Privacy

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Chinese programmer ordered to pay 1m yuan for using virtual private network (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

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