Once I got my phone back, I’ll be honest…I reinstalled my VPN, and I reinstalled Skype and a couple of other apps that they had told me to get rid of. Now, keep this in mind: I did not get in trouble.Īll they did was make it extremely inconvenient for us to use our VPN. The police took my phone and proceeded to go through all of my apps and VPN services, telling me which ones needed to be deleted before we were able to unlock our phone. The police took my phone, went through all my apps and deleted all the VPNs and foreign messaging apps (Skype, Viber, Signal, etc.). When I brought it to my cell service provider they told me it had been shut down by the police and that I was required to go to the police in order to get it reinstated. One day while I was using my phone, all of the sudden it stopped working.įor days I would add money to my phone trying to figure out why it wasn’t working. The authorities in Xinjiang decided to shut down the cell phone service of any person, foreign or local, who was using VPN. One example of possible retribution occurred in Xinjiang at the end of 2015. Now, I say we have the ability…it’s not a right.Īt any point in time, China can change their minds, and they have done so in the past, making trouble for foreigners who use a Virtual Private Network. We still have the ability to log onto a VPN. They have to get approvals from the authorities in China in order to create and use a VPN.Īs for individuals, this rule doesn’t **technically** apply to us. They can’t just use a VPN because it’s necessary for business. You see, when businesses use a VPN they have to get clearance from the government to do so. What people didn’t read was the fact that China was being very directive towards businesses that use VPNs illegally. A lot of fuss was made about this news report. There was a news report published in early 2017 that talked about the government really clamping down and making it illegal to use a VPN. Read that carefully: local Chinese, not travelers and expats. In places like Tibet and Xinjiang, which are politically sensitive areas in China, there have been reports that locals have been put in prison for using a VPN.
Individual VPNs vs Corporate VPNs in ChinaĪs an individual though, there’s a lot of gray area as to whether the government has made VPNs legal in China. International companies will use VPNs on a daily basis, so if China were to shut down all VPNs, it would severely affect the ability for companies – both domestic and foreign – to do business in China. VPNs are what keep the information that companies transmit between China and the rest of the world secure. This is particularly true for international companies doing business in China. VPNs are a necessary part of doing business. You see, it’s not a matter of whether it’s legal to use a VPN in China.
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