Are VPNs truly illegal in China? Please explain
Yes and no. They are allowed, but they have to be “sanctioned” VPNs. The VPNs you would buy from a company to hide your searching are not permitted.
An organization/company may set up an “in house” VPN (which the company I worked for did, as does basically any large spread apart company) for their own workers to share documents within the system, which is also legal.
That being said, the only ones getting in trouble for VPNs in China are the ones who get caught selling them. As a foreigner, you’ll never run into an issue, and the same goes for the locals (never once heard of a person using one getting in trouble…but I’m welcome to be corrected on that).
They’re like weed in the U.S., ILLEGAL, but people are still gonna find a way to do that shit and everyone knows it’s low key harmless
You are right! Just stay low and use your vpn to do whatever daily life. Connecting with friends, browsing Reddit. The trouble will not start until you bring outside info into Chinese internet which can hurt the feelings of CCP.
There were several occasions where people getting arrested and put into ‘detention’ for one or two weeks, and according to the police announcement they were simply using it, not selling. Some of them were arrested after a tip-off to the police, so I guess the police won’t actively be investigating on VPN uses but as long as it is reported to them they will deal with it.
Using a VPN is not illegal, selling one is.
not the greatest comparison
Weed is legal in many states in the USA, while VPN is not in all of China, not only in certain areas.
weed has been legal…
I think it’s when you start making posts of stuff they don’t like that things get dicey. They don’t care what you read, just don’t share it with others.
Which, I should say, is bullshit…just in case anyone was unsure of where I stood on the matter.
Pretty sure that it is actually illegal to use an unsanctioned VPN. But, there’s tons of things in China that are “technically illegal”, that they do nothing about.
Spot on. I was gonna comment this but somehow it won’t send.
I have no idea where you got that information other than rumour: Google Search
Haha, yeah, OK dude…NordVPN says it’s fine, so it must all be fine. Sounds good.
If you go about four links down in the Google search you linked there is a post that leads you to this story, about a man in Hunan being arrested and charged for using a VPN.
But it’s cool, NordVPN says it’s no problem…except if you actually click that link and read the “article” (instead of the snippet that Google gives you) it says further down that Chinese have been charged with using VPNs and how un-sanctioned VPNs are not legal in China.
So, again, VPNs are not legal in China. But as I said above, most people will not have a problem, and foreigners certainly won’t (unless they tack it on to something else when they get busted).
I dunno if you noticed I sent you a Google link, it’s not my fault Nord paid for the top result but if I wanted to use Nord fuckin VPN as a source I would have linked to Nord fuckin VPN. In the article you linked, the man got in trouble for watching porn, not using a VPN.
The original article to that one you linked actually says it’s a “regulation” to only use sanctioned international internet networking and it’s a crime i.e. illegal, to sell it only.
Yes, you sent me a random Google search, which is pointless and insulting (as if I can’t google something myself), and is a pretty typical way for someone talking about of their ass to respond without actually responding.
And you really want to die on this hill, eh? Sounds good.
Like I said before, it doesn’t matter for laowai, so this is a pointless conversation, and I’m not going to beat my head against a wall to prove something to you (that for whatever reason, you really don’t want to hear, despite all the proof to the contrary).
So on that note, I’m out. Deuces.