In a move that has sent shockwaves through the tech community, a programmer from Chengde, Hebei province, has been slapped with a staggering fine of over 1 million yuan for using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). This is believed to be the most severe individual financial penalty ever issued for bypassing China’s notorious “Great Firewall.”
The programmer, identified by the surname Ma, was penalized by the Chengde public security bureau for using “unauthorized channels” to connect to international networks while working for a Turkish company. The authorities confiscated Ma’s earnings of 1.058 million yuan, terming it as “illegal income,” and additionally fined him 200 yuan.
The incident came to light when Ma shared his ordeal on Weibo, China’s popular microblogging platform. He revealed that the police had initially approached him suspecting his ownership of a Twitter account under investigation. Ma clarified that while he did work for an overseas company, he only occasionally liked and retweeted the company’s tweets from his personal Twitter account. This post has since been removed but was archived by China Digital Times.
Ma’s use of the VPN was primarily to access Zoom for meetings, and most of his work on GitHub did not require bypassing the firewall. The incident has sparked a heated debate on Zhihu, China’s Reddit-like platform, with one user commenting that if such penalties become the norm, “China’s IT industry would basically be wiped out.”
Radio Free Asia highlighted the chilling effect this could have on Chinese netizens seeking genuine information. Lin Shengliang, a dissident based in the Netherlands, opined that such severe penalties aim to deter Chinese netizens from seeking genuine information through VPNs. He warned of a “chilling effect,” where more individuals might refrain from using VPNs due to fear of repercussions.
The case has also raised eyebrows regarding the motivations behind such hefty fines. Some speculate that local governments, burdened with massive debts, might be resorting to such measures to boost their revenues. In 2022, Chengde’s revenues from forfeitures saw a year-on-year increase of over 7%.
While VPNs operate in a legal gray area in China, they have become essential tools for many individuals and businesses seeking unrestricted access to the global internet. China’s “Great Firewall” is a sophisticated system of internet censorship that blocks access to numerous foreign websites, including popular platforms like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and many international news outlets. This censorship mechanism not only restricts access to information but also serves as a tool for the government to control narratives and maintain its grip on power.
For businesses, especially those with international operations, VPNs are crucial. They rely on these tools to communicate with global partners, access essential software, and ensure smooth operations. Recognizing this need, the Chinese government has allowed companies to use government-approved VPNs for commercial activities. However, the approval process is stringent, and the list of sanctioned VPNs is limited.
For individual users, VPNs are a gateway to the broader internet, enabling them to bypass the Great Firewall and access blocked content. Over the years, the government has generally turned a blind eye to individual VPN users, focusing its efforts on larger targets like VPN providers. As a result, it’s quite difficult to find reliable VPNs for China and many Chinese internet users have to try hard to find working VPNs by searching for keywords such as “VPN推荐”. Several individuals have faced jail time for selling VPN services in the country. For instance, in 2017, a man named Wu Xiangyang was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and fined 500,000 yuan for selling VPN software.
However, the recent case of the programmer from Chengde signals a potential shift in the government’s stance. It raises concerns that individual users might now be in the crosshairs, leading to increased self-censorship and a further chilling of online freedoms. This incident, combined with the increasing crackdown on VPN providers, suggests that the Chinese government is tightening its grip on internet access, further isolating its netizens from the global digital community.
