China Cracking Down on Unauthorized VPNs

Circumventing the Great Firewall is about to get much more difficult.

According to the Global Times, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced on Sunday that it would launch a series of rules aimed at regulating the Internet access services sector and cracking down on 'illegal' or 'unlicensed' business activity.

Among the regulations is one which prevents domestic telecom companies and Internet service providers from setting up special lines such as virtual private networks (VPNs) without prior government approval.

The regulations are effective immediately and will run through March 31, 2018.