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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

#281

Post by scarface_74 »

mijoharas wrote: post #200
cs02rm0 wrote: 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…

> but suggesting the NHS isn't perfect is against the religion here I don't know anyone that doesn't complain about the state of the NHS. The only time I've heard anyone defending it would be when compared to countries without national healthcare (e.g. America).

The one country whose healthcare I’ve studied in depth aside from the US is Costa Rica. Our Plan B is to establish permanent residence there and starting next year we will be spending a couple of months there every winter and maybe in July.

Costa Rica has an affordable all inclusive public health care system (Caja). But you can also pay for extra for private healthcare. Is it the same in the UK?

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

#282

Post by Arkhaine_kupo »

cs02rm0 wrote: post #62
zaptheimpaler wrote: post #27

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…

There is an old irish song called "The man of the daily mail", I think they could use your views to update the song for our times.

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

#283

Post by 12ian34 »

spacebanana7 wrote: post #214
12ian34 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Only a small minority of immigrants to the UK come through the skilled visa pathway, even if the health & social care visa numbers were added. See figure 1.3a - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-advisor... Note that to the best of my knowledge, these numbers don't include the Afghan resettlement scheme which would further lower the proportion of employment driven visas.

what about nurses and cleaners

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

#284

Post by morkalork »

gorgoiler wrote: post #103
nly wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't about illegal sites? I don't think many people object to blacklisting known sources of child pornography etc. The fact is you now have to verify your identity (name and photo id) in the UK to access an adult subreddit.

You need to be able to shut down websites and apps which do not implement age verification.

Right, anything that doesn't cooperate with the ID verification is defacto illegal in the UK's eyes?

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

#285

Post by monkey_monkey »

scarface_74 wrote: post #281
mijoharas wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but suggesting the NHS isn't perfect is against the religion here I don't know anyone that doesn't complain about the state of the NHS. The only time I've heard anyone defending it would be when compared to countries without national healthcare (e.g. America).

The one country whose healthcare I’ve studied in depth aside from the US is Costa Rica. Our Plan B is to establish permanent residence there and starting next year we will be spending a couple of months there every winter and maybe in July. Costa Rica has an affordable all inclusive public health care system (Caja). But you can also pay for extra for private healthcare. Is it the same in the UK?

> But you can also pay for extra for private healthcare. Is it the same in the UK?

Yes

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

#286

Post by 12ian34 »

rubyAce wrote: post #213
12ian34 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We've had the highest levels of immigration ever in the last five years and productivity hasn't increased proportionally or much at all.

maybe it's not working, also maybe it is working but there are other confounding factors.

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

#287

Post by firefax »

chrismatheson wrote: post #109
gorgoiler wrote: post #63

The VPN trick potentially won’t last long. We’ve seen it go stale already in the world of intellectual property rights. For at least the last ten years Netflix et al have been well aware of which AS numbers / IP netblocks correspond to people sat at home in front of the TV, and which correspond to servers in a rack somewhere (including those hosting VPN endpoints.) One tweak to the rules and all of a sudden not only…

is TOR an answer to this ?

>is TOR an answer to this ?

I've found Tor is mostly useful for reading, not participating. Exit nodes get blocked from registering on most sites. One workaround is to register at a café or library then use the account over Tor, but sometimes even if you're being civil (see my comment history for a a pretty good picture of the style of discussions I have anonymously) sometimes you'll wake up to find the account nuked.

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

#288

Post by everfrustrated »

scrollop wrote: post #185
cs02rm0 wrote: 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…

"suggesting the NHS isn't perfect is against the religion here." Errr, what? A lot of people complain about the NHS, whilst conceding there are issues that are difficult to address eg staff, lack of investment etc.

Complaining is the British pastime so complaining about the NHS is grandfathered in. However if you try and offer any suggestion for improvements to the NHS you soon realise you cannot criticise it in any meaningful form and be decried a blasphemous heretic.

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

#290

Post by Retr0id »

tweetle_beetle wrote: post #265
graemep wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder why the UK specifically is taking action - is the issue bigger there, or are they just more aware of and willing to act on it. Other countries are moving in the same direction. The EU has repeatedly tried to push things like on device scanning or banning encryption. > 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 co…

The sugar tax is a strange example to pick as an example of British decline. As of 2022, the WHO reported on SSB (sugar-sweetened beverages): > Currently, at least 85 countries implement some type of SBB taxation. It feels to me like this was a rare step in the opposite direction - recognising that industry is the driving cynical force and pushing back on its over reach where it has failed. Most manufacturers reformu…

In principle I support taxes that disincentivise production of negative externalities (in this case, adverse health effects).

However the way this works out in practice is a reduction in consumer choice, one that I'm reminded of every time I walk into a shop.

> Most manufacturers reformulated their drinks immediately

This is the problem, really. Rather than adding new "low sugar" product lines, in most instances they're modifying existing ones to replace the sugar with artificial sweeteners. The "original recipe" is often no longer available to consumers at any price.

As someone who struggles to consume enough calories to stay healthy, this sucks! (Mostly unrelated to pricing, just as a matter of practicality)

Cigarette smokers for example can still walk into just about any shop and purchase their favourite cigarettes, they just have to pay more for them - this seems fine.

Overall I'm quite on the fence about the whole thing, but on a purely emotional level it feels like an instance of government overreach.

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