After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes • Hacker News Board

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#51

Post by david-gpu » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

perihelions wrote: post #44

david-gpu wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does anybody care that their porn viewing habits become public? To me it sounds as ridiculous as somebody threatening to publish a log of the food we eat or the music we listen to.

Empirically, there's a sizeable market of people willing to pay thousands to keep their porn viewing from becoming public. Prenda Law[0,1] was an extortion racket that blackmailed people with their porn history, and demanded in the region of $4,000 per victim. Their total revenue was at least $15 million, that the courts could find. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=prenda

I don't doubt that it happens, but I am asking about why. What's the thinking process?

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#52

Post by layer8 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

phit_ wrote: post #22

sltkr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that surprising? After the US, the three largest Western countries are Germany (which already banned Pornhub), the UK and France, but the UK and France are virtually tied in terms of population, so it was always going to be a tossup between the two.

what makes you think it's banned in Germany?

Probably this: https://www.heise.de/en/news/Munich-Administrative-Court-Por...

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#53

Post by morkalork » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

pkkkzip wrote: post #34

I always wonder what it takes to start a VPN? It's super saturated yet there's clear winners. Also I wonder how the operator is able to side step liability for obvious illegal use cases. The internet has become a very hostile place and its not just surveillance but peer to peer political persecution where someone doesn't follow the script or believe the same thing they do and they lash out and try to censor them by m…

Seems to be one of those commodities where some winners are only by virtue of advertising, if all the NordVPN sponsorship jokes are true. There's also sketchy providers that double-dip aren't there? Residential customers pay once for a VPN and commercial customers pay again for residential IPs used for scraping and proxying.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#54

Post by david-gpu » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 5:58 PM UTC

coolio1232 wrote: post #39

david-gpu wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anybody even want to know the porn you watch? And what would they do about it, or how would that affect you? "Hey, Jimmy, I went searching for your porn habits and found that you are into fat redheads. Shame on you, shame on you. You are now excommunicated from... Somewhere" . How is this not a much bigger social faux pas for the accuser rather than the accused?

Do you expect people to hold up the so-called faux pas or Jimmy's absolutely hilarious fat redhead fetish that his coworkers will be giving him the stink-eye for a few months before everyone forgets about it?

I can't imagine judging a coworker for liking fat redheads, or any other sexual preference. None of my business, and none of my interest. Just as if they like sports cars, or any other preference, really.

And why would want to keep in touch with a coworker that gives a damn about what other people want to fuck? I would go straight to HR for harassment, first of all.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#55

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 5:59 PM UTC

littlestymaar wrote: post #45

I don't even understand why people bother, given that there a millions of porn sites out there, why would you stick to pornhub in particular?

[deleted]

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#56

Post by sltkr » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

phit_ wrote: post #22

sltkr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that surprising? After the US, the three largest Western countries are Germany (which already banned Pornhub), the UK and France, but the UK and France are virtually tied in terms of population, so it was always going to be a tossup between the two.

what makes you think it's banned in Germany?

https://netzpolitik.org/2025/porno-streit-vor-gericht-darf-d...

Skimming this it sounds like pornhub is/was at least partially blocked on the ISP level. Not sure about the extent of the blockage today but I could imagine that these blocks put a dent in their user numbers.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#57

Post by mirekrusin » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC

it_citizen wrote: post #13

JodieBenitez wrote: post #4

Because apparently french parents can't handle the education of their children.

Clearly they cannot. They had already banned selling alcohol to kids.

Drugs too. Doesn't seem to stop ones that want to do it though by looking at some neighbourhoods.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#58

Post by mdp2021 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:03 PM UTC

SkiFire13 wrote: post #42

SpicyLemonZest wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a big cultural gap here. To people who are concerned about porn, it's like asking why we have to stop children from buying handles of vodka. Can't you just educate them to avoid drinking to excess? No, you can't, they don't have that level of self-control yet. Isn't it unfair to the responsible bakers who just want a really tender pie crust? Yes, it is, but they're going to have to deal with it. Won't a deter…

> it's like asking why we have to stop children from buying handles of vodka I would argue that part of the answer is because with vodka they can easily harm themselves. However this doesn't hold for porn.

> with vodka they can easily harm themselves

And others.

Which is relevant, because other resources (e.g. those relevant here) can reduce or abate sexual misconduct, for many, or maybe boost it for some - depending on the profile. Some will be satisfied (and stay at that), some other will be kindled.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#59

Post by layer8 » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:04 PM UTC

throe83949449 wrote: post #7

Lovely, people would go to prison, just to see some porn! > engaging in illegal activities while using a VPN remains prohibited under French law. https://medium.com/@green21/is-vpn-legal-in-france-exploring... France has very stupid and strict laws, that apply accross borders! For example paternity test gets you two years, even when physically done in another country!

It’s illegal for porn sites in France to operate without imposing age verification. That doesn’t mean that it’s illegal for French residents to use porn sites without age verification.

Re: After Pornhub left France, this VPN saw a 1,000% surge in signups in 30 minutes

#60

Post by morkalork » Sat, Jun 07, 2025, 6:05 PM UTC

david-gpu wrote: post #32

azrrik wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

people have things they don't want everyone to know. how is wanting a small amount of privacy ridiculous?

Why would anybody even want to know the porn you watch? And what would they do about it, or how would that affect you? "Hey, Jimmy, I went searching for your porn habits and found that you are into fat redheads. Shame on you, shame on you. You are now excommunicated from... Somewhere" . How is this not a much bigger social faux pas for the accuser rather than the accused?

Post your browsing history and a list of your co-worker's and family's emails then, let's put your theory to the test. Bonus points if you post it to kiwifarms too.