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[CDT Guide] "Climbing the Crime" From Scratch: "Network Shackles" Tailored for Chinese Netizens
CDT editor's note: This article refers to the relevant knowledge popularization of GFW BLOG, Bubble.com and other websites in the field of over-the-wall technology. Please correct me if there are any mistakes.
As early as more than ten years ago, a large number of Chinese netizens were "drinked tea" and threatened for jumping over the wall. At that time, the object of punishment by the relevant departments was often not the "behaviour of overfighting" itself, but the remarks or actions released by netizens after overcoming the wall. "Anti-party and anti-government" remarks...
These incidents are closely related to the suppression of freedom of speech, and the parties involved are often harassed, warned, and punished in various names. Strictly speaking, however, in the early days, the CCP official only blocked and blocked the behavior of netizens in the early days, and did not take administrative or legal measures to punish and control them.
The term "chopping over the wall" usually refers to the behavior of breaking through the blockade of the GFW network through proxy servers and other means. Also known as scientific Internet access, civilized Internet access, free Internet access, normal Internet access, magic Internet access, patriotic Internet access, etc. (China Digital Space | Over the Wall)
But after Xi Jinping came to power, since 2014, the past situation has changed significantly. The first thing that appears is the "disappearance" of a large number of circumvention technology developers:
- In November 2014, Xu Dong, the developer of the circumvention software "Maple Leaf Banana", was arrested.
Xu Dong is the developer of the free circumvention software "Maple Leaf Banana", and also operates his own paid circumvention service "Kylin". During the Occupy Central Movement in Hong Kong, Xu Dong also publicly voiced his support for the protesters on Twitter. The reason for Xu Dong's arrest is rumored to be "fishing for law enforcement" by the police, and the crime involved is "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". On January 30, 2015, after a long period of detention, Xu Dong was released on bail pending trial.
Over the Wall | Maple Leaf Banana Developer Detained for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble"
The "Xu Dong case" has been called "the first case of circumvention in the mainland" by many people: the CCP police began to arrest the developers of circumvention services for the first time, weakening their influence in the field of circumvention technology, which also revealed a brand-new " Block the signal".
- In November 2014, Phus Lu, the developer of Gogant, issued a "self-protection" statement. In August 2015, Phus Lu stopped project maintenance and deleted the library.
Shortly after Xu Dong's arrest, Phus Lu, the developer of the well-known circumvention software Gogant, issued a statement and even temporarily suspended his Twitter account, because Xu Dong's circumvention software "Maple Leaf Banana" was actually based on Gogant. Secondary development (Gogant used to be one of the most online applications on the Chinese Internet), both of which use Google App Engine's server as a proxy. Phus Lu's statement is based on serious concerns for his own personal safety.
Over the Wall | GOAGENT Developers Issue a Public Statement Concerning Personal Safety
- In January 2015, the developer of the circumvention software fqrouter announced the termination of the development of the project.
fqrouter is an application based on Android system. It is not exactly a circumvention software, but a "shared circumvention network" application. It still needs to rely on other circumvention software to operate. Create a wireless over-the-wall node on the mobile phone. The router of fqrouter developer @ Qin Ni's router did not explain the reason why he closed the project, but he once said pessimistically on Twitter that the result of the GFW upgrade will become a "competition of resources on both sides", and the individual is very powerless in it, so there are Netizens also speculated that he may have been under pressure from relevant authorities.
- From July to August 2015, the well-known circumvention service providers Zijing and VPNSO successively announced the closure of services.
Labyrinth and VPNSO were well-received circumvention service providers at the time, providing users with paid circumvention services, and people could obtain stable circumvention access speed and after-sales technical support after paying. According to the "grass news" of netizens, these two service providers have received "special care" from the relevant departments and had to close the over-the-wall service.
After these incidents, more and more developers of circumvention software and operators providing circumvention services realized the necessity of identity protection outside the wall, and almost all the successors regarded "identity anonymity and transaction anonymity" as a The top priority, but in practice, especially the latter, is actually difficult to achieve .
[Climbing the Wall | "Say Goodbye to Climbing the Wall over the Labyrinth"]( https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/2015/07/Climbing the Wall - Saying Goodbye to Climbing the Wall to the Labyrinth/ "Climbing the Wall | "Climbing the Wall to the Labyrinth Say goodbye"") over the wall | VPNSO over the wall site also suspends website services due to "force majeure"
- In August 2015, the shadowsocks author/main maintainer completely abandoned the project
Due to the stable and high speed of shadowsocks bypassing the wall, coupled with the ability to perform traffic obfuscation and self-deployment, it was a "rising star" among all wall bypassing methods at that time. The author and main maintainer of shadowsocks, @clowwindy, announced to abandon the project maintenance after being "drinked tea", causing the project to suffer a major setback. Fortunately, due to the "open source" of the project and the subsequent maintenance/update of a large number of technical volunteers, it is said that this circumvention method still exists and is effective, and it is one of the current mainstream circumvention methods. In July 2017, @breakwa11, the author of shadowsocksR (an upgraded version of shadowsocks), also withdrew from the project development due to cyber-human and malicious attacks.
GFW BLOG | SHADOWSOCKS Vital Leaders Abandoned by Drinking Tea for Project Maintenance
- In May 2019, Qiu Shui Yibing, the developer of the "one-click installation script", announced the cessation of related work
The one-click installation script is a novice-friendly script code set. Beginners do not have any knowledge of programming, linux system, etc., just by copying and pasting some instructions, they can deploy the circumvention program on a brand new server. This is a technological innovation that greatly reduces the threshold for deployment over the wall. This is also an inevitable result of the “self-reliance” over the wall after some large-scale public over-the-wall nodes were destroyed. However, in May 2019, Qiushui Yibing stated on his personal blog that it was "time to say goodbye". Although the author did not specify the reason for the suspension, he admitted that the "Sun Dongyang incident" had some influence on him.
Autumn Water and Ice | It's time to say goodbye to the green mountains
- In September 2019, the original developer of v2ray lost contact for a long time, and other maintenance members had to start another project
v2ray, or v2 for short, is a new circumvention application developed by a group of anonymous users after the original shadowsocks author @clowwindy was threatened. It also has excellent circumvention performance and is one of the mainstream circumvention methods at present. Even though these developers pay more attention to identity anonymity and personal protection, in September 2019, the v2ray official telegram group announced that "v2ray developers have been out of touch for a long time", so that the rest of the project maintainers had to start new projects, and the v2ray author The reason for the bizarre disappearance is still unanswered, and a common guess is that the developers may have been under some kind of pressure.
Xi Jinping's "Two Hands": On the one hand, the GFW network blockade is strictly enforced, and on the other hand, the big bosses are caught, which has changed the CCP's low-key behavior in the field of circumvention in the past, from "hidden" technical shielding to "open" The "destruction of the flesh" blocked the wall, which resulted in:
- The development and service operation of wall-climbing technology has gradually changed from "open" to "underground" , which objectively raises the technical threshold for wall-climbing. However, due to the rigid need for circumvention, netizens have to use some circumvention services that are not secure enough but can be easily obtained within the wall, some of which are even surveillance traps set up by the CCP. At the same time, the CCP’s ability to supervise netizens over the wall has been continuously upgraded.
- After properly controlling the "source", the relevant departments have shifted the target of punishment to ordinary netizens who have bypassed the Internet, and the punishment standards have become more severe. Netizens who only browse the Internet information on the Internet without "violating words and deeds" will also be punished. In this way, the CCP hopes to create a terrorist effect and reduce the cost of controlling people who climb the wall.
- The CCP urgently needs relevant laws and regulations to explain “why it is illegal to cross the wall”, otherwise there will be a situation where the punishment is “unacceptable” . Although the CCP has been abusing pocket crimes such as “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” before, it obviously hopes to have a more Relevance, more rationalized "rhetoric".
The combined action of these major factors led to the emergence of the so-called "crime of overturning the wall".
In recent years, cases of tea drinking warnings, administrative detentions and even criminal detentions have gradually appeared in mainland China due to "climbing the wall" or "building a way to bypass the wall". The Internet environment will turn the "crime of overcoming the wall" into a routine. ——China Digital Space｜Criminalism
However, the "crime of overturning the wall" is subdivided into "two crimes" for overcoming service providers and ordinary netizens:
1. "The crime of providing programs and tools for invading and illegally controlling computer information systems"
In August 2016, netizen Deng Jiewei was arrested by the Dongguan Public Security Bureau for selling Shadowsocks services "Flying SS" and "Shadowsocks Cloud" online for overcoming the wall. In March 2017, in the judgment of the Dongguan No. 1 People's Court, the charge of Deng Jiewei and others for "selling over-the-wall services" was no longer the crime of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" but "providing the crime of invading and illegally controlling computer information system programs and tools. ”, this charge originates from the third paragraph of Article 285 of the Criminal Law:
Provide programs and tools specially used to invade or illegally control computer information systems, or provide programs or tools for others knowingly to intrude or illegally control computer information systems.
Since then, similar cases have emerged one after another:
In October 2017, a programmer in Shanghai was arrested for building and selling VPN services. The relevant authorities said that he "provided VPN services" to hundreds of people. , instrumental crime".
In November 2017, Hubei netizen Liu Xiaokang was arrested for setting up a circumvention website called "Tianyantong". The relevant authorities said that he developed an independent circumvention software based on the shadowsock source code and sold circumvention software on the "Tianyantong" website. account. The case involved a relatively large amount of more than 5 million yuan and a fine of up to 500,000 yuan.
Chinese Citizens Movement | Sun Dongyang, founder of "Doubi Base", was sentenced to probation
In November 2018, Sun Dongyang, a post-90s IT person in Henan, was arrested for disseminating circumvention tutorials and selling circumvention services. Sun Dongyang is the founder of the well-known circumvention community Doubi Base , providing a lot of selfless technical assistance to netizens. , the relevant departments recovered all his "illegal income" of less than 90,000 yuan in two years.
In September 2019, a Taobao store owner in Hangzhou, Zhu Moumou, was arrested for selling wall-flipping services through a Taobao store. 2.9W people sold VPN services, and were finally sentenced to "four suspensions and four" and a fine of 500,000 yuan.
The crimes involved in the above cases are all "crimes of providing intrusion and illegal control of computer information system programs and tools" , which are only incomplete statistics of typical cases:
Even though the definition of this crime is full of controversy, it violates the "criminal and criminal law", and is even called "computer hooliganism" (in legal circles) The Paper ︱ Beware of "computer hooliganism" and "unauthorized understanding of the world crime/assisting others to understand without authorization." World crime” (netizens) [Internet public opinion] The use of VPN may be a crime of knowing the world without authorization , but public opinion has not prevented it from becoming a special crime of “building and selling over-the-wall service people”.
2. "Unauthorized establishment and use of illegal channels for international networking"
In January 2019, in Nanxiong City, Shaoguan, Guangdong, there was the first case of “administrative punishment” by the local public security against netizens who overcame the wall, on the grounds that “the unauthorized establishment and use of illegal channels for international networking”. In the administrative penalty decision, the description of the so-called "penalty basis" is only "over the wall":
[Put this photo on file] Is "Climbing the Wall" an illegal act? One thousand fines
Now it is found out: Zhu XX used his mobile phone to install "Lantern Pro" (Lantern Pro) to connect to his own broadband from August 2018 until he was seized, and the number of logins in the last week was 487 times.
At the same time, a Chongqing netizen was also summoned for the same reason:
People suddenly realized that browsing the uncensored Internet pages through circumvention software, even if they do not publish information and speeches, is still an "illegal" act and may be punished by the police. Deutsche Welle | Only editor-in-chief Hu is allowed to tweet and netizens are not allowed to jump over the wall?
The official basis for this punishment comes from the "Interim Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Management of International Networking of Computer Information Networks". The last revision of this regulation was in 1997. This regulation has been "prepared and useless" in the past 20 years and has legal effect. But no enforcement action was performed. BBC Chinese website | How can Chinese VPN users be fined for "climbing the wall"
Article 6 The direct international networking of computer information networks must use the international ingress and egress channels provided by the national public telecommunication network of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. No unit or individual may establish or use other channels for international networking on their own.
Article 14 Anyone who violates the provisions of Articles 6, 8 and 10 of these regulations shall be ordered by the public security organ to stop networking, given a warning, and may also be fined less than 15,000 yuan; if there is any illegal income, the illegal income shall be confiscated.
From January 2019 to the present, China Digital Times has included many news cases in which netizens were reprimanded by the police or administratively punished for jumping over the wall:
[Save this photo] Administrative penalty warning if VPN is found in mobile phone
In March 2019, a netizen Pang Mou in Suining City, Sichuan Province used Wujie Yitong to bypass the wall and was warned.
In May 2019, Yang Moumou, a netizen in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, was given an administrative warning and fined 500 yuan for using Laowang VPN and Ant VPN to bypass the wall.
In June 2019, a foreign trade company in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province was administratively punished for online purchase and registration of "over-the-wall software".
[Save this photo] Give a warning on YouTube and TWITCH when using the over-the-wall software
In August 2019, a netizen in Suining City, Sichuan Province, Mr. Jiang installed Turbo VPN, Laowang VPN and other circumvention software to watch YouTube and Twitch, and was warned.
In July 2020, a netizen named Chen in Changde City, Hunan Province was warned and punished for using Shadowrocket to browse foreign pornographic websites.
Many netizens have noticed that "violating the law over the wall" is no longer a sporadic case. The CCP has begun to use state power to carry out "online identification/blocking", "offline warning/interview", making it illegal to circumvent the wall at any time. Risky high-risk behavior.
In October 2020, a large number of "administrative penalty decisions" discovered by netizens on the Zhejiang Provincial Government Service Online further confirmed this judgment. Since July 2019, more than 80 "decisions on punishment for overturning the wall" have been published on this government website by Zhejiang Public Security. Wait).
Each of the "Changing Penalty Decision Letters" mentions the methods used by netizens to circumvent the wall, such as SSR, Linghu browser, soft routing, Shadowrocket, Laowang vpn, etc. The reasons for being punished are various, even some Netizens were reprimanded just for "visiting Wikipedia to inquire about information", and among those punished were "airport owners" (in internet terms, meaning service providers) who provided circumvention services, as well as individual corporate legal persons.
Under the strong onlookers of various netizens, Zhejiang Government Service Network finally removed all these "Changing Penalty Decision Letters". Of course, the existence of these punishment cases does not mean that Zhejiang Province ranks at the forefront of the country in terms of the number of people punished for jumping the wall. It is more likely that the punishment for jumping the wall is promoted simultaneously across the country, but Zhejiang Province is more "open to government affairs".
To sum up these typical cases, we can see that the "crime of overturning the wall" was not formed in a short period of time, but it is a necessity for the refined control of netizens' online behavior after the network blockade has intensified in recent years. "Listen to the crime of the enemy Taiwan" expresses the concern of this full reversal. Although in this process, the CCP has not completely cut off all effective ways for netizens to circumvent the wall, such as "little pinks going out to go to war", "domestic video bloggers going overseas" and other phenomena often appear. The degree has not necessarily decreased, but the "crime of overcoming the wall" from scratch also indicates two trends:
1. Internet users' "illegal channel" circumvention behavior will be subject to stricter supervision, and even eventually be banned completely, and "crime of circumvention" is tailor-made for this control purpose.
2. The "whitelisting" that netizens worried about in the early years (GFW no longer adopts a blacklist system but a whitelist, that is, outbound traffic is blocked by default, and the whitelist is released.) It will be "channel whitelisted" (For example, the Tuber browser previously claimed to have obtained an online business license through official review), and people may be in a “network streaking” with no privacy at any time.
Of course, the emergence of the "crime of overturning the wall" has also exacerbated people's inner fear and self-censorship. The extremeization and wolf-warriorization of public opinion at home and abroad are also contributed by this factor, which has brought about many "butterfly effects". At the same time, it has also greatly increased the CCP's control costs, making it no longer a "cat-and-mouse game" between the wall climbers and the wall builders, but more like a "tug-of-war".
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