VPN cat-and-mouse game will continue - Matthew Brennan

Matthew Brennan

China's internet authorities have strengthened the rules on VPN's - popular tools to jump the country's online censorship. Nevertheless, getting online with a VPN is still relatively easy, says internet expert Matthew Brennan to The News Lens, but he is not giving a guarantee that will still be the case in one year time.

The News Lens:

There have been many fears that China would tighten its VPN enforcement in the past – with rumors circulating of bans on Jan. 11 and Feb. 1 – but this one is backed up by official statements. The MIIT announcement came less than two weeks after the state-run Global Times denied that a ban was in the works, quoting a “China Telecom staff member.” 

WeChat expert and frequent technology commentator Matthew Brennan told The News Lens that these moves should come as no surprise: “The Chinese government's stance with regard to enforcing sovereignty over its citizens’ use of the internet has been consistent. This will become a game of cat and mouse between an increasingly sophisticated firewall and VPN service providers.” 

A ban would be excellent news for the approved VPN providers, who happen to be the three state-run telecom companies, China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile, who advertise direct links to the outside world, a service geared towards corporate clients... 

While privacy from prying Communist Party eyes has already been compromised, censorship will not be absolute. The restricted use of VPNs and which sites are blocked varies widely depending on location, the level of political tension, and a host of other reasons, and there is no reason to believe that this will change. 

As Brennan said, “Right now, it's still relatively easy for anyone who is determined to do so to jump over the firewall. Whether that's still the case in a year's time, we'll have to wait and see.”

More in the News Lens.

Matthew Brennan is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form. 

Are you looking for more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

Why Tim Cook kowtowed to China - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

Apple removed many VPN's from its Chinese app store, and CEO Tim Cook joined China's internet propaganda show last week. Author Shaun Rein of The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order explains in ChinaFile why Tim Cook got an audience in Wuzhen, and Google's Sundar Pichai not.

Shaun Rein:

The rewards China bestows on the these foreign Internet companies can be huge—China is Apple’s largest market outside of the United States. It generated 18 percent of Apple’s global revenue in the third quarter of 2017. Most of its products are assembled in China. Executives salivate at the size of the Chinese consumer market. It has become the largest market outside of the U.S. for companies ranging from Starbucks to Nike. 

China has a long memory, too. While Tim Cook spoke to a packed auditorium in Wuzhen, his counterpart at Google, Sundar Pichai, spoke to an empty room. Reports were that authorities never made it clear what time Pichai’s speech was set, so no one knew when to attend. But Cook’s words in support of China’s Internet policies will be used in propaganda by the government to show how open they are to foreign players. And Cook will be rewarded with continued access to the lucrative Chinese wallet. 

China has smartly used it wallet to get what it wants politically beyond its own borders. See how publisher Springer censored its own book catalog. China’s wallet is a power so large and lucrative that no single Internet company can withstand it. Going forward, it is only at the government-to-government level that these issues can be worked out. It is surprising that neither the Obama nor Trump administrations made a bigger push for greater access for Western technology firms in China—such a push should be couched not as a human rights issue but one based on money. America’s Internet companies are losing out on billions of dollars of profit under the current policies.

More at ChinaFile.

Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list. 

How China will execute its VPN ban - Matthew Brennan

Matthew Brennan

Can the Chinese censors funnel almost all internet traffic through government-approved VPN's? Yes, says social media expert Matthew Brennan to the Beijinger. The often-heard assumption China cannot afford a fully controlled internet might be wrong, he says. Apple pulling the plug on VPN's might only be the start.

The Beijinger:

"People who had the app before or people with the ability to switch and download from non-Chinese app store are not affected," the anonymous proxy source says, before elaborating on a far more grave aspect: "Switching is a pain and only possible with foreign credit cards, which most Chinese won't have. I mean, it is possible to change stores without a credit card, but that only goes for free apps. The apps that support our proxy are not free." 

Noted tech commentator Matthew Brennan went on to cite even broader concerns. While he has spoken to many experts who insist a complete block of VPNs is impossible – because plenty of talented programmers will always find ways to circumvent such hurdles – the authorities' greater aggression can't be dismissed outright. 

"Their goal is to make it so it's impossible to use non-government authorized VPNs," Brennan says. "On a technical level, several people have told me that's impossible. But I see it as this: All they really need to achieve is making it very troublesome for normal, non-technical people to use VPN services and they will effectively achieve their goal."

More in the Beijinger. 

Matthew Brennan is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

Related articles

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• WhatsApp Becomes the Latest Victim of China's New Wave of Internet Censorship
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VPN access key for innovation - Andy Mok

Andy Mok

Panic struck when media reported China would ban all VPN activity in February 2018, allowing to circumvent China's internet censorship. That was a shock for many, and seems to have been confused with a business licensing system for VPN's. Whatever is going to happen, innovation and startups need unfettered access to VPN, says innovation expert Andy Mok to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg:

China’s government plans to allow businesses to keep using VPNs for access to the outside world -- if they obtain approval for corporate lines and register their usage. But it’s not clear how easily businesses will get VPNs approved and, even if they do, employees may be out of luck when they work from home or from their smartphones on the road. Ambitious entrepreneurs and startups may be hardest hit. 

“VPNs are absolutely critical and foundational to almost any businesses in China, large or small – and especially important for innovative businesses,” said Andy Mok, Beijing-based managing director at Red Pagoda Resources, which advises startups and other companies in China. “Denying access to VPNs in China would demolish the entire stack of the startup ecosystem here.” 

Chinese regulators for now are trying to assuage fears of a wider crackdown. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a statement Wednesday in which it emphasized its original January notice governing VPN use should remain the main point of reference, and promised not to sever legitimate means of accessing the global internet. Yet frequent users are mindful of the country’s spotty record on that front. 

Many software developers in China rely on overseas code libraries, which may be inaccessible without VPNs. For instance, the popular developers’ site Github was briefly blocked in China in 2013. 

“Despite all the advances that China has made, there’s still a lot of product innovations that happen abroad that entrepreneurs in China can and need to learn from, and they often learn through overseas news sites,” Mok said.

More in Bloomberg.

Andy Mok is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch of fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more experts on innovation at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

Facebook faces more than censors in China - Sam Flemming

Sam Flemming

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has gone to great lenght to appease China´s leadership in an effort to enter the largest internet market again. But, says Sam Flemming, an internet veteran based in Shanghai to Reuters. Local competition might even be a tougher challenge, unlike in the US where Facebook broke new ground.

Reuters:

"The Chinese have been social for years, and Facebook would be just one more option among many," said Sam Flemming, founder of Shanghai-based social media consultancy, CIC. 

"It certainly would have a certain amount of cache, especially among the more internationalized Chinese and foreigners living in China, but it would need a big push in awareness beyond this small group," Flemming said. 

Foreigners and Chinese citizens who want to access Facebook and other blocked sites must use special VPN software to get around China's firewall to do so, meaning a very limited number of Chinese currently use it.

More at Reuters.

Sam Flemming is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speaker´request form.

Are you interested in more internet experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.  

Related articles

• Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Won't Become A Media Company
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Has China's internet returned to 'normal'? - China Weekly Hangout

Beijing March 2011 (Photo credit: Remko Tanis)

The controls on China's internet have always been a nuisance - especially for those working on international business from China. But during the past months, trouble increased, supposedly because of the power transition from the Hu Jintao to the Xi Jinping team, during the party congress and the March' National People's Congress. In December we even hosted a +China Weekly Hangout   about VPN's, as China's censors seemed to target more actively those workarounds of the censorship.
The frustration grew and the troubled internet connections popped up regularly as one of the reason for people to leave China. Of course, never was the filtered internet the only reason, but for people like internet entrepreneur +Marc van der Chijs it was certainly one.
But Xi Jinping is now in place, the meetings are over, so the question is whether the internet is back to 'normal', as far as China has a normal internet. We are looking for your input.

The +China Weekly Hangout will discuss the current state of China's internet, and we might even speculate on what we can expect in the near future, as loosening media controls, and checks on the internet, does not seem to be on the agenda.
We are looking for people who have on the ground experience with the internet, and can help us to piece together a picture for the near future. Are you interested? You can register to participate at our event page here.
The hangout will be held on Thursday 25 April, 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10pm EST (US/Canada)
You can watch the event here, on our event page and on YouTube, if you do not participate directly. Until the event you can send questions and remarks by leaving a comment here, or at our event page. During the event you can leave messages via Twitter, Google+ and our YouTube channel (do add the hash tag #CWHCWH).
For some good background, you can read a special of +The Economist on the internet in China or listen to the Sinica Podcast with auther +Gady Epstein, interviewed by +Kaiser Kuo and +Jeremy Goldkorn.



The previously announced hangout on North Korea has been postponed, as the current crisis seems to have fizzled out a bit. But we are sure we might get new opportunities.

On December 20, 2012 the +China Weekly Hangout discussed the problems with VPN's with +Sam Xu, +John R. Otto and +Gabriel Rüeck. Moderation was in the hands of +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.

Related articles

• Why I left China - Marc van der Chijs
• What do you expect from Xi Jinping? - China Weekly Hangout
• Bird flu: what learned China from SARS? - China Weekly Hangout
• Size matters for mainland start-ups - Marc van der Chijs
• Why WeChat works better in China - Tricia Wang
• China's media in Africa - China Weekly Hangout

Get a European butler, the latest China trend - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

China's rich have just found another thing they love to have, the European butler, explains Hurun rich list founder Rupert Hoogewerf to Aljazeera. But not for long, as Chinese butlers are getting European training too. 

Aljazeera:

"There's an obvious status symbol involved in hiring a full-time, professional butler, especially from Europe. Plus if you're spending $5m or $10m for a house, then hiring a butler makes perfect financial sense," says Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of Hurun and well versed in the ways of China's elite... 

But as European butler schools set up branches in China to tap into this extraordinary demand, there could be better prospects for Chinese nationals. "If you look at the luxury hotels in China, five years ago all the general management was foreign, but today it's increasingly localised," Hoogewerf said. "So there's no doubt a Chinese butler will soon be able to master the art of European etiquette."

More in Aljazeera.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

How would your life in China look like without VPN? That question a lot of people are asking themselves as the internet filter systems gained the ability to shut down their VPN's and China's media kindly point out foreign VPN's are illegal in China anyway. The China Weekly Hangout will focus on Thursday 20 December on this issue.  Read the full announcement here, or register directly here.

Related articles

• Rich list no death list - Rupert Hoogewerf (chinaspeakersbureau.info)

The illegal VPN's - China Weekly Hangout

Sulov vpn (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Global Times, a state-run English language paper, confirmed on Friday morning what some already had feared for a few days: using VPN's in China will be illegal and the country's internet filter systems seem to have started to block some of the major players: Witopia, Astrill and StrongVPN.
If successful - and we would add the 'if' is large for many reasons - China's way of censoring the internet has entered a new phase. While most Chinese internet users are happy to be limited to China's intranet, international businesses, diplomats, scientist, journalists and many other rely on the uncensored internet via VPN's.
We were planning to scale down the number of China Weekly Hangouts until after the different holidays, this seems to be a reason to try and get the hangout still in place on Thursday 20 December, 10pm Beijing Time, 3pm CET and 9pm EST. Again, we might not be able to deliver on Thursday, because of travel and other pending arrangements, but we will do out best.
We will try to look at both the technical and political side of a possible ban on VPN's.
You can register here, to join the discussion. We are looking for a few panelists who can tell from the ground in China what is happening to their VPN; and we want to make an assessment of what this might really mean. Feel free to invite yourself, as we have limited time for lining up people ourselves.

A few initial thoughts on the possible ban of VPN's in China.
1. A few people mentioned an update of the censor systems, causing them problems. There has always been a cat-and-mouse game between the larger VPN firms and the murky departments working on the censorship  systems. China's censors have been a huge nuisance, but have never been able to really block access to the internet outside China.
2. There is no sign of a new law focusing on VPN's; there was always a formal requirement to register VPN firm with the authorities, but since most VPN firm have no presence in China, that seems an empty rule.
3. There is an effort by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), here explained by Tech in Asia,, to register all apps in China (and possibly other software used on your computer). While developers are getting nervous, we must remind everybody that it is common practice in China for this ministry to issue regulations that have no relations to reality. Still, not something that should be ignored.
4. Many things are illegal in China: corruption, prostitution, unlicensed satellite dishes, to mention a few. That does not mean they do not exist anymore.
If we manage to get this running, the hangout can be viewed here.

The China Weekly Hangout on 15 November look at the global ambitions of China's internet companies, with Steve Millward of Tech in Asia.

Prices of a VPN-service

Hillary Clinton via Wikipedia

Mostly I hate to give free business advice, but as it comes to VPN-services - Hillary Clinton will agree - there is more at stake than the money you can make with it. VPN-services, for the people who wonder what that might be, are online channels who help you in China to circumvent the internet censorship.

There are a load of free VPN services around, like you can see a selection here, but when you really depend on your online communication, it makes sense to pay a few bucks so you do not have to bother about whatever China's censors might think is offlimits.

In the past I worked with Witopia, and they did an excellent job. Last December I switched to 12vpn, for a simple reason: they were cheaper and the reviews of this relative new service were excellent. I then paid US§ 35 for a one year. That was only a difference of less than US§ 5, but as everybody who spent some time in China: you are not even going to spend one cent on something called loyalty. Loyalty schemes are invented by overpaid MBA's (I know them), who have to justify their salaries. They do not add any real value.

12VPN did a really good job, and I was happy to transfer it to a good friend when I left Shanghai in January.

Just now I got a tweet (h/t @kinablog) telling me that 12vpn had increased their fee to US§ 129. The business reason behind it I do not know, but I guessed they must have hired recently an MBA. Nobody who can get Witopia for US§ 39.99 is going to take them serious.

The problem of this pricing strategy is of course that the average internet user in China cannot afford even Witopia. If Hillary Clinton is going to offer this open channel for free (long time ago before 9/11 the CIA offered actually such a service) the whole industry will be flat out. But otherwise, what do you think of this idea? You would have to look into the political and technical ramifications if you going to offer an affordable VPN-service to all 450 million, it should be down to US§ 2, and perhaps you have to organize localized distribution systems for students who can earn an additional buck for their effort. That would be fun.

For a long time Chinese internet users were not really interesting in those VPN-services, since they were pretty happy with the censored edition of the internet they could get. I see some signals showing that the need for a cheap VPN-service might be growing, so you might not have a customer base of 450 million, but with a couple of millions it would also be feasible.

What do you think?
(Earlier published at www.fonstuinstra.net)