
Chinese Man Sentenced to Prison for Selling VPN Software - campuscodi
http://www.whatsonweibo.com/chinese-man-sentenced-prison-selling-vpn-software/
======
saagarjha
The man was charged with "violat[ing] state regulations and intrud[ing] into
computer systems with information concerning state affairs, construction of
defense facilities, and sophisticated science and technology." It's bizarre
interpretations of the law like this, that don't even fit the "crime", that
show that the underlying reason was to send a message instead of actually
performing a legitimate arrest.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
China doesn't really have rule of law. If they want to make an example of you,
they will find a way to do it. Judge's are completely deferrent to officials
in that way, and there is no judicial review. It is just classic rule by law
(laws are weaponized to serve whatever purpose vs. being fairly applied).

~~~
jacquesm
Selective enforcement is a really annoying way of seeing the law applied. And
it is happening in more places than just China.

~~~
elefanten
GP was describing more than just selective enforcement. And while that may
happen elsewhere, it's particularly bad in China relative to their level of
development and size.

At what point do we stop drooling over the market size and advocate for
dignity and rights for 18% of the world's population? Not to mention the
danger authoritarian regimes pose just by existing. An apparatus that powerful
that could be structurally hijacked by a tiny number of people is a scary
thing.

~~~
bobjordan
The 18%, Chinese people, do not want outsider's input on their governmental
structure. On the whole (edit: "on the whole" means "most people"), they are
perfectly happy with the way things are going. Standards of living increase
year-over-year every single year. Until that stops, they don't want a thing to
change. Now if that stops for a decade or so, maybe it will change. But that's
unlikely to happen. So, it's futile to bring your western view to bear on
their issues. A one party government is the way they want it here.

~~~
chibg10
As if the CCP's "miracle" of economic development hasn't already been done in
South Korea, Taiwan, etc. without the authoritarians who also brought the
wonders that are The Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution.

Or as if India isn't already basically replicating the same feat with a
democracy, but 10 years delayed.

It isn't a "Western view" to understand that governments that respect human
rights generally lead to happier civilizations in the long run. It's simply
observable from empirical data.

~~~
namelost
Do you really think that China is capable of an easy and bloodless transition
to a democratic system?

Perhaps Chinese people know better than anyone just how violent revolution can
be.

~~~
DashRattlesnake
> Do you really think that China is capable of an easy and bloodless
> transition to a democratic system?

I suppose that really depends on the Communist party...

------
pasbesoin
Rubber hose policing of the Internet.

Just remember that, as with The Great Firewall and the (commercial)
development and initial sales of its technologies, so too with this: China is
the prototype.

~~~
nthcolumn
They get all their best ideas from UK.

------
odiroot
I would really recommend setting up a VPS in Hong Kong or Singapore (good
fiber connections to mainland) and using Shadowsocks as a proxy.

Can be as cheap as 3€/month. You can even put OpenVPN on top of that (SOCKS)
if you need to use your company network.

I have an impression Beijing doesn't care so much about restricting IP blocks
of small hosting companies from the region. It'd probably change if millions
of people went this road.

------
zvrba
What about using Windows 10 then which comes with a built-in VPN client?

(A genuine concern of mine, we're building an embedded product based on Win 10
IoT and using its PPTP VPN for remote diagnostics.)

~~~
alviezhang
The GFW(Great Firewall) has blocked many protocols, such as IPSec, L2TP/IPSec,
PPTP and OpenVPN.

~~~
zvrba
SSTP (tunneling via HTTPS) is the interesting one.

------
kwhitefoot
Coming soon to a democracy near you I suspect.

------
mirimir
It's iffy for Chinese nationals to run VPN services. But then, it's similarly
iffy for American nationals to run other sorts of services. Such as online
gambling. Or money transfer businesses that don't respect KYC regulations.

That's just how it is. Each country gets to choose its policies. I mean,
that's one of the fundamental points of being a country, isn't it?

~~~
djrogers
> That's just how it is. Each country gets to choose its policies. I mean,
> that's the fundamental point of being a country, isn't it?

Yes, but that’s not what’s happening in China. The fundamental point of being
a country is to serve the common good, and to protect the life and liberty of
your citizens. In China the ruling party doesn’t care about any of those
things.

A policy such as this would be a lot less horrible if ‘the country’ actually
chose their own rules and rulers instead of a small handful of permanent party
appointees. 1.3(?) billion people who have no say in these policies or in
those who make them should be a tragedy no matter how cynical you are.

~~~
timthelion
In China, there are elections and anyone can vote. The only restriction is
that only party nominees are on the ballot. Is this really so different from
the US, where in many states the only people on the ballot are party nominees?

~~~
mirimir
Right. People used to criticize the former Soviet Union in the same way. And
it's true that there are two major political parties in the US. However, in
many states, candidates must declare for one or the other to get on ballots.
Even candidates of long-established "third parties". Also, in living memory,
no third-party candidate has won the Presidency. Or indeed, ever received
substantial funding from monied interests. There are some third-party members
in the House and Senate, but not very many.

So yes, the distinction between China and the US is fuzzier than typically
claimed. And in both, the asserted justification is limiting the field to
candidates who are competent and experienced.

------
zhong
今天抓卖的，明天买用的。

