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Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

blog.mozilla.org

331–340 of 386 posts

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't we all hate social media? From that standpoint, anything that makes it hard to use or come with direct negative consequences is good.

I wholeheartedly disagree. When we consider a policy, it's not enough that the narrow outcome is good . What also matters are the broad outcomes and whether or not the policy is principled. We presumably all hate Alex Jones. Does that mean the goverment saying "Alex Jones is banned from communicating publically" is good policy? Even if we agree the direct outcome is good (which I do), the principle of "the governemen…

The categorical imperative should be used here. "Arrest people I don't like" fails the categorical imperative. However, "check things that destroy society and make everyone worse off except for a select few if left unchecked" easily passes the bar.

Nothing is absolute. There is a spectrum without an obvious optimal point. The recent neonazi rally in the UK did a lot of damage that could have easily been prevented.

Why does most of Europe have such a higher standard of living?

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#332
post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think 1984 is naive and there's maybe a certain naivete in comparing the UK protecting kids from porn to the 1984 type stuff - torture chambers for thought criminals and the like.

Tommy R was thrown feces upon him in a jail cell for 8 months (along with noise torture and losing 15% of his body weight out of food privation). Torture chambers fully exist for thought criminals in UK.

So close!! That is a domestic terrorist. Which doesn't excuse feces-throwing, but might explain why he was in jail.

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will do everything in my power to keep the tech bros out of my children's life. Yes, that includes being a responsible parent. It also includes societal norms being established. Just as was done for alcohol, nicotine, movies, porn mags ect. I guarantee you are not as dedicated as me trying to protect my kids, so there will be age gates, and that includes VPNs. Everyone knows VPNs are only used for getting shit for…

every corporation is running a vpn network. Every router manufacturer builds them into the firmware so you can safely access your home network. there’s a much bigger use case than free stuff.

I think we both know perfectly well that anti-VPN laws are not "make wireguard the protocol illegal" laws but rather "make it illegal for the websites you visit to not know your identity" laws.

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#334
post #329
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, some people are misguided and think age verification can be done in a way that isn't the death of privacy and anonymity online.

Which is true. Irma/Yivi [1] in NL/BE proves that to be the case. But it always works with a trusted third party. The client, after confirming auth with the human, generates a unique key for the platform. The platform asks the trusted third party to verify this key, and then a scope is defined. For example: 'is this person 18+?' the response to the platform is then 'Yes' or 'No'. [1] https://yivi.app

So, the trusted third party gets to know which sites you visit?

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#335
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very same office of the eSafety commissioner that is enforcing age verification for social media. https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/blogs/social-media-minim...

You say that like it's a bad thing. Not everyone thinks so.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47952306

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested to know how it could be a good thing. I'm all for shutting down Facebook entirely and jailing their executives, but i don't think age verification is an appropriate answer. It's already common at least here in France for Facebook to request user ID cards (wtf) and that has not at all stopped harassment, nazism, fake news, etc...

Are you talking about the goal being bad, or the methods being bad, or that the goal inherently cannot be achieved without bad methods? E.g. I think something pretty uncontroversial would be a goal of blocking kids from the likes of TikTok & Instagram between 22:00 and 08:00.[1] But if I'm an adult, that's a different matter. Ok, so how do I prove I'm an adult, without society turning into a surveillance state, or su…

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Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#337
post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what Meta has changed UK policy wise? I'm a Brit and not heard of such policy changes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20qwz9xzr9o https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/reddit-user-uncovers-beh... Basically Meta wants age verification done by devices, the device makers (apple, google) want it on the platform, two sides who don't want the responsibility. On the other side are hundreds of billions invested in companies that offer age verification to websites (persona, etc.). All of these monied interest…

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Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#338
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, some people are misguided and think age verification can be done in a way that isn't the death of privacy and anonymity online.

Don't we all hate social media? From that standpoint, anything that makes it hard to use or come with direct negative consequences is good.

I don't hate social media. It's very amusing to me to hear about how much people hate social media... on social media. I really think people need to stop using social media for a couple of months and see what it's like to not use it.

Personally I find the lack of social media use to be a downside. I never used Facebook and I do occasionally think that I missed out on a lot of stuff because of it.

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you think I'm not a parent. What did I say that made you think that?

> they just need to watch what their kids use devices for, and keep the devices in public areas of the house How do you monitor what a child is using a device for when you don’t have access to the device and they’re at a school that doesn’t care? What device is safe to use, even when in a public area? You’re able to see the screen of all devices I your house at all times? You’re awake at all hours monitoring public a…

I don't need to see things all the time - it's just a general communal thing that helps limit behaviours.

I do have kids, and they don't have much technology in their lives, but they are both preteens. They have a Yoto and we have a family Xbox that's very locked down with PINs.

As for the school laptop situation, I already said this:

> The main thing the state can do is stop requiring kids to have portable internet-connected devices for state schooling.

Re: Mozilla to UK regulators: VPNs are essential privacy and security tools

#340
post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, provided there is a broad consensuss of experts in the field who agree on the danger and what to about it, the government regulates based on that information and that the regulation is effective. Apart from those things, the Australian government did an excellent job.

Who are the experts in the field, and who decides they're experts? "More doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette".

https://childrightstaskforce.org.au/

>Our membership is made up of advocates, service providers, individuals and experts, speaking with a united voice to promote and realise the rights of Australian children.

>The Child Rights Taskforce is co-convened by UNICEF Australia and James McDougall and is led by a Steering Committee of child rights organisations and experts.

Here is their position on the social media ban.

https://apo.org.au/node/328608

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