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

alecmuffett.com

331–340 of 499 posts

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

#331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Sounds like the plot of "Big Brother" by Cory Doctorow

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

#332
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On a related note, they built their digital ID so that third parties could verify attributes Isn’t that the entire point of government ID of any variety? The only reason anyone ever asks to see ID is so they can use it verify attributes of your identity, such as name and age. Otherwise what’s the point of an Identity Document , if it’s not to document something? Digital ID has always been sold as something approxim…

> Isn’t that the entire point of government ID of any variety? Ideally this could be done without deanonymizing accounts to service providers unless the user wants to for a 'verified' account linked to their identity publically but I don't think any digital ID system has been built that way. Imagine it acting like OAuth but instead of passing back an identity token it's just verification of age, platforms would store…

That's how EU's digital wallet is supposed to work:

> The selective disclosure of attributes will allow you to only share the specific information requested by a service provider, without revealing extra information.

> For example, with the selective disclosure of attributes you could choose to share your date of birth, but without revealing any other identifying details that could be used for profiling.

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-building-blocks/sites/spaces/EU...

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

#333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computers are too powerful, too subversive for us citizens to have access to. Give citizens computers and they can copy at will, making a mockery out of things like copyright, they'd wipe out entire sectors of the economy if left unchecked. Give citizens computers and they will have cryptography which can defeat police, judges, governments, spies, militaries. They cannot tolerate it. They will eventually lock everyth…

The other side of this coin is that, disgusting horrific pedophiles, terrorists and drug smugglers also have access to this stuff too. I'm not in support of this bill, I'm just saying whenever I read these arguments, it's almost like you're entirely discounting the challenge the very tech your praising incurs for law enforcement and society. For me the paradox is simple, one the one hand people want everything to be…

I support transparency for institutions and privacy for individuals. Not the other way around.

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

#334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other side of this coin is that, disgusting horrific pedophiles, terrorists and drug smugglers also have access to this stuff too. I'm not in support of this bill, I'm just saying whenever I read these arguments, it's almost like you're entirely discounting the challenge the very tech your praising incurs for law enforcement and society. For me the paradox is simple, one the one hand people want everything to be…

I support transparency for institutions and privacy for individuals. Not the other way around.

What about when a group of individuals forms an institution that's self serving and harmful to other citizens, and they're able to do a lot of this under the guise of "privacy"?

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

#335
“If Parliament enacts that smoking in the streets of Paris is an offence, then it is an offence”

This is not an enforceable law. It seems predicated on the notion that VPNs can only exist as a commercial product, but all you need is two computers connected to the internet.

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

#337

I know what you're thinking: these restrictions are easy to work around. But don't worry, we can just layer more restrictions on top. Eventually the children will be safe! The government just needs to... - require proof of age (ID) to install apps from unofficial sources on your phone or PC. Probably best to block this at both the OS and also popular VPN downloading sites like github.com and debian.org. - require pro…

[deleted]

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

#338

The UK has turned into the worst parts of 1984. The politicians are absolutely stark raving mad at this point, what a horrible country to be living in.

I'm not at all a fan of mass surveillance, but is it possible - just possible - that your statement might contain just a smidge of hyperbole?

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

#339

“If Parliament enacts that smoking in the streets of Paris is an offence, then it is an offence” This is not an enforceable law. It seems predicated on the notion that VPNs can only exist as a commercial product, but all you need is two computers connected to the internet.

Not totally enforceable, but there are not a whole lot of people with connections in other countries willing to host VPNs for them. Most people don't even know what a VPN really is.

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

#340

The UK has turned into the worst parts of 1984. The politicians are absolutely stark raving mad at this point, what a horrible country to be living in.

I'm not at all a fan of mass surveillance, but is it possible - just possible - that your statement might contain just a smidge of hyperbole?

10,000+ arrests a year for posting offensive tweets? The fact there is no freedom of speech in UK and the politicians will willfully arrest people for wrongthink is disgusting. It means that any rational person will keep their mouths shut for fear of getting arrested.
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