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Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

tomshardware.com

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Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#181

Post by Nifty3929 »

bloppe wrote: post #152

There's tension between this law and the 14th, 5th and 1st amendments. Due process doctrine from the 5th and 14th establish unconstitutional vagueness. A law cannot be so vague as to be impossible to comply with. This law requires websites to enforce a ban based on information they don't have access to. Without explain how they might possibly achieve that aim, it can be considered unconstitutionally vague. The 1st am…

I'm not convinced. I use a VPN basically always, and frequently get blocked by VPN detectors. It's not perfect - sometimes switching VPN servers/providers gets me past it, but websites can employ VPN-detection technology. Then they just block you, which is what this is all about. Force companies to start blocking VPN traffic. It'll be at the individual site level for a while, then at the ISP level in a few years.

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#182

Post by tardedmeme »

pbasista wrote: post #79

What is the motivation for such a measure? In other words, which problem is it trying to solve? And how it is supposed to do so? I think that we should not carelessly invent laws that just "sound good" to some lawmakers but have no real fact checking done to support them and are not backed by science. Because, in my opinion, then there is a high risk that these "good intentions" will backfire spectacularly. While not…

I believe the perceived problem is that people in Utah are watching porn.

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#184

Post by Nifty3929 »

bloppe wrote: post #123
nunez wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Easily. Host them on the cloud providers? You get banned. Host them in your homelab and the ISP finds out? You get your Internet cut. How will either of them find out? IP addresses and/or DPI. All it'll take is an executive order or an act of Congress.

Truly enforcing this kind of ban would require a level of control over the internet much greater than China's. They actually do ban VPN use, yet plenty of Chinese people still use them, and not due to lack of trying on the part of the enforcers. You can basically never plug all the holes without essentially shutting off the whole internet. China spends roughly $6.6B censoring their internet every year [1]. Much of th…

They don't need perfect enforcement, or even good enforcement. The purpose is to make VPN use criminal. Then you have a large group of people getting away with criminal activity which you can go after on an individual case-by-case basis, depending on your level of compliance or troublemaking in other areas.

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#187

Post by flemhans »

mvdwoord wrote: post #60
2ndorderthought wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Utah hosts I think the biggest nsa data center. Honestly, I would like my ISP to block all traffic to and from Utah if this law passes. I can't think of anything I want or need that involves that state.

Without it being good or bad (long term, second order effects), I do think all of these (proposed) laws and where we are heading will balkanize the internet. Alternative tech may sound appealing to the tinkerers, and they may keep certain important channels alive (think radio amateurs... they know this game) but for the masses? I already happily block entire countries or regions to my VPS as there is zero benefit for…

Which countries are you already blocking?

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#188

Post by wartywhoa23 »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #99
bilbo0s wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep reading this but I don't understand how a company might want to push censorship on users. We're being astroturf-ed guy. The comment you're responding to. The comments responding to you. All shaped by influence campaigns from the beginning. Meta, X, google, data based big tech, the billionaires, and the government were in on the plan from the start. We were always the ones kept in the dark as to the ultimate in…

Can you describe in detail the end game and how you came to know it?

The endgame is perfectly described in Orwell's 1984 and certain Protocols.

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#189

Post by Nifty3929 »

bilsbie wrote: post #120

I really miss the 90s. Can someone make a new internet that’s like that?

Me too! Where is the wild-west? The independent sites and dark corners with weird stuff? Those were fun times. It felt like I was an explorer in a new place helping to also build and contribute to that place. Now it's basically like interactive TV or something.

Are BBS's still a thing?

Re: Utah to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs

#190

Post by 2ndorderthought »

wartywhoa23 wrote: post #166
2ndorderthought wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was an easy way to geolocate ip addresses by us state. It's not too hard to block everything from say russia.

Let's all block whole countries just because our propagandists brainwashed us so, yay, what an Internet that'll be!

I haven't had a single person in my life or social media inform me of a single thing I have missed out on since blocking Russia and several other hostile nations with my firewall. I've been doing this for about 15 years. No regrets so far.

I understand your philosophy but it doesn't match my reality.

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