Does China’s Great Firewall upgrade spell a new era for online censorship?

The infamous Great Firewall of China (GFC) famously blocks access to selected websites from outside of the country while also slowing down cross-border internet traffic. But the latest introduction of HTTPS, TLS 1.3, and ESNI blocking has once again ignited the debate around censorship vs. freedom of speech in China, Hong Kong, and overseas.

Many of the security and privacy features that we take for granted prevent the Chinese government and its surveillance tools from monitoring their citizen’s online behavior. In a digital world where an increasing number of start-ups run on distributed teams composed of employees working remotely from all around the world, there is a worrying trend of nations rebuilding borders that the internet tore down.

If we dare to look beyond China, many other countries will be taking note and secretly wishing to emulate the GFC. The rise of traffic interception technology is something that can no longer be ignored. 

What does the new GFC update mean for online censorship?

China is a great example of a nation increasingly becoming more insular and implementing dystopian control over its citizens. By removing the free flow of information, it is thought that local companies can focus on serving domestic users and growing its economy. But make no mistake, the upgrading of its great firewall is all about censorship, restricting freedom and keeping foreigners out.

Full article on https://cybernews.com/news/chinas-great-firewall-as-a-new-era-for-online-censorship/

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