https://www.jonaharagon.com/badges/

@jbqueru don’t think about that often, but it’s true. We don’t live in a rules-based society, we just tell ourselves that we do.

@TerryDay they know if you're using one, generally, what they don't know is what you're doing with it. That's why they want to make using a VPN illegal all on its own.

Hey, in less bleak news, it's Data Privacy Day! Spread the good word and make sure you're staying safe this year! https://mastodon.neat.computer/@privacyguides/115974133357241826

@WhoDisturbsMySlumber https://mastodon.neat.computer/@jonah/115973482132687933

Yes that seems plausible

@3dcandy https://mastodon.neat.computer/@jonah/115973482132687933

@dtwx https://mastodon.neat.computer/@jonah/115973482132687933

I think some are still missing the point. I’m not saying they’re going to lock up every single person who uses a VPN or watches porn.

Your government’s strategy is to make “crimes” like this as common and easy to commit as possible.

This way, if you ever do something completely legal which they *actually* don’t like, *which can be completely unrelated to VPNs or bypassing age verification,* they can pull up your internet history and easily prosecute you.

Organize a legitimate protest, and the government’s swift response will be to label you a child sex offender because they found you using evil VPN technology.

This is how free speech dies, not from a law that says “free speech is dead now,” but from draconian, authoritarian laws like this that give the government “plausible” reasons to go after anyone, which can’t easily be fought against.

This has always been the playbook to target innocents. In the USA, drug possession laws being created as a pretense for cops to raid and dismantle minority communities, for example. And now this is coming to the digital realm.

@paul nice you found the loophole, us tech guys always win after all

RE: https://mastodon.thenewoil.org/@thenewoil/115971195227745876

Next up will be a VPN ban. Many tech-y people will see that and think “lol yeah well that’s not going to stop *me* from using a VPN”

A VPN ban isn’t really meant stop you from using one. It means when they catch you doing so, they’ll use the fact you’re using this harmless technology itself as a *pretense* to lock you up without needing to do any “hard work” (i.e. an investigator’s job) like actually confirming whether you committed a real crime.

Don’t think you won’t be impacted just because you know how to outsmart an ISP filter! This is not a plan to protect children or stop you from consuming adult media. It is a ploy to eventually eliminate ALL freedom of expression and free access to information in the UK.

And the same goes for Chat Control and encrypted messengers, btw

#UKpol #VPNban #PornHub #ChatControl #Privacy #FreeSpeech #SocialMedia