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Disappearing Government Records Show Police Ordering People, Companies to Stop Using Foreign VPNs

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China's state sponsored media has long made it clear that foreign VPNs are not legal. For example, the Global Times wrote in 2012: Residents in China have found logging into their Facebook and Twitter accounts increasingly difficult in recent days, after several popular VPN (virtual private network) companies have alleged that China's Great Firewall (GFW) has been upgraded. However, officials and experts in China's Internet industry have said that it is illegal for foreign companies to operate a VPN business in China. Three overseas VPN service providers, Astrill, Witopia and StrongVPN apologized Thursday that their service to residents in the Chinese mainland has been blocked due to a recent upgrade of the GFW. Astrill claimed that most VPN protocols have been blocked,  and that many foreign companies have been influenced. Fang Binxing, designer of the GFW, told the Global Times Thursday he did not know of any upgrade to the firewall. "As far as I know,

China's Police Jailing People Who Call Them "Dogs" Online

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Article 2(1)(7) of the "Public Security Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China," provides that public security bureaus of the people's government at the level of county and above are responsible for public security administrative punishments within their administrative districts relating to disturbing public order, harming public security, infringements of personal and property rights, and harming public administration where there is social harm that does not rise to the level requiring criminal sanctions.  Article 26 of the "Public Security Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China," provides that "other provocative acts" (其他寻衅滋事行为 - also translated as "picking quarrels and provoking troubles" and "disturbing the peace") may be punished by detention of between 5 and 10 days or a fine of no more than 500 yuan. Where the circumstances are severe, a punishment of between 10 and

Translation: Judgment in Case of US University Student Jailed for Twitter Postings

People's Court of Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hebei Criminal Judgment (2019) E 0160 Criminal First Instance No. 10871 The public prosecution agency was the People's Procuratorate of Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei. Defendant Luo Daiqing, male, born [INTENTIONALLY DELETED], 1999, Han ethnicity, studying in Humanities Department of the University of Minnesota in the United States, household registration in the Honghan District of Wuhan, currently residing in the Wuchang District of Wuhan. On July 12, 2019 he was summoned to appear on suspicion of the crime of disturbing the peace, and on the same day it was decided he would subjected to 10 days in administrative custody. On July 22, 2019, he was taken into criminal detention by the Public Security Bureau of Wuchang District, Wuhan, and on August 29 of the same year he was arrested. He is currently being held in custody in the Wuchang District Detention Center. Defense counsel Hu Jibin is a lawyer at the Hubei Lingfeng Law Firm. In th

PRC Scholars: Judicial Interpretation on Disturbing the Peace Illegal, Unconstitutional

On August 5, 2020, Liu Zhiqiang (刘志强) and Song Haichao (宋海超), academics at the Guangzhou University Institute for Human Rights, published an article on Wechat ( https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/kbCrJJfkLJPL7PBmjwQ0YA ) entitled “A Review of the "Three Characteristics of the ‘Judicial Interpretation of the Crime of Disturbing the Peace.’” [寻衅滋事罪司法解释“三性”审视] The article, which was also published in the 2020.5 edition of the journal “Academia” (学术界), reached the following conclusion regarding the crime of disturbing the peace (sometimes translated as " picking quarrels and provoking trouble ") as applied by PRC courts to online speech: There are major flaws in the rationality of the Judicial Interpretation of the Crime of Disturbing the Peace. . . .From its legislative subject matter to its legislative content and legislative procedures the Judicial Interpretation of the Crime of Disturbing the Peace is "substantive legislation" that completely fails to comply with the

Lai Liangping v. Shanghang Public Security Bureau, et. al. (2019) Min 0803 Administrative First Instance No. 36

 Source: https://wenshu.court.gov.cn/website/wenshu/181107ANFZ0BXSK4/index.html?docId=51f3b1bf5def4384a322ab6f00fedd4e People's Court of Yongding District, Longyan City, Fujian Province Administrative Decision (2019) Min 0803 Administrative First Instance No. 36 Plaintiff Lai Liangping, male, born June 20, 1977, Han ethnicity, residing in Shanghang County, Fujian Province. Defendant (original administrative agency) Shanghang County Public Security Bureau, located at Middle Section, North Second Ring Road, Lincheng Town, Shanghang County, unified social credit code 11350823004113475E. The legal representative was Xu Weiqing, director. Person in charge of court appearances of administrative agencies was Tang Chunkang, deputy director. Attorney Fu Wenhui, male, born April 9, 1974, Han ethnicity, Shanghang County Public Security Bureau, Instructor in the Legal Brigade, residing in Shanghang County, Fujian Province. Attorney Zhang Zhengmeng, male, born November 12, 1981, Han ethnicity,