Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY

A23
TECHNOLOGY Monday 11 SepteMber 2017

China’s ever-tighter web controls jolt companies, scientists

By JOE McDONALD Government spokespeo-
AP Business Writer ple refuse to acknowledge
BEIJING (AP) — Frank any site is blocked, though
Chen’s e-commerce busi- researchers say they can
ness has nothing to do with see attempts to reach sites
politics but he worries it such as Google stopped
might be sunk by the Com- within servers operated by
munist Party’s latest effort state-owned China Tele-
to control what the Chi- com Ltd., which controls
nese public sees online. China’s links to the global
Chen’s 25-employee com- internet.
pany sells clothes and ap- Regulators have yet to say
pliances to Americans and who will be allowed to use
Europeans through plat- government-licensed VPNs
forms including Facebook, or what they can see. But
one of thousands of web- a letter sent by China Tele-
sites blocked by China’s com to some corporate
web filters. Chen reaches customers this year offers
it using a virtual private a hint: It says VPNs can link
network, but that window only to a company’s head-
might be closing after Bei- quarters abroad and no
jing launched a campaign other sites. It warns violators
in January to stamp out use In this Aug. 19, 2013 file photo, computer users sit near a monitor display with a message from the will lose access.
of VPNs to evade its “Great Chinese police on the proper use of the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China. Until now, web controls
Associated Press
Firewall.” have acted like a tax, al-
“Our entire business might blocked sites. country might have as VPN, told customers in lowing users to see blocked
be paralyzed,” said Chen Control over information is many as 100 million regular June it had been ordered sites by paying for a VPN,
by phone from the western especially sensitive ahead users. to close. Others shut down according to Margaret E.
city of Chengdu. Still, he of October’s twice-a-de- Some 8.8 percent of peo- without warning. Roberts, a political scientist
added later in a text mes- cade ruling party congress ple in the survey use VPNs “You have to leave a win- at the University of Califor-
sage, “national policy de- at which President Xi Jin- to look at “restricted sites,” dow for people, for those nia at San Diego.
serves a positive response ping is due to be named to according to GlobalWe- who need it,” said Wen “As VPNs become more
and we fully support it.” a second five-year term as bIndex. That would be Jian, a securities trader in difficult to access, it’s like
The crackdown threatens leader. equivalent to 65 million Beijing. the government is raising
to disrupt work and study The VPN crackdown is part people, or the population Wen said he needs to find the tax,” said Roberts in an
for millions of Chinese en- of a campaign to tighten of Britain. financial information and email. “If VPNs were illegal,
trepreneurs, scientists and political control that activ- Communist leaders en- Google, accessible only we would expect a differ-
students who rely on web- ists say is the most severe courage web use for busi- with a VPN, is more effec- ent calculation for those
sites they can see only with since the 1989 suppression ness and education. They tive than Chinese search seeking access.”
a VPN. The technology, of the Tiananmen Square want online commerce to engines. But his VPN quit In a sign of a more severe
developed to create se- pro-democracy move- help transform China from working two months ago. official stance, a 26-year-
cure, encrypted links be- ment. a low-wage factory into a “As far as I know, some old entrepreneur who sold
tween computers, allows Dozens of activists and law- high-tech consumer soci- government people use VPN service in Dongguan,
Chinese web users to see a yers have been detained. ety. But they reject the no- VPNs too,” said Wen, 27. near Hong Kong, was sen-
blocked site by hiding the A cybersecurity law that tion of a borderless internet “They read things abroad. tenced in March to nine
address from government took effect in June tight- and free flow of informa- Why can they have it and months in prison.
filters. ens control on online data. tion. we cannot?” The agency in charge of
Astronomers and physi- Regulators have stepped Chinese web users without The crackdown reflects Xi’s the crackdown, the Cy-
cists use services such as up censorship of social me- VPNs cannot see the most notion of “internet sover- berspace Administration
Google Scholar and Drop- dia and video websites. popular global websites in- eignty,” or Beijing’s abso- of China, and the Cabinet
box, accessible only via How many people might cluding Google and social lute right to control what press office didn’t respond
VPN, to share research and be affected is unclear, but media such as Facebook, people can do and see to questions sent by fax
stay in touch with foreign consumer research firm Twitter and YouTube, as online. and email about what, if
colleagues. Merchants GlobalWebIndex said a sur- well as news outlets and Unauthorized VPNs already anything, the public will
use Facebook and other vey of Chinese web surfers human rights groups. were banned but authori- be allowed to do with au-
blocked social media to this year found 14 percent In the latest crackdown, ties appeared to ignore thorized VPNs.Chen, the
find customers. Students use a VPN daily. If that per- regulators say only govern- them, possibly to avoid dis- online merchant, said he
look for material in subjects centage holds for China’s ment-authorized VPNs will rupting business or to de- heard private companies
from history to film edit- total online population of be allowed. The operator fuse resistance among pro- might be permitted but he
ing on YouTube and other 731 million, it suggests the of a popular service, Green fessionals and academics. has yet to apply q