Yogthos
Under the new Restrict Act ("ban TikTok act") VPN users face 20 years in jail and up to $1million fine if they evade US internet censorship.
Compared to this, the great firewall of china looks like a picket fence.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/686/text?s=1&r=15
Yogthos
@suqdiq use of Tor could almost certainly be interpreted as illegal circumvention under this bill
██████████████████████████████
@yogthos where does tor fit in all that ?
Yogthos
@PiiiepsBrummm welcome to the land of the free
Piiieps & Brummm
@yogthos What? The? F**k?
Yogthos
@matunos it doesn't appear to be worded in a way that focuses on individual, but it can also be construed that you are providing yourself a service using your own VPN. Also consider any distributed technologies like tor. By using tor you became a node and handle data for others.
This is an absolutely draconian law.
Matunos
@yogthos the subsection a referred to is this?
not to say an inventive prosecutor might not try, but it seems quite a stretch to say an individual using a VPN to access a service like Tiktok for themselves would be violating any of those provisions
Yogthos
@matunos the bill is intentionally worded in open ended fashion. This bit in particular means that effectively any piece of hardware or software could fall under the law
Matunos
@yogthos that's a definition, but the clause that references it in section (a) makes it harder to fit with an individual using a VPN simply to bypass IP range blocks (unless they're doing a lot more, like offering a public proxy)…
it's also unclear how the US government would even impose filtering such that a VPN is required for access, unless the service itself (eg TikTok) imposed a country filter
Matunos
@yogthos yes I can definitely see them going after someone for using tor or running an open proxy service for a prohibited service, effectively becoming a middlemen for the banned service (though in the case of tor the question of intention might come in
Yogthos
@mxl the law isn't specific to China, it's any country that US deems to be an adversary
mxl
How can you use VPN to surpass US Internet censorship? There isn't any server of VPN services in China.
golly josh darn
@yogthos classic. get the masses riled up about TikTok as a smoke screen to pass draconian shit
exactly what they did to pass the Patriot Act way back when, too
Yogthos
@schoolingdiana I think TikTok is largely a distraction, the goal of the bill is clearly much broader than TikTok
schoolingdiana
@yogthos Totally ridiculous and I predict will come to nothing. Why? It’s not because TikTok is a Cayman Islands company and it’s CEO is Singaporean. It’s because half it’s board are US venture capitalists who got their start in BlackRock. #TikTok
clacke
clacke
@cupcakezealot @yogthos When they think blocking something in DNS stops piracy or child porn or whatever their excuse is for trying to break things, then their ignorance is a blessing.
When they go this far and bring out the big legal hammer their ignorance is cause for worry, not cause for relief.
katherine ✨️ ve/ver
@yogthos I'd feel a lot more worried about this if the TikTok hearings didn't just reveal that American politicians are fucking idiots about the internet
clacke
@mxl @yogthos Brazil, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Kenya, maybe even Canada ... these places all have VPN exits.
You don't have to go specifically to mainland China to bypass US rules if they're unique to the US.
Yogthos
@blobfrog it mentions any software or hardware that could be used to circumvent the ban
Blobfrog9000 :blobcatgoogly: :ablobcatsnowjoy:
wonofone 🍉
@yogthos and watch Democrats eat this up
Orca? | ??️⚧️
@mxl@mathstodon.xyz @clacke@libranet.de
I have seen censorship circumvention providers being taken down and people going to jail for hosting such service. I have seen payment processors of such service being taken down, too.
Orca? | ??️⚧️
@mxl@mathstodon.xyz @clacke@libranet.de @yogthos@mas.to VPN is illegal in China, but it's kind of many people are using itInstead of VPN they are in fact a large collection of proxy softwares with involving censorship circumvention functions, as no VPN protocols can keep up with the blocking technique upgrade imposed by GFW (and some VPN protocols like wireguard don't even try to hide their traffic characteristics).
And, yes, it's illegal, and many people are still using it. But if they found out that you (as a native Chinese citizen) are using them (either by detection or by irregular police checking) you can be detained by the police and sometimes even charged with criminal offenses.
Also see:
https://nya.one/notes/9cxbiz85io
mxl
No. You just can't talk about online openly about VPN. Nothing more than that.
mxl
There are certainly servers in Canada. Someone told me VPN is illegal in China, but it's kind of many people are using it.
So it means you still can use VPN to connect to servers out of US and access TikTok, but if they catch you then you are in jail for 20 years? Seriously?
If so, I really need to know how to use dark net, have to upgrade my tech skill.
Correction: I recall there are some VPN services to help their users to access local services in mainland China. I don't know how they are able to do this. Well, who cares. Legal or not is kind of a joke in China.
防空識別區
@TheCrossCulturalNerd@universeodon.com "Fuck around and find out!" @yogthos@mas.to
The Cross-Cultural Nerd
@yogthos So what happens to Americans who come home from China with VPNs on their computers and phones?
防空識別區
@TheCrossCulturalNerd@universeodon.com If they ban WeChat it will effectively be a racist policy against Chinese people living in the United States, including ABCs, considering WeChat is the most popular application for communicating and keeping up with family back home. @yogthos@mas.to
The Cross-Cultural Nerd
@adiz @yogthos Thankfully, I have no plans to. But if this passes before my next visit home, will I find out anyway?
God forbid they try to ban WeChat next; otherwise they may as well go the extra mile and ban their own citizens from working in China.
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