China cracks down on unauthorised internet connections

China is planning a 14-month campaign that's meant to clean up unauthorized internet connections, including tools known as VPNs (virtual private networks) that can bypass China's efforts to control the web. The campaign will run until the end of March 2018.

The "clean up" was announced by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which has declared that all unauthorised VPN services - ie: ones without backdoors that the authorities can use to tap communications - are illegal.

This means that governmental Internet censorship has just been taken to the next level. China is famous with its "great firewall" on top of the local landmarks. This firewall was used by authorities to block access to large websites they deemed unfit for the local users, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and many others.

In response, Chinese internet users started using VPN services, although the government has been trying to clamp down on these for several years.

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