中国大范围屏蔽VPN

choi

杰安迪, 中国大范围屏蔽VPN. 纽约时报中文网, Jan 30, 2015
cn.nytimes.com/china/20150130/c30chinainternet/


, which is translated from

Andrew Jacobs, China Further Tightens Grip on the Internet; Loss of access is called an economic threat. New York Times, Jan 30, 2015 (one of front-page top reports).
(access to Flickr, Facebook and Gmail blacked; disrupting Astrill, the VPN software to circumvent Great Firewall)

Quote:

"until now, the [Chinese] authorities had effectively tolerated the proliferation of VPN’s as a lifeline for millions of people, from archaeologists to foreign investors, who rely heavily on less-fettered access to the Internet. But earlier this week, after a number of VPN companies, including StrongVPN ['US-based'] and Golden Frog [based in Switzerland: Wikipedia], complained that the Chinese government had disrupted their services with unprecedented sophistication, a senior official [later identified as 'a co-founder of Greatfire.org] for the first time acknowledged its hand in the attacks and implicitly promised more of the same.

"Chinese authorities have long had the ability to interfere with VPNs, but their interest in disrupting such programs has mounted alongside the government’s drive for so-called cyber-sovereignty 网络主权, especially since President Xi Jinping came to power two years ago.

"The vast majority of Chinese Internet users, especially those not fluent in English and other foreign languages, have little interest in vaulting the digital firewall. But those who require access to an unfiltered Internet are the very people Beijing has been counting on to transform the nation’s low-end manufacturing economy into one fueled by entrepreneurial innovation.

Note:
(a) In the home page of cn.nytimes.com, there is a subtitle 网络封锁升级或伤及中国经济发展, which is translated from that of the English original.

(b) "the [Chinese] government has complicated the lives of * * * graphic designers shopping for clip art on Shutterstock"
(i)
(A) clip art (n; First Known Use 1968): "ready-made usually copyright-free illustrations sold in books or as part of a software package from which they may be cut and pasted or inserted as artwork"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clip%20art
(B) clip art
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_art
(examples)
(ii) Shutterstock.com
("Search millions of royalty-free stock photos, illustrations, and vectors. Get inspired by ten thousand new, high-resolution images added daily")