ProtonVPN warns against the threats to citizens' security and privacy
  • HeChomk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    149·
    9 months ago

    Literally impossible to enforce. Any business worth a damn uses vpns. Blocking such would be bad for business. Also, ssl vpns are as far as I’m aware, indistinguishable from regular https traffic.

    • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
      46·
      9 months ago

      They’ll ban the known IPs of any well known VPN provider. It’ll not really affect 90% of VPN users that are tech literate, but the 80% of the People that are Tech illiterate shall be punished and the Politicians shall pretend it works. This is how all the Countries blocking VPNs do it now.

      • loutr@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        22·
        9 months ago

        Nah it’s far more stupid than that. They want to ban some (most?) VPN apps from the iOS and Android stores. You would still be able to sign up for any VPN from your browser, and manually set it up on your phone.

        That’s the current proposal anyway, soon they’ll understand how moronic it is and either double down and try to “fix” if or quietly drop it.

  • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    57·
    9 months ago

    This kind of nonsense is only mandated out of fear, but in reality it’s not only colossally stupid, but also really difficult to enforce. Any proper business uses one. Anyone who wants privacy, and ad network anonymity uses one. There’s plenty of other uses people would want one, obviously

    • Eggyhead@kbin.social
      13·
      9 months ago

      I just think it’s corporate interests, not fear, that’s driving this. Terror and Children are just the easiest excuse to ensure a lot of people go blindly along with it.

      • dinckel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        9 months ago

        There aren’t any real corporations left in Russia, that aren’t either government owned, or actively circlejerking around the president for any praise. But otherwise you’re right

  • Tammo-Korsai@kbin.social
    44·
    9 months ago

    I fear that the UK might try to join this list not just out of authoritarianism, but out of a fear of technology they do not understand. Worse yet, the Conservative party once threw around the idea of banning encryption in its entirety and acted like WhatsApp is only used by criminals.

    • GreatAlbatross@feddit.ukEnglish
      23·
      9 months ago

      Ironic, considering how many members of the cabinet are being served court orders for their WhatsApp messages.

      • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.ukEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        It’s almost like certain members of the cabinet associate encrypted messages with misdeeds because of all the misdeeds they do through these apps. If I were a sceptical man.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    263·
    9 months ago

    I’ve taught my daughter to use a VPN here in the U.S. There’s “Kids Online Safety Bill” making it through congress, and if it passes, kids won’t be able to access all kinds of websites. Porn, yes, but also just websites about LGBT+ stuff which are perfectly safe for kids. As I have a queer daughter, I want to make absolutely sure she can access those sites if she needs them.

    • AlbyEvent@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      May I ask how would the “Kids Online safety bill” differentiate between an underage user and adult? I’m not from the US so that’s why I don’t know

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
        111·
        9 months ago

        I don’t know. From what I can see, that hasn’t been made clear yet. I am guessing, like porn in several states, IDs will be required to access things like TikTok or maybe even YouTube because it requires them to filter content for minors.

        There’s a reason anti-LGBTQ bigots love it.

        But even if that doesn’t happen, it allows for parental surveillance, and I want her to know that I don’t have the option to do that to her even if I wanted to. It should go beyond mere trust.

        If she VPNs to Canada, none of those issues will be things she has to care about.

      • OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        9 months ago

        Oh it’s such a fun and novel and not at all dystopian idea they’ve come up with.

        Content requiring an adult will just require some kind of identification, surely you can’t be against providing your ID to any website that hosts adult content or that website checking/accessing/logging with a national archive that you visited said website, right?

        So far, no concrete things put forward, but all of them seem to be related to an ID-required system.

    • FjorOPEnglish
      31·
      9 months ago

      Nice, Good on ya 🙌

    • YⓄ乙 @aussie.zoneEnglish
      57·
      9 months ago

      Sorry but I am curious, how did you find out your daughter is queer ? Is it the behavior towards other girls ?

            • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
              41·
              9 months ago

              Fair enough! But you have to admit, that a hell of a strange age for all of us. Maybe the strangest!

              My daughter is 11, not sure she has a clue what sexual orientation means, let alone her own.

              (Just now getting her back in my life. Long story. Mom fucked around and found out.)

  • DarkThoughts@kbin.social
    21·
    9 months ago

    It’s not just France, it’s EU based politics too. There’s certain liberal & center right parties & politicians that heavily push for shit like this, just like the chat control crap.

  • halva@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    20·
    9 months ago

    Russia isn’t prohibiting the use of VPNs but it is making it increasingly more headache inducing (protocol based blocking, ip bans of popular vpn providers).

  • CringyMikami@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    18·
    9 months ago

    It’s not a total ban of VPNs, I went to read a bit on the subject (easier since I’m french), it’s just that some politicians came up with a few amendments relative to the bill called “SREN” which very literally translates to “Securing and regulating the digital space”. As you may guess that bill also ticks the “child porn” box as a reason why it came to existence.

    One amendment proposes to ban mobile VPNs that do no comply with European or french regulations in the context of app stores. So it’s only on mobile, nothing about desktops.

    Of course it’s inapplicable in practice.

    Several amendements already failed due to backlash, one was about preventing people from posting on social networks if they use a VPN.

    • FjorOPEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      Yeah was also just listening to a podcast about this. So yeah not a straight total ban. But from what I heard, it would ban people from using VPNs outside of Europe, which obviously is not OK.

  • merthyr1831@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    9 months ago

    The UK also recently tried banning VPNs. It simply isn’t possible. However, it’ll make prosecuting dissidents and people with good opsec a lot easier because they can just say “well you might not have anything incriminating on your hard drives but you DO have a VPN client” and use that to get a tiny victory against someone who would otherwise go free.

    • r4start@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      Russia, China & UAE are quite successful with blocking VPN’s. I wouldn’t be so sure that in near future UK or any EU country censorship or heavy restrict VPN’s.

  • spiderkle@lemmy.caEnglish
    12·
    9 months ago

    If all VPNs are banned, french companies are fucked. Any remote login happens via VPN.

    • iByteABit [he/him]English
      1·
      9 months ago

      Any remote login happens via VPN.

      I don’t support this, but you don’t need VPNs for remote logins. SSH exists, it’s just that VPNs are a better solution for companies among other things.