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Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

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Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#111

Post by charcircuit »

kbrkbr wrote: post #95

After Wisconsin finds out how to reliably filter vpn, they can then teach Netflix and Akamai how to do it. Last time I checked modestly reliable geoblocking existed, and completely unreliable vpn blocking. A friend told me that when he comes across a site for which Nordvpn is blocked, he just changes IP. Latest the third one always works, even on YouTube (he is all about privacy).

You don't have to reliably block something to make a law against it. Murder is illegal despite the government not figuring out how to reliably stop people from murdering each other.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#112

Post by hdgvhicv »

tim333 wrote: post #71
tamimio wrote: post #13

20 years ago the boogeyman was "the terrorists!" And now the boogeyman is "not the children!!" Or "immigrants!!" Depending on your audience's political views, but the ultimate goal is more surveillance, more control and more power abuse by who’s in control.

That doesn't match what I've seen in UK politics.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn438z3ejxyo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0epennv98lo

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/digital-id-cards-ill-stop-ille...

Terrorism still crops up occasionally but the rhetoric has certainly expanded.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#113

Post by VortexLain »

TZubiri wrote: post #20

>So when Wisconsin demands that websites "block VPN users from Wisconsin," they're asking for something that's technically impossible. Websites have no way to tell if a VPN connection is coming from Milwaukee, Michigan, or Mumbai. The technology just doesn't work that way. https://youtu.be/Pr4v725LPOE?si=ih3gfTSpiHumtrFs&t=79 "That's not how apps work" "Then make it work you think we are stupid but we are not, we kno…

They probably know that the technology doesn't work this way. But such law will force websites to block ALL VPN connections even for users not from Wisconsin, and that's the plan.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#114

Post by tim333 »

stavros wrote: post #88
tim333 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you can't freely force social networks like HN to tie nicknames to a state IDs. Just because some politician said that doesn't make it so.

You can, though. That's what laws are.

HN is US based. You'll have fun getting a law like that through in the US, or even the UK or EU. They do have a law like that in China I think.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#115

Post by willis936 »

InMice wrote: post #98

Of course, what if I use an SSH tunnel instead as that normally suffices a lot easier for me. It's basically the same underlying libraries? They would have to regulate the use of libssl, libcrypto, etc. This makes no sense lol. Am I going to find myself in jail one day for "Unregulated use of a private/public key pair?"

That depends on if you are poor and/or considered a political enemy. Where is the party of small government?

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#116

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

kbrkbr wrote: post #95

After Wisconsin finds out how to reliably filter vpn, they can then teach Netflix and Akamai how to do it. Last time I checked modestly reliable geoblocking existed, and completely unreliable vpn blocking. A friend told me that when he comes across a site for which Nordvpn is blocked, he just changes IP. Latest the third one always works, even on YouTube (he is all about privacy).

You misunderstand. When they "ban VPNs", it's not that the VPN police will be patrolling your neighborhood trying to catch you using Mulvad or whatever. Instead, the AG will send a letter to the VPN provider, threatening to prosecute them for selling an illegal service. And they will comply and shut down. Once the commercial services are gone, it won't matter that you could hide your own VPN usage in a practical sense, because 1 in 100 people have the resources, technical expertise, and time to set up their own VPN server offshore. Furthermore, it may be cost prohibitive... I'm spending $3/month or so. I can't spend $250/month on this. And if I could, it will just break more often, I won't get the 99% uptime I usually get either.

Something that's extraordinarily low effort will become exceedingly high effort, and this will achieve their goals.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#117

Post by tim333 »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #112
tim333 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't match what I've seen in UK politics.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn438z3ejxyo https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0epennv98lo https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/digital-id-cards-ill-stop-ille... Terrorism still crops up occasionally but the rhetoric has certainly expanded.

I was querying that the motivation is control and power abuse more than protecting children. I live in the UK and know people that go into politics. A lot want to protect children. People can be over cynical about assuming everyone is evil.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#118

Post by autoexec »

create-username wrote: post #5

Why ban VPNs when you can freely force social networks like HN to tie nickname registration to an state issued digital ID certificate to guarantee freedom of speech and legal accountability? https://old.reddit.com/r/XGramatikInsights/comments/1ovd88s/...

> you can freely force social networks like HN to tie nickname registration to an state issued digital ID certificate to guarantee freedom of speech

Nothing guarantees free speech like making it trivial to keep a copy of everything everyone says that can always be tracked back to their real identity! No way that could have a chilling effect on perfectly normal speech.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#119

Post by autoexec »

tim333 wrote: post #114
stavros wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, though. That's what laws are.

HN is US based. You'll have fun getting a law like that through in the US, or even the UK or EU. They do have a law like that in China I think.

There's a lot of things that used to be unthinkable in the US. Things that only evil governments in other (usually communist) countries did, but which now happen in the USA. It turns out there's not as much of a difference as you might think, and not much you can do to change that.

Re: Lawmakers want to ban VPNs

#120

Post by James_K »

It seems it would be much more effective to regulate ISPs, requiring them to disallow users from accessing adult sites and VPNs without first verifying their age. This also wouldn't be a violation of privacy since you are already giving your ISP your physical address. The only place users would be expected to identify themselves is over public wifi.
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