It's official: Utah is the U.S. state closest to banning VPNs

Post by Barbing » Wed, May 06, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

bigbadfeline wrote: post #164

Barbing wrote: post #70

“The internet is built to, and will always, route around censorship. If Utah successfully hampers commercial VPN providers, motivated users will transition to non-commercial proxies, private tunnels through cloud services like AWS, or residential proxies that are virtually indistinguishable from standard home traffic. These workarounds will emerge within hours of the law taking effect. Meanwhile, the collateral damag…

> Utah legislators should know the reason the EFF makes this statement is that it’s true. Well, it's not true, and Utah's legislators know better than the EFF. The whole idea that political restrictions can be fixed by technical means is a scam. Simply put, today Utah - tomorrow the universe. This didn't start in Utah and it won't end there. The piecemeal removal of privacy and freedoms has reached an advanced stage…

I see what you mean. Within hours workarounds WILL be implemented, but they aren't perfect, aren't for all of us, and won't work forever.

Post by ramesh31 » Thu, May 07, 2026, 1:35 PM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #185

ramesh31 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>IMO, this is one of the main strengths of the US: you have 50 different options to live according to your values and beliefs, and relatively little friction if you decide to move to a state that better reflects them. Also a weakness. Utah, one of the most stunningly beautiful states in the union, is completely under the grip of a regressive theocracy that has controlled nearly every aspect of life there for over a c…

regressive tho it may be, I'd rather live in Utah than most of the South. I'd take SLC over all of Mississippi, for example. The VPN thing skews that a little more -- and is hilarious given how it's like the state that is largest consumer of internet porn -- but the city is far more livable than people give it credit.

>regressive tho it may be, I'd rather live in Utah than most of the South.

Yeah fair you got me there

Re: It's official: Utah is the U.S. state closest to banning VPNs

Re: It's official: Utah is the U.S. state closest to banning VPNs