'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling • Hacker News Board

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#11

Post by wongarsu » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

Maybe put some quotes around that first paragraph. Seems like some people downvote you before they get to the part where you reveal you don't think that way

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#12

Post by chmod775 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

Many people reading this are going to stop at the first sentence without realizing you're paraphrasing a position you apparently don't agree with.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#13

Post by 1718627440 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

Logging into my work computer, to work in the company network: yeah very sketchy.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#14

Post by sharperguy » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:37 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

I'm genuinely considering whether the people replying to you are bots now.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#15

Post by 1718627440 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:38 PM UTC

chmod775 wrote: post #12

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

Many people reading this are going to stop at the first sentence without realizing you're paraphrasing a position you apparently don't agree with.

What is the sign, that he does not?

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#16

Post by xoa » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:38 PM UTC

This is a very brief blog blurb linking the original Tech Radar article that got fairly extensive discussion on HN a week and a half ago [0]. Potentially quite an important one though so a second go around may still be very justified for those who missed it last time. Amidst a lot of negative moves around the net recently it's nice to see some sanity at least once in awhile.

----

0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997221

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#17

Post by testfrequency » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

TIL every corp in the world are sketchy people for using VPN.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#18

Post by yreg » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

1718627440 wrote: post #15

chmod775 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people reading this are going to stop at the first sentence without realizing you're paraphrasing a position you apparently don't agree with.

What is the sign, that he does not?

"I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that"

Meaning the poster finds it surprising that intelligent site operators would honestly think that.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#19

Post by dzink » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:39 PM UTC

freedomben wrote: post #2

VPNs are just tools that sketchy people use for sketchy means. There's no legitimate use for someone who isn't trying to break the law. Allowing these tools let's underage people access porn, and do all manner of undesirable behaviors like accessing region locked content. I have actually heard otherwise intelligent people say things just like that, including site operators who run nontrivial websites. There are of co…

VPN is what a smart person uses when they are at an internet cafe or somewhere else with public internet where you can’t trust that the traffic isn’t sniffed by someone for giggles and your bank credentials are going to leak.

Re: 'VPNs are lawful technical tools,' says EU Court in landmark copyright ruling

#20

Post by traceroute66 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 1:40 PM UTC

HelloUsername wrote: post #6

Discussion on 21-jul-2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997221 141 comments

Yeah.

In particular for "hot" topics like this people should use the search function at the bottom of every HN page before rushing into post.

The last thing everyone needs is yet another duplicate post with hundreds of comments re-hashing the exact same comments that people already made before. It is not helpful for anyone.