this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2026
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VPN only with ID check in UK? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 16 hours ago by not_IO@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/privacy@lemmy.world
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[โ€“] IratePirate@feddit.org 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Let's assume the UK (and others) take a fully-fascist approach and try to squash VPNs within their jurisdiction. What would they have to do to achieve this, and is it practical? The way I see it, they'd have to...

  1. keep track the IPs of any VPN entry node (to update blocklists, see step 2)
  2. have them blocked (e.g. by using mandatory DNS filtering, probably applied at the ISP level)
  3. make sure people do not just switch to DNS servers not under their / the ISPs' control.

Can somebody chime in and check my reasoning? The way I see it, this will hold off non-technical folks, but to make it absolutely waterproof would be quite hard and require a game of constant whack-a-mole, wouldn't it?

[โ€“] moopet@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago

1 & 2 contradict. You're suggesting blocking the IP addresses of known VPNs (which is what they would have to do if they wanted this to work in the slightest). DNS blocking (which is something they've made ISPs do in the past) is pretty pointless, since you can resolve the IP address of a host multiple different ways (like switch DNS server, use a custom downloadable hosts file...)

They'd tell the ISPs they need to block traffic to VPNs, and then fine them if they let traffic through, shifting the responsibility to the ISP.