UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs • Hacker News Board

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#191

Post by u8080 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 8:50 PM UTC

moritonal wrote: post #77

I don't get why the device changes the blame logic. If child-services knew a parent was constantly watching/leaving around adult-content near children, that'd be considered the parents fault. If a parent lets a kid watch anything they want on TV and the kid watches adult content, it's the parents fault. But if the parent gives the child a phone, and doesn't manage what apps they use or content they watch, now it's th…

Because this is push to identify and track internet users, noone genuinly cares about kids.

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#192

Post by u8080 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 8:54 PM UTC

uh_uh wrote: post #51

iamcalledrob wrote: post #48

Where does this end? Turtles all the way down. If VPNs require age verification, then people will shift to running a VPN on a cheap VPS. Probably via a popular single-click setup script. Or people will just get drawn to more seedy providers that do no KYC or have ulterior motives. If I was Russia, I'd consider operating a free VPN or VPS service that MITMs the traffic.

There will always be a way out if you are dedicated enough. They "just" want to make it unviable for most of the population.

Then they will simply advocate for state-wide DPI.

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#193

Post by u8080 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:03 PM UTC

hexbin010 wrote: post #119

cbeach wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Commons are even more hungry for pervasive online surveillance than the Lords - at least, while Labour and the Tories are in power. Reform UK (the party currently leading in the polls by a large margin) is the only party that loudly opposed the draconian measures within the Online Safety Act and promise to repeal it

Of course Rusform UK promise to repeal it - they want Russian trolls to have as much unfettered access to the British public as possible

Makes me giggle as Russian citizen since very similar rhetoric was used when establishing internet censorship in RU - let's protect our citizens from evil foreign entities from the internet.

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#194

Post by traceroute66 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:08 PM UTC

fartfeatures wrote: post #187

traceroute66 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For example https://obscura.net Obscura .... "Terms and the relationship between you and Obscura shall be governed by the laws of the State of New York" Yeah, erm. Now more than ever, trusting a US jurisdiction VPN provider ? No thanks !

> Now more than ever, trusting a US jurisdiction VPN provider ? No thanks ! The whole point of Obscura is you aren't trusting any single company. A Swedish company and an American company would need to collude to cause a problem. Unless you know something I don't?

> The whole point of Obscura is you aren't trusting any single company.

First, Mullvad's infrastructure has been independently audited.

Mullvad integrity has also tested as proven by a legal case where they were subject to a search warrant when someone was trying to claim copyright infringement.

As far as I can tell, Obscura has not had anywhere near the same scrutiny.

Second, obscura is the first hop is it not ?

Therefore it may well "only" relay the traffic to the exit node but it is still a relay and hence open to SIGINT analysis by the US.

I would have thought therefore using Mullvad's built-in multi-hop mode on their audited platform would be the wiser decision ?

Or Tor if you insist on multi-party ?

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#195

Post by u8080 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

akie wrote: post #88

giacomoforte wrote: post #70

Are there any remaining western countries with strong free speech protections? UK and Germany weren't ever good in this department but now worst than ever. US supposedly good but I wouldn't risk it in practice. Australia I hear is also quite bad. Canada and NZ I don't know. I expect Denmark and Sweden to have somewhat weak free speech laws too. Norway and Finland I expect to be good. France I expect to be just slight…

"Free speech" usually refers to the freedom to say what you want without the state giving you consequences for what you say. In Germany, for example, you can say almost anything you want and no-one will give a hoot. If you're truly interested, here's some background for Germany in particular https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/freedom-of-expr... And reporters without borders has a world press freedom index t…

>Central African Republic higher then Serbia

>Ukraine higher then Cyprus

LOL

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#196

Post by bjackman » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

chrisjj wrote: post #145

iamnothere wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That should be the parent’s choice, no?

That's what got us in to the current public health emergency. It is a luxury we cannot afford if we are to stand a chance to get out. https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s125

> It is a luxury we cannot afford

Privacy is a luxury we cannot afford?

When it was a luxury we couldn't afford because of "terrorism" I was doubtful. Now that it's a luxury we cannot afford because of the "public health" effects of teenagers using TikTok, I am starting to struggle to identify a good-faith argument.

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#197

Post by akie » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:37 PM UTC

u8080 wrote: post #195

akie wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Free speech" usually refers to the freedom to say what you want without the state giving you consequences for what you say. In Germany, for example, you can say almost anything you want and no-one will give a hoot. If you're truly interested, here's some background for Germany in particular https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/politics/freedom-of-expr... And reporters without borders has a world press freedom index t…

>Central African Republic higher then Serbia >Ukraine higher then Cyprus LOL

Do you want to elaborate and cite sources why that's funny, or do you just want to be snarky based on prejudice?

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#198

Post by chatmasta » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:47 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #39

chatmasta wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a lot more difficult to do this anonymously than it is to use a VPN. You almost certainly need to provide payment information and often also identity verification.

Probably about the same, there is a lot of VPS providers out there, and not a small amount accepts basically an email + cryptocurrencies without any further verification than that. And that's just on the clearweb, going beyond that you start having even more options.

Yeah, although the smaller providers, the sketchier they are. I'd rather use a VPN in a pool of thousands/millions of users. As a data point, I can signup for Proton VPN by downloading it to my iPhone and providing any email address. Without any payment, I can connect to VPN servers and browse anonymously ("anonymously"). This is certainly easier than provisioning a new VPS, not least because I need to pay for it.

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#199

Post by u8080 » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:48 PM UTC

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #83

phatfish wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are over thinking. This is to enforce age restrictions online which parents are overwhelmingly in favour of. Make the friction high enough for evading age restrictions and it will stop most kids. Not all but most. Same as most shops stop under age kids buying alcohol and most cinemas enforce age ratings. If you want to roll your own VPN go ahead. As far as the "dystopian" state of the UK goes. Even if the UK was…

> As far as the "dystopian" state of the UK goes. Even if the UK was a "distopia" the internet won't save you, even though people of a certain age like to think they can stop an authoritarian government from their keyboard. Take the US as a recent example, the bastion of free speech, but US citizens are being murdered by a government organisation. Posting memes from your VPN won't help. I understand what you mean but…

UK citizens already lost legislative war, now government has a valid enforcing reason for IP blocks, DPI, etc.

Just a recap how it happened in Russia:

1. First, year ~2015 legal framework was created under disguise of banning pirated media(specifically torrents.ru)(legislative push). State-wide DNS ban introduced. Very easy to circumvent via quering 8.8.8.8

2. Then, having legal basis, govt included extra stuff in banned list(casinos, terrorist orgs, etc)(executive push). IP bans introduced, applied very carefully.

3. Legal expanded allowing govt to ban specific media on very vague criterias(legislative push). IP blocks tried on some large websites. DPI hardware mandated to be installed by ISPs to filter by HTTPS SNI(executive push).

4. At ~2019 Roskomnadzor(RKN) created, special govt entity which enforces bans without court orders(legislative push).

5. ~2021 sites become banned if they are not filtering content by Russian laws by request of RKN(executive push). VPN services were obligated to also DPI-filter traffic(legislative push).

6. ~2023 Crackdown on VPN started(executive push). Popular commercial services were IP-banned, OpenVPN and IPSec connections selectively degraded by DPI.

7. ~2025 Heavy VPN filtering(vless, wireguard, etc) introduced(executive push). Performance of certain sites were degraded(youtube, twitter, etc).

Re: UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs

#200

Post by fartfeatures » Mon, Jan 26, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

traceroute66 wrote: post #194

fartfeatures wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now more than ever, trusting a US jurisdiction VPN provider ? No thanks ! The whole point of Obscura is you aren't trusting any single company. A Swedish company and an American company would need to collude to cause a problem. Unless you know something I don't?

> The whole point of Obscura is you aren't trusting any single company. First, Mullvad's infrastructure has been independently audited. Mullvad integrity has also tested as proven by a legal case where they were subject to a search warrant when someone was trying to claim copyright infringement. As far as I can tell, Obscura has not had anywhere near the same scrutiny. Second, obscura is the first hop is it not ? The…

Hence why Mullvad is being used as the exit point.

You have full e2ee between yourself and Mullvad but crucially Mullvad don't know who your IP. Five eyes are already doing SIGINT on behalf of both the US and the UK government before my connection even reaches Obscura so I lose nothing but potentially gain privacy.

How is it you think a single company (Mullvad) having access to my IP and what I am browsing is less secure than splitting it up amongst multiple providers one of which being Mullvad with that audited platform you talk about?

If I wanted Tor on top I'd layer it on top too but that would still be a single point of failure.