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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

#641

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

supportengineer wrote: post #570

If you need to use a VPN in your country, maybe your government and elected officials have failed you, are not representing you, and need to be voted out.

Yeah, that's the problem. In the UK, thanks to the party system, "first past the post," and certain longstanding procedural and cultural norms, it's literally impossible to vote them out.

At best, as we're now seeing, they'll go from Tories to Labour to Tories to Labour. With the members of both parties from the same schools, the same social circles, living in the same neighborhoods, and supporting the same policies.

There's no voting their way out of this mess. At this point they need something like the Restoration of the Stuarts. Failing that, they need divine intervention.

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

#642

Post by vpShane »

blitzar wrote: post #434

The "VPN use surges in UK" articles are bought and paid for by the VPN industry. I don't believe it is possible to convince me that VPN's as sold and marketed are anything but a massive scam. Yes, that includes the company that you say is honest.

Believe it or not, there's some of us who believe in privacy. There's many that believe in encryption, and believe in transparency, and believe in systems and network security.

'Honest' in what regard? That security and encryption can't be attained to value people's privacy?

Let's not take away from the fact that things like Wikipedia are blocking entire countries (UK) to its services.

When deleting/blocking the forum becomes easier than compliance or risking fines/being punished, they will _delete the forum_

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

#643

Post by mywittyname »

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 ?

Only if you want your traffic to flow through NSA-backed honeypots and get caught up in a dragnet.

I mean, it's probably the case that traditional VPNs are also dragnets to some degree, but TOR is a confirmed NSA dragnet.

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

#644

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#645

Post by commandlinefan »

jonplackett wrote: post #431

I’m sure it’s only the adults using VPNs so don’t worry, this is still a fantastic law that is definitely helping children not watch porn and absolutely not just a massive attack on civil liberties in disguise.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the only people who _couldn't_ get around this were legal adults.

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

#646

Post by lll-o-lll »

ujkiolp wrote: post #607
areoform wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taxes are rising (with tax take falling) > just mentioning increased immigration One of these seems like the solution to the other. > as long as those people leaving are straight, white males, or their families, they're being told "good riddance" regardless of the brain drain and loss of tax income Having UK work experience and having talked to thousands of british folks over a decade, I find this hard to believe.…

the empire was always propped by colonialization - there wasn’t much to go once the colonies were no longer a cash cow for the UK

This narrative is bullocks and I’m sick of hearing this framing. “The UK deserves it because colonialism”.

Contrary to your statement, the UK is a center of education, innovation, and still a major player in finance. The current malaise infects the West and is much more than “brexit” or “colonial hangovers”.

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

#647

Post by Xelbair »

JFingleton wrote: post #456
Xelbair wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From tourist point of view UK felt to me like a police state, and I'm leaning more towards the former view. Cameras everywhere, non-stop reminders that you're being watched, being tracked everywhere(including which train car you're in now), constant reminders about possible dangerous bags being left alone etc. Tracking would feel helpful and useful, if not for constant oppressive reminders that "Bad Thing could happe…

I always thought a police state would demand identification at every street corner (perhaps I'm wrong?) and any minor breaking of the law being dealt with severe justice. The UK has always been against a "state ID" unlike a lot of European countries, so I'm not completely convinced the description of "police state" is accurate. In fact I think it's the opposite given people can freely break the law despite cameras be…

you have very narrow definition of police state.

Over here under communist times it was definitely a police state - there were no ID checks, crime was rampant, but everyone could be observed at any moment and be arrested/dissappeared as needed.

UK evokes identical feeling now as a tourist.

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

#648

Post by tengwar2 »

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…

No-one thinks the NHS is perfect. People are rationally defensive of it because the most likely alternative is not something like the German system (which is better, but has major problems) but a sale of the NHS to an American company such as Kaiser Permanente. Most people are well aware of the deeply rooted problems of the American system, and recognise that almost anything is better than that. Any systematic change would require a government which is trusted to handle it. That rules out the Conservatives (who are in power most of the time) as even their supporters don't trust them on this issue, and Labour is unlikely to either have the inclination to implement deep changes, or be in office long enough to effect them.

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

#649

Post by bossyTeacher »

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…

> but as long as those people leaving are straight, white males, or their families, they're being told "good riddance" regardless of the brain drain and loss of tax income.

Your comment was mostly on point until you decided to put straight presenting white guys as the victims

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

#650

Post by tjwebbnorfolk »

tengwar2 wrote: post #648
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…

No-one thinks the NHS is perfect. People are rationally defensive of it because the most likely alternative is not something like the German system (which is better, but has major problems) but a sale of the NHS to an American company such as Kaiser Permanente. Most people are well aware of the deeply rooted problems of the American system, and recognise that almost anything is better than that. Any systematic change…

It's funny -- in the US, the liberals who want to nationalize healthcare look at the UK and EU as a shining example of success.

The grass is always greener I suppose.

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