4 ms·

I'm surprised that the EFF does not highlight the best option, here: use a VPN to a jurisdiction that doesn't have such ridiculous laws.

Retr0id 10mo ago
In many cases, using a VPN is a great way to get your account flagged as suspicious.
- iamnothere 10mo ago
  Care to share more details about this? Which account? What do you mean by “suspicious”? What specific effects does this have? I use a VPN 24/7 on one machine. Zero issues even with banking, although sometimes I have to answer CAPTCHAs.
  - selfmodruntime 10mo ago
    Your VPN provider shares their IP lists publicly. For a lot of website owners, blocking those is a simple way of getting rid of 80% of spam.
    - iamnothere 10mo ago
      And yet I don’t get blocked. Curious.
  - bhelkey 10mo ago
    Some sites block or offer a degraded experience for VPN traffic. This happens occasionally when I use Mullvad. Some examples: Imgur loads but does not display any content. USPS's website does not load.
    - iamnothere 10mo ago
      Now that I think about it USPS is the one place I get blocked. Still, it seems like people facing an age gate should be able to circumvent it without much hassle on a regular basis.
  - Footprint0521 10mo ago
    What VPN?! Proton literally doesn’t work on anything
- stavros 10mo ago
  Then more people need to use a VPN!
kristjank 10mo ago
It might be bad for an activist group to advocate just ignoring the problem into a different jurisdiction.
- paulddraper 10mo ago
  They could sell it as "if your IP geolocation is inaccurate, or if the statute does not apply to you." But FWIW VPNs can get flagged for suspicious behavior. YMMV
SoftTalker 10mo ago
Next step: the same government that is demanding the age verification will ban VPNs.
- pc86 10mo ago
  Everyone seems to forget that using VPNs to violate your local laws gives lots of good ammo to the authoritarians that want to ban VPNs. The answer isn't to use a VPN to get around it (and thus give fodder to your enemies) but to change the law.
  - luke727 10mo ago
    While I agree with this in spirit, here in the UK both major parties along with the public at large generally support these types of laws.
    - JoshTriplett 10mo ago
      Two of the major parties support it, but it's not entirely obvious how much public support there is; it's not most people's top issue, and it's easy to make polls say what you want depending on the question you ask. You'd get different answers if, for instance, you ask "do you want to have to show ID or submit a picture of your face in order to access many sites on the Internet".
      - terminalshort 10mo ago
        The entire concept of public support breaks down when the majority of the public doesn't actually know what a VPN is.
      - luke727 10mo ago
        I'm not sure there'd be much of a difference because the British people are broadly speaking a rather paternalistic society.
    - SoftTalker 10mo ago
      I would guess the vast majority of parents support these laws. They are disgusted with the social media platforms who shrug and pretend they are just dumb pipes when it comes to filth, predators, and harmful content, while at the same time keeping users engaged with addictive algorithms and tracking everything every user does and knowing everything about them.
cedws 10mo ago
The days are numbered on this technique working. After enough countries enact their own age verification laws tech companies will just make that the global default policy, and I'm sure the opportunity to harvest user data will not be left to waste. Many sites already block and throttle VPNs. When that day comes I'll stop casually using the internet or search for the underground alternative.
omoikane 10mo ago
I think EFF does not recommend for or against VPN in general because it's not always a clear win, depending on the VPN and the use case. https://ssd.eff.org/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-you https://ssd.eff.org/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-you
hamdingers 10mo ago
"Give up" is not the best option. Certainly not from the EFF's perspective.
- JoshTriplett 10mo ago
  I mean, the best option is to fight this legislation, and AIUI they're doing that too. But this article is not about that, it's about how to minimize the harm if you encounter it.
selfmodruntime 10mo ago
VPNs are increasingly useless, with Cloudflare in front of 80% of the public net. I always wonder if people giving this advice try it themselves, most major sites are unusable with a common VPN provider.

Retr0id 10mo ago

In many cases, using a VPN is a great way to get your account flagged as suspicious.

iamnothere 10mo ago
Care to share more details about this? Which account? What do you mean by “suspicious”? What specific effects does this have? I use a VPN 24/7 on one machine. Zero issues even with banking, although sometimes I have to answer CAPTCHAs.
- selfmodruntime 10mo ago
  Your VPN provider shares their IP lists publicly. For a lot of website owners, blocking those is a simple way of getting rid of 80% of spam.
  - iamnothere 10mo ago
    And yet I don’t get blocked. Curious.
- bhelkey 10mo ago
  Some sites block or offer a degraded experience for VPN traffic. This happens occasionally when I use Mullvad. Some examples: Imgur loads but does not display any content. USPS's website does not load.
  - iamnothere 10mo ago
    Now that I think about it USPS is the one place I get blocked. Still, it seems like people facing an age gate should be able to circumvent it without much hassle on a regular basis.
- Footprint0521 10mo ago
  What VPN?! Proton literally doesn’t work on anything
stavros 10mo ago
Then more people need to use a VPN!

kristjank 10mo ago

It might be bad for an activist group to advocate just ignoring the problem into a different jurisdiction.

paulddraper 10mo ago
They could sell it as "if your IP geolocation is inaccurate, or if the statute does not apply to you." But FWIW VPNs can get flagged for suspicious behavior. YMMV

SoftTalker 10mo ago

Next step: the same government that is demanding the age verification will ban VPNs.

pc86 10mo ago
Everyone seems to forget that using VPNs to violate your local laws gives lots of good ammo to the authoritarians that want to ban VPNs. The answer isn't to use a VPN to get around it (and thus give fodder to your enemies) but to change the law.
- luke727 10mo ago
  While I agree with this in spirit, here in the UK both major parties along with the public at large generally support these types of laws.
  - JoshTriplett 10mo ago
    Two of the major parties support it, but it's not entirely obvious how much public support there is; it's not most people's top issue, and it's easy to make polls say what you want depending on the question you ask. You'd get different answers if, for instance, you ask "do you want to have to show ID or submit a picture of your face in order to access many sites on the Internet".
    - terminalshort 10mo ago
      The entire concept of public support breaks down when the majority of the public doesn't actually know what a VPN is.
    - luke727 10mo ago
      I'm not sure there'd be much of a difference because the British people are broadly speaking a rather paternalistic society.
  - SoftTalker 10mo ago
    I would guess the vast majority of parents support these laws. They are disgusted with the social media platforms who shrug and pretend they are just dumb pipes when it comes to filth, predators, and harmful content, while at the same time keeping users engaged with addictive algorithms and tracking everything every user does and knowing everything about them.

cedws 10mo ago

The days are numbered on this technique working. After enough countries enact their own age verification laws tech companies will just make that the global default policy, and I'm sure the opportunity to harvest user data will not be left to waste. Many sites already block and throttle VPNs. When that day comes I'll stop casually using the internet or search for the underground alternative.

omoikane 10mo ago

I think EFF does not recommend for or against VPN in general because it's not always a clear win, depending on the VPN and the use case. https://ssd.eff.org/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-you https://ssd.eff.org/module/choosing-vpn-thats-right-you

hamdingers 10mo ago

"Give up" is not the best option. Certainly not from the EFF's perspective.

JoshTriplett 10mo ago
I mean, the best option is to fight this legislation, and AIUI they're doing that too. But this article is not about that, it's about how to minimize the harm if you encounter it.

selfmodruntime 10mo ago

VPNs are increasingly useless, with Cloudflare in front of 80% of the public net. I always wonder if people giving this advice try it themselves, most major sites are unusable with a common VPN provider.