The Chinese government has stepped up its drive to control the Internet by zeroing in on virtual private network (VPN) services, in a widespread blocking attempt to stop millions of Chinese citizens passing through the government's Great Firewall.

The news comes just a few weeks after a scuffle between Google and Beijing led to the removal of Gmail's service in the country.

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China has tried for a few years to remove VPN services, but the new blocking technique is much more sophisticated than previous attempts, forcing most VPN services offline in the country.

Golden Frog and Astrill have both informed users of new tools in the Chinese arsenal that focus on removing VPN services. This could affect more than the average internet user in China because some business platforms are only available through VPN.

For small businesses with no established servers in other countries, Google's business platform is now completely unavailable, alongside other business tools currently blocked by the Chinese government.

Due to the Chinese government's silence on the subject of the 'Great Firewall', it is almost impossible for companies to complain about the removal of VPN services.

It may not be the end for VPN, but it is a big step in the direction of making sure no Chinese citizen is capable of accessing the global Internet.

The amount of websites that have been created due to the firewall does show incentives to having blocked communication, but China may have overstepped the mark here by blocking tools for small businesses.

TagsVPN, Great Firewall