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The Chinese government has defended its recent internet censorship, saying its policies must change to filter out “inappropriate information”. Photo: EPA

Blocking VPN access on the mainland is 'China's own business', says government

Blocking access to some mainland virtual private networks (VPNs) is China’s 'own business', the government says in first official response to questions on recent crackdown.

Blocking access to some virtual private networks (VPNs) was China’s own business, the government said in its first official response to questions about the recent crackdown on the mainland.

The government’s internet management policies must change with the evolution of new technology to filter out “inappropriate information” for Chinese online users, Wen Ku, communication development director at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said at a press conference in Beijing today.

VPNs provide indirect access to overseas websites, such as Twitter through a third-party server. It means users can skirt online censorship of popular websites, such as Google and Facebook.

Many companies and individuals on the mainland have subscribed to VPN services for security reasons, or to bypass China’s censorship firewall.

Over the past weeks, censors have blocked what remaining access there was to Gmail and other Google products.

Google services have been periodically blocked or limited since 2010 when the company said it would no longer cooperate with China’s censors.

Wen did not give further details about the reason for the recent crackdown, which started a few weeks ago.

In the past the government had turned a blind eye to most commercial VPN services.

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