Authorities in Hunan province have given an unspecified “administrative penalty” to a man who used a virtual private network — an encryption tool commonly used to hide one’s online identity and access blocked domains — to visit illegal porn sites.
The man, surnamed Chen, had purchased unauthorized VPN software and used it to “regularly access overseas erotic websites” that are blocked in China, according to the media report, which cited a notice from the Changde police department. The notice said Chen had violated regulations mandating that individuals and organizations only connect to international websites through government-approved channels.
Meanwhile, providers of unlicensed VPNs are routinely fined and even jailed in China. While punishments for casual users are relatively rare, authorities have been cracking down on unauthorized services in a bid to limit exposure to “vulgar and illegal” websites.