Is a new ban coming?
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Updated on Nov. 10 with new analysis of proposed VPN bans and the implications for Google’s new warning for millions of users installing this software.
Hundreds of millions of smartphone users are now subject to porn bans and restrictions, as legislators in the U.S. and Europe either block adult websites completely or mandate identity and age verification checks on users accessing content.
This plays into a fundamental misunderstanding of the way the global internet works. It also has drastic, long-term implications for the freedom of millions. And there are serious short-term threats as well, which has prompted a new Google warning.
Whilst multiple U.S. states have enacted porn bans of various flavors, it is the U.K. that could be the trigger point for a more fundamental change to internet freedoms. The country mandates age verification checks on porn sites, which has reportedly decimated porn use. That’s obviously nonsense, it has done nothing of the sort. And so the country could now tread new ground, echoing its fight with Apple over cloud encryption.
What has happened — just as in the U.S. — is VPN usage has surged. Porn users now pretend to be someplace else, accessing Pornhub and other sites via servers in countries with no restrictions. Just as with money laundering and online gambling, legislators are discovering that local laws mean nothing in isolation where the internet is concerned.
Now the U.K. is teasing the idea of a VPN ban. Just as its iCloud encryption ban has restricted its Apple users in a way even China has not, so the country is so focused on controlling the internet that it may do the same with VPNs. Unfortunately, it’s not alone. Some U.S. legislators would do the same if it was workable.
It’s likely Wisconsin will be the first to test the art of the possible. Its proposed legislation to stop adult websites “knowingly and intentionally publishing or distributing material harmful to minors on the internet,” is designed “to prevent anyone from accessing their content when connected to a VPN,” per TechRadar.
Similar proposals in Michigan have been been criticized by Proton (which supplies its own VPN) for “sending the wrong message around what the U.S. approach should be for internet security and censorship.” These are all dominoes, and it will take just one to fall before other states follow suit, just as with the porn blocks themselves.
“To protect their data and digital privacy, people are increasingly turning to VPNs. Unsurprisingly, though, lawmakers in Wisconsin aren’t pleased about it,” TechRadar says, “and have drafted a bill (called Wisconsin AB 105/SB 130) that could make it illegal to use a VPN to access adult content.”
VPNs are lifelines for internet users behind iron and bamboo curtains around the world, providing access to social media, news sites and messaging. For the west to consider restrictions is dangerous. To do so in the interest of child safety is disingenuous. Truly bad actors simply use something else. It’s normal users that pay the price.
There is also the technical challenge of locally blocking VPNs. It would require significant changes in how the internet is provided and monitores and the freedom to install apps on devices. State-by-state restrictions on app availability would be a new direction of travel that would trigger a major outcry from privacy advocates.
And the same is true when it comes to cyber safety. Hundreds of millions of users are now downloading and installing VPNs, secure tunnels that route all internet traffic to and from a device via third-party servers. VPNs are powerful tools. And from the wrong developers they’re dangerous tools. A bad VPN is much worse than no VPN.
Cue Google’s new warning. “Threat actors distribute malicious applications disguised as legitimate VPN services,” and many of these impersonate trusted enterprise and consumer VPN brands or use social engineering lures.”
Just as with all the other VPN warnings now doing the rounds, Google’s has been triggered by porn bans that have seen installs of VPN apps skyrocket by thousands of percentage points in a very short period of time. An entirely new user base has to be educated on the risks in using bad VPNs quickly, before the damage is done.
A VPN ban would just make this worse. Google’s warning to only use verified apps from official sources would be impossible. Users would turn to illicit downloads without any of those critical security checks in place. It would be a hackers’ paradise.
Google says “once installed, these applications serve as a vehicle to deliver dangerous malware payloads including info-stealers, remote access trojans and banking trojans that exfiltrate sensitive data such as browsing history, private messages, financial credentials and cryptocurrency wallet information.”
Google’s advice to install VPNs only from official stores is key. But I’d go further. Free VPNs are best avoided. Chinese VPNs must be avoided. Google and Apple have been criticized for allowing unsafe VPNs onto their app stores. Use your own judgment and select a reputable VPN from a well-known western brand. And be prepared to pay for it.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on the news. A clampdown on VPN usage really could be on its way. And just as with the threat to end-to-end encryption it’s an alarming new direction for internet freedoms. Legislators need to stop and think.
