn’t necessarily enough to protect users depending on where that data is going. Shadowrocket doesn’t provide any servers itself, just the software used to connect to them.

Authorities didn’t say what Chen’s punishment was, but the Jinshi police hinted at what it could be. They said that people using their own channels to access international networks could be fined up to 15,000 yuan (US$2,142). Those that sell the service could even face prison time.

Some people have already been arrested for selling VPN services in China. A man was arrested for it in 2017, where he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and fined US$76,000. Police said another man, arrested earlier this year, made US$1.6 million from selling VPNs since 2016.

https://www.scmp.com/abacus/tech/ar...pn-scale-chinas-great-firewall-and-watch-p0rn

Edited the word and link because the word is censored.

That's a 21st century version of a "soliciting prostitution" charge.

Convenient way to both destroy a man, and his reputation.

 

[dbc]

He is anti-CCP, anti-China guy.

now it all makes sense..

 

[Chhatrapati]

Now the Chinese wonder why other countries say Chinese laws are arbitrary.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I am using VPN in China, this person is because the use of VPN every day on pornographic sites.
View attachment 657653
China almost tens of millions of people in the use of VPN

Great name for a **** VPN.