China blocks VPN services that skirt online censorship

China is blocking virtual private network (VPN) services that let users skirt online censorship of popular websites such as Google and Facebook amid a wider crackdown on online information. The virtual private network provider Golden Frog wrote that the controls have hit a wide swath of VPN services. The popular provider Astrill informed its users that its VPN protocols for Apple mobile devices to access services such as Gmail have been blocked. Many foreigners in China as well as millions of Chinese depend on VPNs to connect to servers outside the country and access blocked information and Google-based business tools. VPNs encrypt and reroute Internet traffic so that censors can't tell what's being accessed.