BEIJING (AP) - A major Chinese online commerce site has banned sales of tools used to bypass the country's Internet filters.
Taobao.com's announcement gave no reason for the ban on sales of virtual private network and Internet protocol proxy software.
China's communist government is trying to block the growth of an Arab-style protest movement and use of the Internet to spread dissent.
The products cited by Taobao, part of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, are used by Chinese Web surfers to bypass government filters that are meant to block access to foreign websites deemed subversive or pornographic.