Millions in Hong Kong Losing Access to Open Net; Downloads of Signal & VPN Surge on Crackdown Fears
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for GrandFireWizard:
Millions losing access to internet:
Millions of people look set to lose access to the free and open internet as China's control over Hong Kong increases.
A new law was ushered in by Beijing last month that gave China sweeping powers over opposition against itself, both within its borders and outside of them, which could put people in jail for years if they commit vaguely defined political crimes.
The controversial national security law was used to make arrests within hours.
[...] Hong Kong police now have sweeping powers to order social media platforms and publishers to remove content, as well as ban the platforms altogether.
Undefined exceptional circumstances" also give police the right to seize and search electronic devices.
A number of tech companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Zoom have said they're pausing the review of law enforcement requests for data or stopping it altogether while they assess the impact of the new law.
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