this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Hello ,

As the title says what happens if theUK requires age verification for VPN’s or makes it illegal to use them?

Does that mean everyone will move to tor or I2P?

It seems if the UK gov keep pushing their agenda under the guise of protecting children people will increasingly go dark .

I guess what I’m asking is how does everyone think this will unfold?

M

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[–] Majestic@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If the UK is serious about blocking VPNs that don't comply they'll mostly succeed for the big ones. They'll get them removed from app stores which will prevent most normies from finding and using them. They'll apply network blocks to their entrance IP addresses (laughably easy, there are commercial vendors who sell data like this so they don't even need to invent the wheel here) and make it difficult. They wouldn't be able to prevent truly determined VPN providers from providing service but the days of $4/month for privacy/torrenting would be gone as the prices would likely be higher and you'd have to do things like mail cash.

Beyond the known IPs, VPN traffic is fairly easy to flag with DPI solutions and could be detected and blocked or dropped by ISPs acting under the law. This could also be used to stop people running tunnels to hosted VPS solutions outside of the country or run by friends from their homes. There are obviously ways around these, disguising traffic, various techniques but for most people they'd give up and either stop browsing porn or cough up their ID. Of course this would create a dangerous state of affairs where anyone using a VPN without being KYC'ed is clearly a criminal, at the very least a suspected video pirate, at the most a dangerous child predator or terrorist.

Additionally the UK isn't like Russia or China, lots of western CEOs and employees pass through and within its jurisdictions and if a particular VPN is providing service without this they could try and arrest c-suite people or engineering staff associated with it and slam them with jail time. So that's a problem.

[–] mysticmartz@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I know you aren’t saying this. But it’s not just porn that’s the issue. It’s the wider scope this act encompasses and a trend other govs could follow. I use porn sure , but imagine your facial and sexual preferences leaking. What if you come from a religious family and you’re a lesbian and pitted by this?

[–] mires_trie_4k@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Even worse than this. What if the government suddenly makes abortions illegal, or use it to round up LBGTQ people, or people with immigration status’s that aren’t standard. Even without going USA dystopian, a person under the age of 18 that is abused by a caregiver and needs to privately visit websites that would give help and advice. The use of the rule to limit free speech and the inability for small websites and groups to not be able to manage the technical ramifications of stopping actual 18+ content, so just put up an age restriction to protect themselves means lots of free resources with no actual 18+ content are being shuttered.

And yet a child can still easily get to 18+ content and content of harm through Nintendo chat or their text messages and chat with others.

It’s a bit like when a games manufacturer makes your new game you purchase have to be connected to the internet so they know you are not cheating or stealing their game. It adds barriers for legitimate users and purchasers yet people pirating or cheating have ways to get around it and actually have a better game experience than those that are playing by the rules.

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