Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

alecmuffett.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 499 posts

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#121

Post by matheusmoreira »

azalemeth wrote: post #54

It's also worth stating that the worst part of that proposed amendment [1] isn't even necessarily the VPN ban, it's the next clause, on page 20: "The “CSAM requirement” is that any relevant device supplied for use in the UK must have installed tamper-proof system software which is highly effective at preventing the recording, transmitting (by any means, including livestreaming) and viewing of CSAM using that device."…

> any relevant device supplied for use in the UK must have installed tamper-proof system software

It's happening. Computer freedom, everything the word "hacker" ever stood for, will be officially destroyed if this passes. We're about to be robbed of control over our computers by force of law. It's just the UK now but eventually it will be every country.

This is a very dark day. I've been prophesizing its arrival for a while now. I was secretly hoping I was wrong about everything, that we'd turn this around, that we'd enshrine a right to control our computers into law. The opposite is happening instead. It's so sad...

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#122

Post by 4bpp »

cj wrote: post #81
piker wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While figures show that the total number of arrests for online posts fell to 9,700 last year, down from a record 13,800 in 2023... https://freespeechunion.org/daily-mail-investigation-exposes...

I thought Daily Mail was close to tabloid status (or a bit above). Aren’t they banned from being a citation on Wikipedia?

It is by no means a good publication, but at the same time being accepted as a citation on Wikipedia or not is not necessarily a particularly objective measure of quality. I recommend reading https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wik... for the critical perspective on Wikipedia's integrity in this regard.

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#124

Post by SpaceManNabs »

to11mtm wrote: post #42
SpaceManNabs wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to see these kinds of comments more in this thread compared to the one from yesterday. The one from yesterday was discussing how australia is banning social media for anyone under 16. Most comments were supportive because they hate social media. A few comments were discussing how it is just a way to propagate more KYC.

I think the separation is in how 'algorithmic engagement' in social media is at least as dangerous as stuff that even the US still has banned in other forms of media [0]. Especially because it's gotten so bad . At first it was just 'making things popular in your network more visible'. But now it's to where when I use something like Facebook there is more 'algorithm spam' than anything actually happening with my frien…

Completely fair.

My point is more so that these are both approaches to push more KYC.

And many comments in here understand that this particular ban is using "for the kids" as an excuse, so why didn't the other thread have more comments recognizing this excuse?

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#125

Post by varispeed »

int32_64 wrote: post #26

It's so organic and grass roots and good for democracy™ that every single Western country suddenly decided that eliminating privacy online in lockstep was the top priority despite none of the ruling parties running on it as a platform or with any meaningful referendums from the voting public. But to what end?

> Role and responsibilities of MI5 in law

> The Security Service Act 1989 sets out our functions and gives some examples of the nature and range of threats we work to disrupt.

> In summary, our functions are:

> to protect national security against threats from espionage, terrorism and > sabotage, from the activities of agents of foreign powers, and from actions intended to overthrow or undermine parliamentary democracy by political, industrial or violent means

Imagine you and I pay likely billions a year and these jokers just let asset managers like Larry Fink influence policies affecting fundamental rights of British people like it's nothing.

The country is corrupt beyond belief and soon we will wake up in corporate prison as slaves.

See:

https://thewinepress.substack.com/p/tokenization-blackrocks-...

https://www.cityam.com/reeves-and-starmer-meet-blackrocks-la...

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-digital-id-scheme-to-...

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#126

Post by bondarchuk »

iamacyborg wrote: post #57

What is it about these UK politics posts that draws a particular type of commenter? What the heck media are these folks consuming to have such a warped view of this country?

You can just read it on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingd...

("(Redirected from Freedom of speech in the United Kingdom)" kind of funny innit)

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#127

Post by cortic »

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #55
baazaa wrote: post #36

On a related note, they built their digital ID so that third parties could verify attributes (it's NOT just a single-service login across government + a linking ID across government services, which is how it was sold by the BBC). They're pretty close to completely de-anonymising the internet for UK citizens. Say they introduce an Australian-style social media ban for under 16s, then requires all social media to link…

> Keep in mind the UK already arrests and imprisons vast numbers of people for speech offences. Vast? No, they really don't.

[flagged]

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#128

Post by chriswarbo »

TSiege wrote: post #53
ascorbic wrote: post #22

This is one of dozens of amendments proposed by members, so it's more accurate to say "three members of the House of Lords attempting to ban the use of VPNs".

I'm not from the UK but I thought the house of lords is largely a vestigial legislative body and has no serious power. Am I wrong there?

Legislation often bounces back and forth between the Commons and the Lords a few times. The Lords won't block things which have a strong mandate, e.g. things promised in an election manifesto; but they can at least stall and amend things.

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#129

Post by iamacyborg »

SpaceManNabs wrote: post #20
Beestie wrote: post #18

So lemme guess - in order to prove one's age, one needs to obtain a digital ID and use said ID to gain access to the internet thereby creating a perfect system to monitor one's internet activity. Gotta hand it to them - "protecting the children" is a pretty good pretext.

Interesting to see these kinds of comments more in this thread compared to the one from yesterday. The one from yesterday was discussing how australia is banning social media for anyone under 16. Most comments were supportive because they hate social media. A few comments were discussing how it is just a way to propagate more KYC.

Posts about the UK tend to draw quite a lot of weird astroturfing from the ultra free speech crowd.

Re: UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16

#130

Post by GaryBluto »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #121
azalemeth wrote: post #54

It's also worth stating that the worst part of that proposed amendment [1] isn't even necessarily the VPN ban, it's the next clause, on page 20: "The “CSAM requirement” is that any relevant device supplied for use in the UK must have installed tamper-proof system software which is highly effective at preventing the recording, transmitting (by any means, including livestreaming) and viewing of CSAM using that device."…

> any relevant device supplied for use in the UK must have installed tamper-proof system software It's happening. Computer freedom, everything the word "hacker" ever stood for, will be officially destroyed if this passes. We're about to be robbed of control over our computers by force of law . It's just the UK now but eventually it will be every country. This is a very dark day. I've been prophesizing its arrival for…

I wouldn't give up. When it gets to the level of mandatory government rootkits there are bound to be underground organisations circumventing this and/or trading old hardware.

I'd even go as far to say that if things become this authoritarian, certain "direct" acts would be justified in preventing or fighting it.

Post reply on HN