The scenario in which thousands of VPNs have allowed people in China to bypass Internet restrictions is about to change but, ¿because?
BLOOMBERG @ElFinanciero_Mx09/03/2018
Censors have already removed hundreds of VPNs, which hide geographic locations or sites
real destination of users. Fuente: Illustration: Kurt Woerpel para Bloomberg Businessweek
For years, thousands of virtual private networks (VPN, by its acronym in English) have allowed people in China to bypass internet restrictions and visit Facebook, Google, YouTube, Twitter and other government blacklisted sites. That's about to change, The authorities say that as of 31 March they will close any unauthorized supplier.
Sunday Yokubaitis, president of VPN provider Golden Frog in Austin, have an idea what censors can do. In January of 2015, Your computer exploded with system alerts and email complaints from Chinese customers.. Something blocked Golden Frog's popular VyprVPN service, so it could not work in the Asian country. “They blocked all our servers at the same time”, explained.
Beijing has officially condemned the use of VPNs to bypass its Great Firewall’ since these networks have existed, but the date of 31 March is a key step.
Censors have already removed hundreds of VPNs, which hide geographic locations or real destination sites from users. Some operators have been jailed, and , during the summer, Apple began removing VPN apps from the Chinese version of its App Store.
Turn off VPN, ExpressVPN, NordVPN and a shrinking number of other providers try to outmaneuver the government; They rent additional cloud servers to power their networks and are working on software that can make user activity look like permitted Internet traffic..
But playing defense is getting harder and harder., Yokubaitis said.. In the last two months, his team has deflected six attacks like that of 2015. "Before, “We saw attacks every three or four months”, remembered. Ruby Gonzalez, NordVPN Communications Director, based in Panama, noted that they have seen a similar escalation and expect more after the deadline.
The government employs thousands of specialists to find out how to stop VPNs. Now makes China Telecom and other operators block any unauthorized VPN traffic they detect, even when those connections visit approved sites like Alibaba Group's massive online shopping mall Taobao. “It is a novel technique and an example of how they are trying to degrade the experience in a VPN, so it is less likely to be used”, explained Harold Li, Vice President of ExpressVPN, which has its official headquarters in the British Virgin Islands.
Most VPN services cost between 6 and 12 dollars per month. The most profitable ones owe their survival in large part to the hungry Chinese audience that uses them to watch banned cartoons, read controversial news, or simply to protect your communications. Users can create their own VPNs on cloud servers; These networks handle so little traffic that they are difficult to detect and shut down., but they are also more expensive and require a higher level of experience.
State regulators say certain companies, including China Telecom, will be able to provide access to approved VPNs, but such an option will not provide the same levels of privacy and freedom that users have become accustomed to, noted Bryce Boland, regional technology director at cybersecurity company FireEye.
China's crackdown has boosted VPN companies still standing. Sales on NordVPN have grown by “hundreds of percent”” since the government began targeting other services last summer, commented González. Golden Frog said sales are up 50 percent in six months. ¿We should join forces? “If it gets serious enough, “maybe we have to talk to other VPN providers and get some technology”, Yokubaitis said.. “But I don't think we're there yet. "It is better to have an armada of small ships rather than a large warship.".
