China tightens grip over internet during key political meeting

BEIJING, Mar 10: China has intensified efforts to block software that enables internet users to access banned websites during a top political meeting this week, a leading provider of firewall-leaping software told AFP.

Beijing operates some of the worlds most extensive censorship over the internet, with web users in mainland China unable to access everything from Google to news websites without using a virtual private network (VPN).

And as thousands of delegates gather in Beijing this week for the annual "Two Sessions" meeting, VPN software has increasingly struggled to circumvent the censorship while outages have become much more frequent, even when compared to during previous sensitive political events.
"Currently, there is increased censorship due to political meetings in China," a representative of the Liechtenstein-based service Astrill -- one of the most popular VPN services for foreigners in China -- confirmed to AFP.

"Unfortunately, not all VPN protocols are functioning at this time," they said.    —AFP