They're thinking too small. It's not just VPNs. The whole architecture of the Internet undermines the OSA. So long as people are able to casually send IP packets to places deemed unsafe, we will remain trapped in this hellish digital nightmare where UK citizens can communicate freely with whoever they please around the world.
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025
30 points (96.9% liked)
UK Politics
4266 readers
463 users here now
General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both !uk_politics@feddit.uk and !unitedkingdom@feddit.uk .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.
Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.
Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.
If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)
Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.
Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
You joke but if you think the aim isn't bigger... I wouldn't be surprised if astroturfed discourse around decentralised platforms being unsafe because they can't be "moderated" surfaces in the next few years (months?). Mastodon have already had to explain why they literally cannot add age verification in the UK. They'll just ban the whole concept if they can't get the control. The free web is being reigned in.
It seems they don't understand the original use of DARPAnet.
Or more likely, they do understand and want to destroy it.
It's a good job the upper chamber is full of knowledgeable members that have grown up as digital natives and understand the architecture of the internet.
Oh wait...
It's not great obviously but I'm not sure the word 'debate' is accurate.
According to the Lords schedule for next week, this is the only mention of VPN's I could see. And an oral question is literally that - a question;
"Oral questions are not intended to give rise to debate, and should be drafted in such a way that the minister can make their initial reply in no more than 75 words. Proceedings on each question, including supplementary questions and answers, are limited to ten minutes."
The idea that you using a VPN makes a child less safe is just plainly absurd and yes this is the line the government is pushing (video is Peter Kyle, former technology minister now the business minister after the reshuffle).
Fuck, they're definitely going to try and ban them
Literally everything undermines the OSA. It fundamentally goes against the internet. My friend shouldn't have to give up her ID to Reddit just so she can view a post about a dental issue that got marked as NSFW on Reddit (for all the bootlickers who are like "it's just to stop kids from viewing porn!". Making everyone hand over their most sensitive info to dozens of companies (which profit off of and share said info) just makes people less safe. Remember the Tea app?
If you don't want kids watching porn, actually, I dunno, be a parent and supervise them??