this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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I know it isn't specific to just Linux but I use Linux anyway so my question is,

Is there a way you could use a VPN without them knowing that? Or if they outlaw them is it really just game over?

If they made VPNs illegal I suppose stuff like TOR would follow except TOR is partly funded by the US state department and the US is one of my countries closest allies (one of the five eyes). So surely they wouldn't shut down something the US funds directly... Would they?

I've read very very little about Gemini and other protocols like Gopher, would this be the way forward if they do this? And is that even remotely close to the security and potential anonymity you would receive from a VPN?

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[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

It'd be a really bad situation. I mean we rely on VPNs and tunnels a lot. For half the people doing home-office, logging into the company's VPN is the first thing in the morning. Field crew relies on them. That's an additional layer of protection in the ATM of your bank...

It'd wreck half the economy in the process. Or "they" need to outlaw specific things. Like private VPNs. And gather a list of private VPN providers and ban them via a great firewall. That's possible. And would make life worse in a country. It's possible to circumvent these measures. And it's difficult to discern traffic and distinguish VPN traffic from other encrypted traffic so the country might want to implement some harsh measures as well. A police force knocking on people's doors if they suspect them to evade law and demand they show their computer and smartphones.

So in conclusion your best option is probably to move to a different place if you can afford to, once that becomes reality. (Edit: Maybe your best option is to protest this, do campaigns, call your representative and try to stop it. So we dont get into this situation in the fist place.)