Police in Qingdao tell shops and restaurants to use a government-approved Wi-Fi router

Shops andrestaurants in one Chinese city found themselves with an unusualorder from the police: Switch to a government-approved Wi-Fi routeror face fines.

Weibo users said public places with Wi-Fi hotspots in Qingdaoreceived a notice telling them to switch routers to 「improveQingdao』s internet security management.」 Any establishments thatrefuse will face fines of up to 100,000 yuan (US$18,589).

Qingdao police』s notice to replace business Wi-Fi routers.

We called the service line to ask which router were approved,and were told they were from a brand called BHU, but didn』t specifythe specific model. Depending on which part of the city thebusiness is based in, the government will either buy the router andcharge a 100 yuan (US$16) deposit, or they have to buy the routersthemselves for 400 yuan (US$63).

There』s little known about BHU, a Beijing-based company thatmakes routers for businesses. But the company boasts on its websiteabout a 「long-term close collaboration」 with local police inChina.

One of the few stories about the company in English isn』t a goodone: In 2016, a report says one of its routers had 「multiplecritical vulnerabilities,」 including the ability to bypassauthentication, gain access to admin functions, and even inserts aJavaScript file into all web traffic.

Another strange feature of the router is that it』s supposed topay money back to shops and restaurants that use it. The noticefrom Qingdao police says business that use it will get 8 fen (justover one US cent) for every user that connects to the router everyday. It』s not clear who exactly pays this money, and calls to BHUwere unanswered.

Qingdao isn』t the first city in China to mandate agovernment-approved router. Free routers were given to shops inChifeng, a city in Inner Mongolia, in 2016. And multiple cities inthe country like Xiamen were told to install a 「security managementsystem."