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VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

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Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#201
post #62

Basically every new law, piece of news or media I see coming from the UK paints a picture of a beat-down, cynical & scared society that's complacent to or in support of increasing surveillance and control by the government. Like maybe Adolescence or basically any mention of the NHS. The crimes they cite like child grooming or terrorism/hate being incited sound pretty terrible too, but I wonder why the UK specifically…

The UK is becoming increasingly authoritarian in ways that feel increasingly antagonistic to the majority of the population, regardless of political party. Taxes are rising (with tax take falling), crimes are going unchecked, just mentioning increased immigration gets a lot of people's backs up, but as GDP per capita continues to stall and even fall, the pressure it puts on services is a factor for many. And we're se…

> suggesting the NHS isn't perfect is against the religion here

That's really not my experience. In fact, almost everyone is surprised when I suggest that despite its many problems, the NHS does better for the people than most modern countries' health systems.

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#202

Destroy cultural integrity, national identity, create a low-trust society, become more authoritarian to manage low-trust society, import more immigrants at an exponential rate while house costs rise along with unemployment. The list keeps going. This is why far-right is surging on the polls. The country has completely lost all sense.

Incredible that you’ve managed to bring this conversation to immigration. In fact, it sounds like you’re saying the root cause of this crappy policy is somehow immigrants. Far fetched and not cool.

One of the reasons they want to make discourse on the internet as painful as possible is because immigration has become an mainstream concern in the UK. Many of the things that are being soft censored is clips about from the British parliament where this and related issues are being discussed.

Just because people like yourself happen to think it is uncouth to discuss, doesn't mean that it isn't part of the equation.

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#203
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any examples of people being arrested for criticising a law? Most of the time these dystopian descriptions of the UK turn out to be completely overblown nonsense when you look into them properly.

https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/britains-police... Tons of people are arrested and charged every day for thought crimes in Britain.

Paywalled. Might be better: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/parents-arre...

It sounds like there was harrasment involved, but it is scant on details.

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#204

A lot of people are going to be putting their ID details into all sorts of websites and giving this to all sorts of third parties because of this law. Its going to cause a huge increase in ID related theft and fraud in the coming years and its not even going to achieve its stated goal. Worse is its blocking sites it really shouldn't, wikipedia is fighting this in court at the moment because they want to censor it! Th…

This. Even sites who don't want to store IDs because they are small or it's against their ethos have to do it or pack their bags

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#205

Since it's about VPNs - what are good VPNs for someone looking for safety/privacy but not anonymity or even IP hiding? Not even for streaming. But for general "safety while on the Internet" when the devices (Mac, iPhone) are mostly on public or not-so-secure WiFi (at the residence or on the go). Plan is to keep it always ON or almost always ON. Not necessarily for the UK. (Other than Mullvad)

This sounds more like a task for NextDNS than a VPN, tbh. Or are you worried about no TLS?

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#206

Destroy cultural integrity, national identity, create a low-trust society, become more authoritarian to manage low-trust society, import more immigrants at an exponential rate while house costs rise along with unemployment. The list keeps going. This is why far-right is surging on the polls. The country has completely lost all sense.

UK needs immigrants to increase stagnating productivity. this has been the case for decades and it's why no government has done, or will do anything serious to curb it.

Then why has productivity never been more stagnant even though immigration has never been higher?

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#207
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK is becoming increasingly authoritarian in ways that feel increasingly antagonistic to the majority of the population, regardless of political party. Taxes are rising (with tax take falling), crimes are going unchecked, just mentioning increased immigration gets a lot of people's backs up, but as GDP per capita continues to stall and even fall, the pressure it puts on services is a factor for many. And we're se…

> mentioning increased immigration gets a lot of people's backs up Skilled immigration or the Channel crossing?

Either, both.

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#208

Destroy cultural integrity, national identity, create a low-trust society, become more authoritarian to manage low-trust society, import more immigrants at an exponential rate while house costs rise along with unemployment. The list keeps going. This is why far-right is surging on the polls. The country has completely lost all sense.

UK needs immigrants to increase stagnating productivity. this has been the case for decades and it's why no government has done, or will do anything serious to curb it.

I don't think that should be the be-all and end-all overriding the natives qualms but regardless.....Is it increasing productivity? In nearby mainland European countries that doesn't appear the case.

Re: VPN use surges in UK as new online safety rules kick in

#209
post #90

Basically every new law, piece of news or media I see coming from the UK paints a picture of a beat-down, cynical & scared society that's complacent to or in support of increasing surveillance and control by the government. Like maybe Adolescence or basically any mention of the NHS. The crimes they cite like child grooming or terrorism/hate being incited sound pretty terrible too, but I wonder why the UK specifically…

Don't believe the things that you read. Our newspapers have been openly biased for centuries, and there's some very shoddy journalism at times. See, for example: * https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44623091

Idk I think the main cause of public discontent in the UK isn't what anyone is reading, it's the extremely obvious change in material conditions.
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