Chinese citizen sentenced to 9 months in prison for selling software to use VPN

Almaty. September 5. Silkroadnews – A Chinese citizen was sentenced to 9 months in prison for selling software to use VPN, British news portal “The Register” reported.
“A Chinese man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for helping his fellow citizens drill through the Great Firewall with virtual private networks”, report said.
It is noted that, as the Supreme People’s Court judgment stated, a 26-year-old resident of Guangdong province, Deng Jiewei, began offering VPN software on his website in October 2015. In August 2016 he was detained, and in October - arrested. For his services, Deng Jiewei earned 14,000 yuan (a little over $2,100) and shared this money with his partner.
According to one of the sources, the sentence was rendered in March, another source said in January, but the media reported it only a few days ago having raised serious concerns among China’s Internet users.
“Part of that concern has to do with the wording the judgement uses, namely that Deng's transgression was that the VPN software constituted “invading and illegally controlling” computer systems”, publication reads.
It also said, China has recently clamped down on attempts to evade its Web censorship regime, having introduced new rules requiring ISPs, cloud providers and VPN resellers to get regional government licenses to operate. Last month, Apple found itself criticized for banning VPN apps from its China store, something in line with its policy of adhering to local laws.