Among 1,175 Chinese circumvention users surveyed in late 2012, purpose-built anti-censorship platforms showed severe attrition: Freegate had 44.3% former users but only 15.3% current users, while GoAgent and paid VPNs (piggybacking on commercially indispensable infrastructure) were the top two most-used tools in the past month. The median respondent had used four different types of circumvention tools, indicating frequent switching driven by blocking events.
From 2013-robinson-collateral — Collateral Freedom: A Snapshot of Chinese Internet Users Circumventing Censorship
· §2 Tool Usage, Figure 2.1
· 2013
· OpenITP
Implications
Purpose-built circumvention tools without commercial cover consistently lose users over time as censors block them; sustaining a user base requires either imposing an economic collateral cost on the censor or rapid continuous adaptation.
Design for tool diversity and frictionless migration — the median Chinese user had already switched tools four times, so distribution, discoverability, and upgrade paths matter as much as technical evasion.