China’s escalating crackdown on VPN use
For many years access to foreign media, social media platforms, and independent sources of information in China has been limited through extensive filtering and platform blocking. However, most Chinese could get around these restrictions by using VPNs without any serious consequences. Recent reporting suggests that law enforcement may now be clamping down on users who use a VPN. This worries us very much at Pirate Parties International, and so we decided it was a good time to share more information with our community in the hopes of applying global pressure to stop this.
The recent crackdown on VPNs marks a dangerous escalation in digital authoritarianism. The Chinese state is no longer merely censoring content, it is punishing regular people. A Pirate party to the best of our knowledge does not exist in China, as there is no venue to operate outside the communist party. The current situation shows the need for Pirate organizations that can help people seek information, communicate securely, and participate in the global public sphere. Here at Pirate Parties International, we hope that we will find Pirates in China who will join our global community and can help create venues for Chinese people to access online information without fear of getting caught. We hope inevitably that we can pressure the Chinese government to cease internet restrictions, and thus give their people the freedom to use the global internet with all of its good and bad content. China does not need to be a pariah nation.
A very large proportion of the world lives in China. They deserve the same uncensored information, secure communications, and privacy-enhancing technologies that most of us are able to access around the world. Punishing the mere use of VPNs is incompatible with basic human rights and deepens a broader system of surveillance and intimidation. VPNs are not crimes. They are essential safeguards for privacy, like a door in a bathroom. And we must respect everyone’s right to have this level of privacy.
There are not yet famous Pirate organizations in China, but we suspect that Pirates will soon begin organizing themselves better in China as a result of this crack down on VPN users. We call on Chinese Pirates to join us and support democratic reforms to your government, aim to find solutions that will assist the public to have free use of the internet. Protect at-risk activists, journalists, and researchers who depend on secure cross-border communications. Support the development and distribution of resilient anti-censorship technologies. Publicly condemn sanctions against VPN users and providers of lawful privacy and circumvention tools.
We stand with all people in China and elsewhere who defend the free internet. We hope that this situation improves, and we will continue to monitor it closely. If you or someone you know would like to share more information about this recent problem, please contact us and share more about things that the global Pirate movement can do to support the Chinese people.
Pirate parties have repeatedly opposed censorship, attacks on encryption, and Chinese-style models of internet control. Below we share some of the statements from Pirate parties that reflect our commitment to a free, uncensored, and privacy-respecting internet.
- Swedish Pirate Party: EU-medborgare motsätter sig utländsk anti-terror internetcensur — includes Patrick Breyer’s warning that Europe must stand up against “internet censorship of the Chinese model.”
- French Pirate Party: “Quelle qu’en soit la raison, la censure c’est toujours non !” — explicitly rejects cross-border censorship and warns against “Chinese-style internet censorship.”
- Czech Pirate Party: “We do not want Chinese internet in the Czech Republic” — directly rejects censorship and criminalization of online linking in defense of a free internet.
- Czech Pirate Party: Three Steps to Protect Free Internet in the Czech Republic — calls for a free, uncensored internet that respects privacy and explicitly rejects bans on encryption and mandatory digital identification for internet access.
- German Pirate Party: Zensur im Internet — Warum ist das problematisch?
