<center> https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2014/03/22/22/17/twitter-292994_1280.jpg </center> 

# China's Great Firewall Just Got Bigger

Just this past weekend, Chinese authorities decided to further outlaw the use of VPNs in the country, use of them will now require approval by the government. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that they wanted to clean-up the internet connections in the country and that was the reason for the move. 
## The new rules will be in place until March 31st of next year and they go into effect immediately. 

Many well-known websites have been blocked in China, but a number of citizens no doubt were using virtual private networks VPNs in order to access those sites. But now they will be at even more risk if they want to go looking for sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. The VPNs had already been subject to scrutiny by the state in China but now they are even more so. It's alleged that these new rules are questionably vague and therefore it is uncertain how the state might go about enforcing them. 

<center> https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/03/09/09/17/computer-1245714_1280.jpg </center> 

Internet censorship is condemned by many around the world for a number of reasons, one of the most glaringly obvious is because it seemingly violates the natural right to freedom of expression. China isn't the only state that looks to control what it's citizens look at either, a number of other countries routinely censor their internet access for citizens as well. 


The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China has said that for the next year or so they are going to be moving against internet providers that are caught providing unauthorized internet connections. China has an internet population that is estimated to be upwards of 600 million and it's said that most of those users are using mobile phones in order to get connected. 

Pics:
Pixabay

Sources:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/01/23/china-vpn-illegal-internet-censorship-government-approval/
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/china-announces-mass-shutdown-of-vpns-that-bypass-great-firewall/
http://variety.com/2017/digital/asia/china-increases-internet-controls-vpn-web-population-grows-1201966838/
http://time.com/4642916/china-vpn-internet-great-firewall-censorship/