What were we told by proponents of age/ID verification? "It'll only be for pornography, it won't spread beyond that, stop being hyperbolic and scaremongering". Anyone who said this would be a slippery slope and engage in mission creep was proven right.
It will get worse. The UK is proposing not just Government photo ID but also live (ongoing) facial recognition to verify that someone accessing something not "safe for kids" is of age. That will be implemented next year. Their rationale is that they need to verify that someone physically at a device is who they say they are based on their photo ID.
They didn't think this through, did they? Not that I am surprised by politicians anymore but this is probably one of the most moronic things. Sites will just block the UK. People who do want the pron will find it with a vpn and the whole thing will probably be added onto other stuff not pron related. Ironic that the country that brought forth George Orwell now does exactly the things he wanted about.
The Labour Party wanted to put forth an amendment to ban VPNs for the then Online Safety Bill. It failed but Labour could be in power this year with a majority so it would be trivial to bring in a new bill to ban them.
I fear VPNs are on borrowed time. AirVPN recently blocked Italian residents from service because of the new Piracy Shield.
What were we told by proponents of age/ID verification? "It'll only be for pornography, it won't spread beyond that, stop being hyperbolic and scaremongering". Anyone who said this would be a slippery slope and engage in mission creep was proven right.
It will get worse. The UK is proposing not just Government photo ID but also live (ongoing) facial recognition to verify that someone accessing something not "safe for kids" is of age. That will be implemented next year. Their rationale is that they need to verify that someone physically at a device is who they say they are based on their photo ID.
They didn't think this through, did they? Not that I am surprised by politicians anymore but this is probably one of the most moronic things. Sites will just block the UK. People who do want the pron will find it with a vpn and the whole thing will probably be added onto other stuff not pron related. Ironic that the country that brought forth George Orwell now does exactly the things he wanted about.
The Labour Party wanted to put forth an amendment to ban VPNs for the then Online Safety Bill. It failed but Labour could be in power this year with a majority so it would be trivial to bring in a new bill to ban them.
I fear VPNs are on borrowed time. AirVPN recently blocked Italian residents from service because of the new Piracy Shield.