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UK visitors not using a VPN down 77%
by hmlwilliams 11mo ago
UK visitors not using a VPN down 77%
- DagsEoress 11mo agoYou believe all children know how to operate a VPN?
- consp 11mo agoAre you suggesting kids are not digitally versed and have no capability of searching and learning?
- random9749832 11mo ago1. A number of apps have made using VPN a 1-click task. 2. Children aren't as well versed with tech as you think, just because they spend a lot of hours in front of a screen.
- hn_throw2025 11mo ago2. Yeah, I am regularly irritated by old chestnut of “kids are tech geniuses unlike the helpless adults”. With few exceptions, they think WiFi/the Web/The Internet are the same thing and have no clue how any of it works deeper than the UI (just like most adults). In the UK at least, our “progressive” government shifted the focus in the late 90s from teaching basic CS concepts to using Microsoft Office applications. I hope it is slightly better now.
- Lio 11mo ago> You believe all children know how to operate a VPN Yes. That’s exactly what we believe. Do you believe that 77% of UK Pornhub users suddenly stopped wanking? Seems pretty implausible to me.
- DagsEoress 11mo agoThis all or nothing mentality is so disconnected from the real world. Of course some people started using VPNs, of course some children even started doing it. No law can prevent all occurrences of what it tries to prevent. But it can make it more difficult, and heighten the barrier of entry for children that are introduced to the internet.
- Lio 11mo agoKids don’t start out knowing that you type pornhub.com to get porn. One of their friends sends them a link. Now they just send them a different link, one that goes via a free VPN. You don't need any new skills for that and it's not a "speedbump". All this law does is make it harder for adults to use non-porn websites like Reddit, Spotify or Bluesky. It’s not a good law. At the next election some portion of Labour voters will remember missteps like this and will vote for someone else because of it.
- ndsipa_pomu 11mo ago> At the next election some portion of Labour voters will remember missteps like this and will vote for someone else because of it. Personally, I think their prosecution of peaceful protestors (Palestine supporters) whilst giving a free pass to right wing violent protestors will alienate their traditional left-wing base.
- raxxorraxor 11mo agoI don't think the traditional left wing base is too enthused about their intifada brothers to be honest. And a specific subset of those probably would want to ban porn too.
- ndsipa_pomu 11mo agoAs far as I can tell, the purpose of the law is to push children to use either free VPNs and proxies (which will likely make them less safe using the internet) or to visit less famous porn sites that are too niche to be targetted. So, we're pushing children towards the most dodgy porn sites possible and encouraging people to upload identifying information to the less dodgy porn sites. This law is not fit for the declared purpose at all.
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- h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 11mo ago> Yes. That’s exactly what we believe. So all minors in the UK have their own banking account and credit card? You know, to pay for the VPN.
- Lio 11mo agoWhy would they need any of that when free to use VPNs exist?
- h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 11mo agoWhy do you think free to use VPNs exist when both servers and bandwidth costs money?
- Thiez 11mo agoFact is that they do exist. Whether that meshes with your personal beliefs about economics seems beside the point.
- h4ck_th3_pl4n3t 11mo agoThey exist because they are either proxying networks that resell residential IPs (aka your internet connection) ...or because they are harvesting credentials. The former will now make less sense as a business model, since UK isn't a good location to proxy traffic through anymore.
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- bitfilped 11mo agoDo you think children are a significant portion of the porn traffic?
- InsideOutSanta 11mo agoBased on my childhood memories, I would say kids are the most likely to figure out how to get a free VPN and look at porn that way. Or just find another porn site that doesn't adhere to the law.
- forgotoldacc 11mo ago20 years ago, kids were using proxies and VPNs to get around forum bans. Kids today are most certainly still using VPNs.
- DagsEoress 11mo agoI honestly doubt ipad kids are as tech savvy as 90s or 00s kids. Not only that, I'm sure some kids will figure it out. But not all.
- schnebbau 11mo agoThis is the problem. Adults thinking children are useless. Don't you remember being a kid? Whenever there's a blocker (one case from my childhood was how to use net send to broadcast profanity across the network), someone will figure it out, and by the end of the day EVERYONE knows.
- zeristor 11mo agoProgramming VCRs was famously something kids could understand.
- carus 11mo agoMaybe not all, but kids pickup things fast. When I was young the school tried to block a popular flash games website, one lunch hour later and somehow we all learned how to use a VPN. I'd say I owe a lot of my technical ability to learning how to circumvent restrictions on school computers and whatever my parents tried to setup on the home computer.
- DagsEoress 11mo agoI agree. My point is we shouldn't simply open the doors for this degenerate content and make it easily accessible for children. Children who are already addicted to porn will be more inclined to find a workaround. But new children who haven't been exposed yet will be less inclined.
- bearburger 11mo agoCome on. Get out of your bubble and go touch grass. There are more restrictive countries than UK/EU/US will become in visible future. And customer-level censorship circumvention technologies have gone so far that most services are just one-button apps. And the children who can't press one button usually just don't have a phone.
- Ekaros 11mo agoLot of them do. Especially hormonal teenagers who have both lot of time and energy to find solutions. Not to forgot the lure of forbidden.
- hyperjeff 11mo agorelevant Dilbert: https://www.flubu.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/wpid-pornfilter1.png https://www.flubu.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/wpid-p...
- pogue 11mo agoOperate one? You mean download an app and switch the VPN to "on"?
- plqbfbv 11mo agoIt's not like they need to `sudo apt install openvpn` and tweak the config file manually and tinker with routes and firewall rules afterwards. Basically every youtube video for the past decade has been sponsored by a VPN service offering first-joiner discounts. My cousin uses a VPN and has no idea what it is and how it works, just that "he should protect himself while browsing". Those VPNs have invested massively in UX and ease of use so out of that 77% of users, I'd guess more than 80% of it switched to VPNs.
- ghusto 11mo agoYou don't have children, I take it.
- brazukadev 11mo agoYou believe 77% of Pornhub UK visitors are children?