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VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

birminghammail.co.uk

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Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#321

Post by swat535 »

_el3m3n7 wrote: post #190
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #89

In Russia, they claimed that new measures to block websites are necessary to protect the children online. Of course, they immediately used these new capabilities to block opposition websites and sources critical of the government. Now, seeing many European governments tirelessly push for these new measures to protect the children , I'm pretty sure that the children are finally going to be safe online.

If you are talking about the recent blockades of VPNs, the Russians made it pretty clear that they did not want western information sources inside the country. I am not sure it was ever in the guise of protecting the children

Same with Iran, they clearly said that their control of internet access it prevent Western influence, as a national security issue. China did something similar with their firewall.

I personally think the era of free and unrestricted Internet is coming to an end. All the nations in the West are following suit, including Canada with the introduction of C-34.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#322

Post by iLoveOncall »

4ndrewl wrote: post #70

Some context - Birmingham Mail is one of dozens of clickbait-driven publications owned by Reach plc. They're not a high quality source of news - they've more than decimated their journalism staff and replaced them with 'content' staff who are performance monitored on the number of clicks their articles generate. Content is syndicated in different accents across their range of papers from the national papers, The Mirr…

The article is based on a direct quote given to the BBC, which you can find the original article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9824zvpz9po

The link is 100% true in this case.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#323

Post by iamnothere »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #272
drdexebtjl wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

News agencies don’t do personalized curation. Every reader, at least from the same city, gets exactly the same content.

> Every reader, at least from the same city, gets exactly the same content That alone is a value add people don't realize even as they're losing it: it created a shared reality you and locals inhabited, that you could have a conversation about.

It also helped quite a bit with narrative enforcement.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#324

Post by iamnothere »

cherryteastain wrote: post #257
NegativeK wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't want perfection. They want to move things forward, for their definition of forward. If they ban bog standard VPNs and find out they're still being used, they'll punish the VPN companies. If the VPN companies create workarounds and avoid the punishment, they'll punish the payment processors. If the VPN companies start using esoteric workarounds and taking cryptocurrency for payment, then they've mostly won…

Mullvad already does all of the things you mentioned. Cryptocurrency payments with no KYC, and many anti-censorship [1] methods. Moreover, their mobile and desktop apps apply heuristics to find combinations of anti-censorship measures that work automatically. It's very user friendly (all the user needs to do is press on connect). So, the blocking attempts are still pointless because large, prominent providers already…

Mullvad also accepts anonymous cash in an envelope, which should be simple enough even for Luddites (until they finally ban cash).

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#325

Post by phs318u »

tlb wrote: post #238
soupbowl wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Us peasants cannot stop this, Canada will roll this out soon also, its being rammed through no matter what people feel.

In terms of political power, programmers are more like yeomen than peasants. Yeomen have power due to their essential skills because if a good fraction of them stopped working the system would collapse. (Whereas if peasants stop working, they just starve.) If a sufficient number of programmers said "We're not going to implement or support privacy-invading systems" the government would have to back down.

Sadly, your faith is entirely quixotic. Like all other segments of society, there’s always a cohort willing to do anything - regardless of ethics, legality or morality. They are entirely nihilistic, not giving a shit about anything or anyone. And it only takes a small number of such people to do great harm.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#326

Post by liveoneggs »

subscribed wrote: post #288
liveoneggs wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but isn't it the labour party pushing this?

Labour-in-the-name-only is a far right at the moment (left to Tories and Farage on social issues, right of Tories and almost at Farage on domestic and international affairs). Once Starmer hijacked the party based on the scammy set of pledges[1], he promptly started removing of anyone remotely "leftist", then started competing with Tories in cruelty and with Reform at hostility. Yeah, that labour party. [1] https://ww…

how would EU nationals have "full voting rights"?

Anyway 4/10 explicitly mention going against the Tory party, which is also a classic mistake of weakness.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#327

Post by iamnothere »

mhluongo wrote: post #169
inigyou wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, can you explain what that looks like in practice or is it just some abstract feel-good words?

Sure! With my kids it's meant not buying them internet-enabled devices (or disabling the internet access, eg smart TVs), only having 1 family computer in a shared space, and managing my own local network. There also aren't screens in the house through the week. On the flip side, I let them read whatever they want, including things that are upsetting or that other parents would say aren't appropriate, and I talk to th…

“But I don’t want to be a responsible parent, I want to destroy the unrestricted internet.”

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#328

Post by phs318u »

mc32 wrote: post #261
Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #89

In Russia, they claimed that new measures to block websites are necessary to protect the children online. Of course, they immediately used these new capabilities to block opposition websites and sources critical of the government. Now, seeing many European governments tirelessly push for these new measures to protect the children , I'm pretty sure that the children are finally going to be safe online.

Also the UK arrests people for online posts more than Russia, China or Belarus. It seems clear the gov wants to control all forms of speech and if they could control speech at home they would too further, I have little doubt if they could control your thoughts they would too. They’d be more than delighted to have people wear shock collars that shock wearers as they stray from received though patterns.

> the UK arrests people for online posts more than Russia, China or Belarus

Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. You’ve made an unsubstantiated assertion. I won’t hold my breath waiting for any references to support your ridiculous claim.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#329

Post by dryarzeg »

subscribed wrote: post #304
dryarzeg wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You seriously think the government has a clear, honest reasons, as stated? What made you think that I think so?

I inferred this from the attempt at looking at the positive outcomes of that.

Then I should assume that your "inference" ignores common sense, because nowhere in my comments was I praising some governments, either Russian or European, for their action. I merely pointed out that now, probably, some people from Europe may try to apply Russian experience at circumventing censorship, bans and "network blockades". That's a good thing in the context of this whole situation, because you don't have to figure everything out on your own, from the ground up - you already have some practical examples, researches, and, what's more important - allies. Maybe I'm dramatizing a bit here, but the way was already paved out - you just have to follow the path.

Now could you, please, show to me where exactly was I saying something positive about governments?

From my personal point of view and from my own experience, you have to look for positives if it's possible. The fact that you're still alive is already a positive, even if you're underground taking cover from bombshells and thinking that you may die tomorrow. If you're not looking for positive, you will loose your will to live and, eventually, you will die. Maybe that's making me look too optimistic, but for me that's literally the matter of survival. Sorry if my position was not clear from the beginning.

Re: VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'

#330

Post by phs318u »

baranul wrote: post #99
Retr0id wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is there to research? Yes, VPNs can be used to circumvent geofences (and by extension, regional age restrictions). Yes, attempting to age-restrict VPNs is at odds with strong privacy guarantees. Privacy is a human right, and one which is essential for effective democracy.

But that's the point, circumvent democracy, to set the stage for techno-fascism. The citizen has no rights which the state is bound to respect.

Set the stage? Techno-fascism is already here. Private conglomerates own all the 21st century “commons” that matter and can already de-platform you at will with no explanation and no recourse, including from those platforms necessary for survival in the modern world (banking/payments).

If anything, (western) governments are late to this game.

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