Hong Kong (CNN)A Chinese software developer has received a suspended prison sentence for selling software that allowed internet users to dodge the Chinese government’s intensifying efforts to control their online activities.
According to a court report published Tuesday, the man, surnamed Dai, was given a three-year suspended sentence and fined around $1,400 this week after being found guilty of operating a website offering virtual private network (VPN) services to hundreds of Chinese users between April 2016 and October 2017.
This is the first time such a case has been brought in Shanghai, the court said. Such prosecutions are rare nationwide, but have stepped up in the wake of a crackdown on VPN use launched last year. In September 2017, another developer in southern Guangdong province was sentenced to nine months in prison for the same crime.
