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VPN services blocked in China as Astrill warns of 'increased censorship' following WW2 parade

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Hopes that VPN blocking would be lifted following a major military parade in Beijing last week have been dashed. Photo: Xinhua

A popular service used to bypass Chinese internet restrictions has told users it is facing "increased censorship" in the wake of a major military parade in Beijing.

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VPNs allow users to tunnel their internet traffic through an uncensored server, bypassing domestic restrictions or filtering.

Astrill had previously said that it was suffering service outages in the run up to the September 3 parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

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"Due to upcoming Beijing's military parade next week, China is cracking down on IPSec VPNs using GFW auto-learning technique," Astrill said late last month.

That crackdown has now expanded to take in the widely used PPTP and L2TP protocols, according to the company's most recent statement.

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