A programmer in northern China has been ordered to pay more than 1 million yuan to the authorities for using a virtual private network (VPN), in what is thought to be the most severe individual financial penalty ever issued for circumventing China’s “great firewall.” The programmer, surnamed Ma, was issued with a penalty notice by the public security bureau of Chengde, a city in Hebei province, on August 18. The notice said Ma had used “unauthorised channels” to connect to international networks to work for a Turkish company. The police confiscated the 1.058m yuan ($145,092) Ma had earned as a software developer between September 2019 and November 2022, describing it as “illegal income,” as well as fining him 200 yuan ($27).
Charlie Smith (a pseudonym), the co-founder of GreatFire.org, a website that tracks internet censorship in China, said: “Even if this decision is overturned in court, a message has been sent and damage has been done. Is doing business outside of China now subject to penalties?”
Abstract credit: https://slashdot.org/story/420019
The police confiscated the 1.058m yuan ($145,092) Ma had earned as a software developer between September 2019 and November 2022, describing it as “illegal income,” as well as fining him 200 yuan ($27).
Wtf is wrong with China?
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The comment was asking about China and not you.
According to hexbear lemmy.ml and some other idiots: Nothing. This is actually a good thing. And in reality it’s the US that is at fault
Its basicly 1984. They brain wash there population and the government is the supreme authority
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The programmer, surnamed Ma, was issued with a penalty notice by the public security bureau of Chengde, a city in Hebei province, on 18 August.
Ma said the police seized his phone, laptop and several computer hard drives upon learning that he worked for an overseas company, holding them for a month.
Charlie Smith (a pseudonym), the co-founder of GreatFire.org, a website that tracks internet censorship in China, said: “Even if this decision is overturned in court, a message has been sent and damage has been done.
VPNs, which help users circumvent the “great firewall” of internet censorship by making it look as if their device is in a different country, operate in a legal grey area in China.
The government generally turns a blind eye to the relatively small number of individuals who use the technology to access websites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and, often, view pornography.
In June, Radio Free Asia reported that a Uyghur student, Mehmut Memtimin, was serving a 13-year sentence in Xinjiang for using a VPN to access “illegal information”.
The original article contains 682 words, the summary contains 176 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I’m often confused about China’s laws.
If doing business outside of China is now illegal doesn’t that rather undermine the basis of theur whole cheap manufacturing economy?
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The 1m was confiscated because it was ‘illegal income’, not because he used VPN.
Yes, it’s still shitty that using VPN to access GitHub makes his income illegal
using VPN … makes his income illegal
Yes, they fine wasn’t a flat 1m or whatever, but because he earned it while using a VPN on and off(cuz the great firewall periodically blocks github). None of that would of happened if he didn’t use a VPN, so saying that the direct reason he’s in trouble isn’t why he got punished is less honest.
If your complaint is about how the number was determined, perhaps it would be better as “Chinese programmer ordered to pay entire income(1m yuan) for using Virtual Private Network.” Honestly, either headline is fine as long as the details of how that number was chosen is in the article.
That’s just circling around the issue.
The income is illegal according to the Chinese government because he used a VPN to do work, he wasn’t charged for using the VPN directly he was charged for using the VPN to do work, but functionally it’s the same thing.
They don’t like people doing stuff they don’t know about because they’re a draconian oversight obsessed dictatorship.
it wasn’t because he used a VPN, it was because his income was illegal. It’s just that using a VPN is what made the income illegal
He didn’t die from being shot, it’s just that all of his blood leaked out of the otherwise harmless bullet hole
In fact, the Chinese government probably says his existence didn’t happen and that anyone with memories of him should seek help with a state doctor
This kind of reporting is the reason people in the west hate Chinese government.
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Every single survey from China shows that vast majority of people support the government. Your thinking isn’t grounded in reality.
Those studies are done by the Chinese government. If anyone doesn’t like the Chinese government they disappear
No, those studies are done by western institutions lilke Harvard https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/long-term-survey-reveals-chinese-government-satisfaction/
Meanwhile, the fact that you think anybody who doesn’t like the government in China is disappeared shows that you’re a deeply deluded individual. It’s absolutely incredible that a grown ass adult would believe that.
All countries will confiscate illegally obtained income. Want to work cross-border? Do it with the proper visas, permissions, tax reporting, residencies, etc. There’s no story here, just more China hate to help beat the drums of war.
Or you could abolish the state, like a normal, non-cucked person.
I’m open to suggestions as to how one does that while class still exists.
Viral meme that causes people to cease believing in the meme of the nation and the state. They’re basically like Santa Claus, they vanish once a certain critical mass of people cease believing in them.
Only if the country in question is sanctioned and I don’t think Turkey is sanctioned by China.
This is just a Chinese government doing whatever the hell they want and not thinking through / caring about the consequences.
The specific laws vary of course, but a person cannot receive work related income from a foreign entity without reporting it correctly, both in the country in which the company is located and the country in which the employee is located. Even within the EU for example, with its freedom of movement for people, goods, and capital, cross border income must be correctly accounted for by both parties.
This is just a sovereign government doing what all sovereign nations do. If nations didn’t do this the consequences for even just tax collection would be immense, not to mention the many other negatives.
There’s no need to throw China bashing into every subject under the stars just because that’s apparently what counts for journalism these days.
China is an authoritarian government who commits sins against its own people. This has nothing to do with Taxes. Its illegal to seek the truth in China, that’s why the media is so censored and VPNs are illegal
That’s not true at all, but I know the China bashing illness is resistant to facts.
china supporter in a privacy community 🤓
And the title is the clickbait.
I don’t get it; if I pay my taxes in my country of residence, how is it illegal to work for a foreign entity ?
Why would I need a visa if I stay in my own country ?
It seems the person in question didn’t report this income and therefore didn’t pay taxes on it.
US regime doesn’t even allow its citizens to visit Cuba let alone work there.
True but I can critize the people in power and vote in elections in the US. You can’t do that in China.
This is what your choice looks like in practice:
“The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.”
And this is precisely what research analyzing decades of policy shows:
Meanwhile, imagine being so utterly ignorant to think that people in China don’t vote for their leaders. You should be embarrassed of yourself.
Its not illegal to use VPNs in free counties. In China the government is in absolute control over the people and they use brainwashing techniques to keep everyone in line.
VPNs allow people to see options outside the state sanctioned media which is a threat to the people in power.
That’s not true at all, but the China bashing illness is immune to facts.
