In China, the plush international hotel lobby has been one of the few places to find gaps in the \u201cGreat Firewall,\u201d a sophisticated system that denies online users access to blocked content such as foreign news portals and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Now that small crack in the system may be closing, too, as Beijing tightens control over what it sees as its domestic cyberspace, mimicking real-world border controls and subject to the same laws as sovereign states. Regulators have warned firms providing internet networks for hotels to stop offering, or helping to install, virtual private networks (VPNs) into hotel systems, tools that allow users to evade, at least partially, China\u2019s internet censors. \u201cWe received notices recently from relevant (government) departments, so we don\u2019t make recommendations anymore,\u201d said a marketing manager at Chinese hotel network provider AMTT Digital, who is not named because he is not authorized to talk to the media. He added this was linked to increased government scrutiny over the use of unauthorized VPNs. Tunnel closing for some VPNs create a tunnel through the Great Firewall allowing users to access blocked content outside China\u2019s borders. Companies in China routinely use VPNs for their businesses, which Beijing has said are not currently under threat. A notice from the Waldorf Astoria in Beijing, circulated online, said the hotel had stopped offering VPN services. A Waldorf official declined to comment, but several staff said the hotel no longer offered VPN services. \u201c(VPNs) don\u2019t accord with Chinese law,\u201d one staffer told Reuters. \u201cSo we don\u2019t have this anymore.\u201d Network provider: hotels decide A leading internet network provider to hotels in China, AMTT Digital says it works with more than 30 global hotel chains including Marriott, InterContinental, Shangri-La , Wyndham, Starwood and Hilton. Previously, the firm, which is backed by several funds including ones with government ties, would recommend \u201ccertified,\u201d or government approved, VPNs, the manager said, which would then be incorporated into hotels\u2019 internal networks. \u201cWe would make recommendations of certified VPN providers and then incorporate them into the gateway so it runs smoothly,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is up to the hotel to decide if they want it.\u201d Dozens of VPNs closed China\u2019s Ministry of Information Industry and Technology (MIIT), which oversees regulation of VPNs, did not respond to requests for comment. As it clamps down further on access to outlawed online content, Beijing has recently closed dozens of China-based VPNs, overseas providers have seen rolling attacks on their services, the WhatsApp encrypted messaging app was disrupted, and telecoms firms have been enlisted to extend China\u2019s domestic internet control. U.S. tech giant Apple Inc pulled dozens of VPN apps from its App Store in China at the weekend, drawing criticism from app providers who said it was bowing to pressure from Beijing\u2019s cyber regulators. \u201cWe\u2019re in the middle of the storm right now with the government fiercely cracking down on VPNs,\u201d said Lin Wei, a Beijing-based network security expert at Qihoo 360 Technology Co. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard for ordinary people to find anywhere they can get on sites like Google.\u201d No Twitter, Facebook, YouTube The \u201cneutered\u201d hotel VPNs, which staff and analysts said were often installed with tacit approval from authorities, already underline sensitivities of even ceding small amounts of control. President Xi Jinping has overseen a marked sharpening of China\u2019s cyberspace controls, including tough new data surveillance and censorship rules. This push is now ramping up ahead of an expected consolidation of power at the Communist Party Congress this autumn. Guests at the InterContinental hotel on the east side of Beijing can search on Alphabet Inc\u2019s Google search engine or check their email on Gmail, a business need for many travelers, but both otherwise widely blocked in China. But they can\u2019t access Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, which are banned by the government. China also routinely blocks sensitive content online such as searches for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests or, more recently, coverage of imprisoned Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died of cancer last month. These topics are searchable, though, in China using a VPN connection. Some hotels haven't blocked sites Technical staff at five other hotels in Beijing, including Crowne Plaza, Hilton and Shangri-La, said guests could still access some blocked websites, though others were often still off-limits. Officials at the hotels declined to comment. Other hotels Reuters spoke to said they did not offer VPN services because it did not accord with government rules. \u201cIt\u2019s a compromise the hotels are making,\u201d said Lin, the network security expert. VPNs were not technically illegal, but were in a \u201cgrey area\u201d and \u201cfor well-known reasons\u201d authorities were cracking down on them. Staff and guests at a number of hotels said some kind of VPN service was still on offer, either built into the hotel\u2019s Wi-Fi network or on demand to guests who needed access. Reuters visited the InterContinental and Crowne Plaza in Beijing, both owned by InterContinental Hotels Group, where Google and Gmail were unblocked. A worker at the Hilton Beijing hotel said the same sites should be accessible. Officials at IHG and Hilton did not respond to requests for comment. Some hotels went further. A technician at the Pangu 7 Star Hotel in Beijing, owned by exiled tycoon Guo Wengui, said resident guests could get full internet access, including sites like Facebook and Twitter, through its VPN-enabled \u201cPangu global\u201d Wi-Fi network. \u201cWe have a special VPN to cross the Great Firewall,\u201d the worker told Reuters. \u201cBut it\u2019s a little bit slow.\u201d Reuters couldn\u2019t reach Pangu officials for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In China, the plush international hotel lobby has been one of the few places to find gaps in the \u201cGreat Firewall,\u201d a sophisticated system that denies online users access to blocked content such as foreign news portals and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Now that small crack in the system may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}