The VPN providers we spoke to are still accessible in Hong Kong, but it’s not inconceivable to see app stores start removing VPNs from the city under the new legal framework, as Apple did during a crackdown back in 2017 to comply with Chinese regulations that illegalized VPNs without official approval.Īs a spokesperson for TunnelBear observed: “We can speak to the fact that distribution is often hit first as the first stage of cyber censorship.” “As a result, no data, including certificates or credentials, can persist after a system is powered down, whether because it is rebooted or physically removed from a data center,” added the spokesperson.īut all the VPN companies we contacted said they are closely monitoring the impact and enforcement bodies of Hong Kong’s new security law and will react accordingly to safeguard user interests. Its proprietary technology ensures servers run only on volatile memory (RAM), not on hard drives. It has since added more servers in the surrounding regions, including Hong Kong, to “keep up with the velocities.”Ī spokesperson for ExpressVPN, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, told TechCrunch it currently doesn’t have plans to remove Hong Kong as a server location option for users because its “VPN servers are already specifically architected not to contain personal or sensitive data on customers.” The company observed a huge spike in inquiries for its service in Hong Kong - by a factor of 120 times - shortly after China announced the upcoming law in May.
“All of our servers are either diskless or encrypted, so even a physical takeover wouldn’t compromise our users’ privacy,” said NordVPN spokesperson Laura Tyrell. Panama-headquartered NordVPN will also keep its servers in Hong Kong.
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“Our use of full disk encryption and a strict no-logs policy greatly limits the potential risk to activists and dissidents if the Chinese government were to move against our servers in Hong Kong,” Proton’s spokesperson Edward Shone told TechCrunch, adding that users who connect to Hong Kong are advised to activate a special feature that makes it “far more difficult” to locate their true IP address. The company stressed that it does not store any personally identifiable information on its servers, so the decision to remove Hong Kong from its server list is to “protect our configuration keys” and “monitor the reach of the new security law on technical ecosystems in Hong Kong.” In response to the new security rules, TunnelBear, a Toronto-based VPN service acquired by McAfee in 2018, announced it will remove all of its Hong Kong servers “to ensure the safety” of its users. VPN services are gaining ground globally as they claim to provide better privacy from users’ internet providers and sites visited, although they could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured. Under the new legal framework, internet service providers will be required to turn over user data to the authorities.
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Many virtual private network (VPN) operators keep servers in the city, serving mainland users who want to conceal their internet activity or access websites blocked by the Chinese authority.īut some VPN providers are reevaluating the risks of keeping their servers in Hong Kong upon the enactment of the national security law, which critics warn could compromise user privacy and have a chilling effect on free speech. In recent decades, Hong Kong has been considered a haven for data centers given its strategic location in Asia, a legal system trusted by international businesses and reliable internet connectivity.
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