I do not believe the actual implementation will be so severe.
Every major IT company in China, that interacts with the outside world, has a VPN to circumvent blocking and uses the VPN heavily.
Every major IT company in China, that interacts with the outside world, has a VPN to circumvent blocking and uses the VPN heavily.
The communist party is embedded and makes money from the industry. They do not want to see it blow up.
Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, JD, all would just die.
I think the aim, if I understand it as it is not very clear overall, is rather than government agencies may access the company's infrastructure (VPNs are irrelevant).
I think the law is closer to "government agencies may access any of the company's information".
The worry is that this may be used to access companies' data.
This is how they contain the damage. Plus the party controls the (enormous) population even more closely during the rapid contraction.
(And: Seriously, HN, recaptcha on the login dialog? Have you any idea how hard that is on tor users?)