Stop ministers using VPNs to watch child porn.
Told!
Stop children using VPNs to watch porn, ministers told
Submitted 16 hours ago by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn438z3ejxyo
Comments
aeronmelon@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
sunbeam60@lemmy.ml 4 hours ago
Do the government ministers understand that setting up your own VPN is literally a 5 minute operation.
Hire a droplet VM, pre-installed with a server OS. Log in with provided credentials. sudo apt install docker Copy/paste a docker compose file that sets up a wg-easy container. Create a peer. Take a picture of the provided QR code. Connect to the server via a wireguard app. Done.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world 47 minutes ago
Are they going to ban VMs?
They will keep banning things until they feel they have absolute control over the internet.
vane@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Stop fucking but make children.
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 8 hours ago
If they were really after kids watching porn (or even porn in general) it would be technically somewhat simple to force ISPs to provide filters on their end as a subscription service. I’m pretty sure I’ve even heard that kind of services in the past. Make it even opt-out if you really want to.
That way ISPs would just ban everything from pornhub and others unless you spesifically want it allowed or even provide a portal where you could block reddit, twitter, tumblr or whatever you wish on your account. That kind of technology already exists and it’s used on many corporate setups.
There’s obviously ways around that, but there’s no technical way to block every possible way to move bits between computers. Even if they would shut down the whole internet there’s still ways to build mesh-networks or even buy USB-drives from a shady alley.
But as we all know, it’s not about porn and not about children.
x00z@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
You can’t block porn completely without blocking VPNs. If you connect to a VPN that’s all they can see. They can not see what you use the VPN for.
jim3692@discuss.online 4 hours ago
You can’t block VPNs without blocking the entire internet. You can block known VPN services, but you can’t prevent people from hosting their own.
Some known VPN protocols could be blocked, using introspection tools. However, this would just render corporate VPNs useless. VPN traffic is just bytes, and so is WebSockets. Good luck figuring out whether my HTTPS traffic is legitimate internet traffic, or masked VPN traffic.
jjlinux@lemmy.zip 1 hour ago
Depends on the VPN
IsoKiero@sopuli.xyz 7 hours ago
VPN, Tor (and similar, like I2P), every imaginable P2P network, proxies, all non-http protocols (smtp, ftp, nntp, xmpp and other instant messengers and so on) can all transfer any kind of data, porn included. And a ton of other things. Heck, I’m quite sure there’s a minecraft mod where you can assemble JPG-images out of the blocks and view them that way. And then you can use stuff like uuendoce where you can use anything that can move plain text to transfer binary data.
There’s no way to block all of that unless you shut the whole internet down. And even then you can still trade good old playboy-magazines with your friends. VPN in itself has very little to do with the actual problem, beyond that someone apparently noticed that their current “save-the-children” iteration had pretty large holes in it.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 hours ago
You can’t block porn completely without blocking VPNs. If you connect to a VPN that’s all they can see.
This makes it sound like VPNs can ONLY access porn. lol
Photuris@lemmy.ml 14 hours ago
We didn’t see this one coming a mile away.
Palantir execs and shareholders are buzzing with anticipation.
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 hours ago
How much you wanna bet the ministers use VPN to watch porn as well?
zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 5 hours ago
Who needs to watch it when you can live it
RedditRefugee69@lemmynsfw.com 4 hours ago
You joke but people who live porn still watch porn.
Lembot_0004@discuss.online 15 hours ago
Stop ministers making laws to… why the fuck they even do this bullshit? They are a government, they know everything about everyone even without such primitive control methods.
Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
The people pulling the strings have obviously decided that internet freedom is a threat to them and they’re taking (global) action to ensure their supremacy.
laz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
Moronic bit is atlast asking parents to be responsible
Baggie@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
Why are the kids technologically illiterate and undersexed until it comes to matters of government control? I’m not usually into tin foil hats, but this doesn’t feel like the kids are the primary concern here.
Pure_Psykosis@lemmy.ca 9 hours ago
They aren’t.
Gerudo@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
You ban something, and people will always find a way around it. Always.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Yup, and that’s how the US got the Mafia. We banned alcohol, but people wanted to drink, so the Mafia made that happen.
All a ban does is hurt law abiding citizens and businesses.
Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
This is a fairly revisionist history version of the mafia, they were here for decades before prohibition. One might say that they profited greatly from prohibition, but to suggest they began with it is incredibly incorrect. I hate to be the actually guy but I find organized crime fascinating and I can’t let this one go
piecat@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Dead drop USBs for file sharing?
fluxion@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Clearly it’s a parental problem to determine if the VPN they are buying for their kids is being used to wank off, but apparently this party of ‘liberty’ has an unhealthy obsession with monitoring our children’s genitalia these days.
AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Unfortunately, neither Labour nor Conservatives are parties of liberty, although there are some individuals within both that see the importance.
FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 hours ago
Dame Rachel told BBC Newsnight: “Of course, we need age verification on VPNs - it’s absolutely a loophole that needs closing and that’s one of my major recommendations.”
If this bitch had any idea what VPN even stood for they’d realize how fuckin stupid this statement is…
MyDogLovesMe@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Ya! Let them watch all that violence on Netflix instead!
Quazatron@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
I’ve always been fascinated by the lengths puritans will go to prevent kids from seeing mammary glands, while simultaneously being ok with them watching blood and violence.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Seriously though. We’ll legislate anything to keep them from seeing stuff they might reasonably expect to see and do one day and glorify things nobody should ever see or experience in person.
balder1991@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Yeah, is the next step to ban games like Free Fire, Counter Strike etc.?
ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Yeah, it’s just all these children with their bank accounts paying for their VPN subscriptions doing it all… Do they think we’re that stupid? Don’t answer that. 😔
stsquad@lemmy.ml 13 hours ago
It’s the free VPNs that are the problem. They are privacy nightmares.
thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 11 hours ago
If only there was some way the government could have predicted this would happen and maybe not rushed a poorly thought out law in the first place!
maybe then they would not have:
- forced big tech companies to withdraw service to the uk
- forced uk-based small forums and message boards to close
- given free vpn providers tons more data to sell
- reduced the overall cyber resilience of the country by forcing people to choose between giving photos of their passports to some weird online service or signing up for a free vpn which sells their data, may inject their own unregulated adverts etc
- reduced uk based advertising effectiveness and thus investment and marketing spend
- pissed everyone off while doing it, scoring yet another win for the far right
absolute roasters the lot of them
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
Which is worse, the free VPNs or the UK government?
twinnie@feddit.uk 15 hours ago
Everyone’s scared of Reform getting in and yet Reform are the only ones promising to reverse all this. All this is done based off the back of a 2016 survey where parents said they were worried about kids watching porn on the internet, but the survey gave no indication of what a solution would look like and gave no online age verification and banning VPNs.
Bahnd@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
If I had a nickle for ever time the UK did something pants-on-head stupid or short-sighted from a minor survey or public poll, [counts change jar]… How much are big macs these days?
TwigletSparkle@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 hours ago
yourparty.uk
Naich@lemmings.world 13 hours ago
Wow that doesn’t look shady at all.
gmtom@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Unfortunately amongst the unwashed masses of the British public this bill isnt actually particularly unpopular.
muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.com 14 hours ago
Why are people scared of reform getting in?
monogram@feddit.nl 13 hours ago
Racism, homophobia & sexism mostly, but I’m sure I’m missing a few.
Naich@lemmings.world 13 hours ago
Because they are a bunch of idiot racist grifters. And those are their good points.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 hours ago
Almost like you didn’t think this fucker through.
NGC2346@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
When they effectively make the internet a dangerous place, Usenet will rise from the darkness. P2P will also always exist and these politicians dont understand computer math, so a lot of what they’re trying to accomplish is bound to fail.
Inkstainthebat@pawb.social 4 hours ago
As someone who just read the Wikipedia article on Usenet and doesn’t know anything else about it Would this be pretty much the equivalent of the internet before search engines? Because if so I’m really intrigued
phar@lemmy.ml 2 hours ago
Never mind search engines, Usenet was being used before people were using web browsers.
frongt@lemmy.zip 15 hours ago
Let’s say they do. So people start using non UK VPNs. So you need age verification for any Internet access? For any computer or phone that could connect to the Internet?
palordrolap@fedia.io 14 hours ago
That's what they're aiming for, yes.
They want to know where everyone is and what every person is doing at every possible moment of every day, be that in public or on the Internet. They are paranoid and know that their entire system is in danger of collapse with the common man gaining control over the rich and powerful.
Thus they resort to extreme control of the commoners to ensure that won't happen.
Child protection and anti-pornography stances are perfect excuses because they're very difficult to argue against.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 12 hours ago
Every time some new measure is released “for protection”, the next day it’s being used to snuff out dissidents. That usually means journalists, activists (political, labor, environment, …) and sympathisants to give them a bit of pressure to straight up arrest them on some pretense.
Serinus@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
difficult to argue against.
Well, except for this one.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
and here we have the heart of the issue, and their end goal. identification required for Internet access. total control.
AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
100% and as always they boil it down to “well even if all that other stuff is true, it’s for the safety of children.”
Yet we have fucking confirmation that exposing networks of wealthy and powerful pedophiles is not on the agenda. Those people are untouchable. Those people are also the ones that we are handing complete control over to.
So who tf are we really protecting children from by doing this?
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
So you need age verification for any Internet access? For any computer or phone that could connect to the Internet?
I mean, experts have said for a while that if you’re going to require age verification, doing it directly on the device would be the most secure way. Allow parents to verify their phones, while creating child accounts for their kids.
When the site needs to verify their age, it simply asks the device directly if the user account is age-verified. It all happens in the background, so the adults never even need to bother with it once it’s set up.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
That makes sense. And seems like it would have much easier implementation as well.
AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
Don’t parental controls exist for a reason? Can’t you just block VPN use on individual devices like an additional parental control rather than making everyone that uses a VPN prove they’re not a child?
xc2215x@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Banning Pornhub makes them use the VPNs in the first place.
altphoto@lemmy.today 11 hours ago
Watch them get Halloween masks to make them look like grammar just so they can automatically get recognized into the good stuff… BDSM burrito spiroasting. When I was a kid I kept a matchbox that I found on the streets. It was this awesome woman with the best looking naturally inspired gigantic breasts from Dick’s last resort. Who ever dropped those, thanks man, you made my member at least 1/4" taller. At least. I don’t know what the effects are to be honest.
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Saw that coming. Can’t have the populace living their lives without constant, repressive government scrutiny.
SoloCritical@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
But it’s for the kids what kind of psychopath could be against that???