Open Rights Group18h ago

The UK government could announce restrictions on VPNs next month.

This would threaten our privacy and security.

VPNs keep young people safe from harassment. Businesses secure. Journalists, activists and whistleblowers protected.

Here's why we must #ProtectVPNs 🧵

Sign the petition if you agree ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-government-protect-vpn-use-uk

#vpn #vpns #cybersecurity #privacy #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #ageverification #StopKillingTheInternet #ukpolitics #ukpol

Tell the Government: Protect VPN use in the UK

Take action! Protect VPN use in the UK VPNs help people to stay private and safe online. Young people use them to avoid harassment, or protect location data. Companies use them to make sure remote log-in to their networks are secure. Journalists, campaigners and whistle blowers use them to protect their work and themselves. But the Government wants to force people to verify their age when they buy a VPN. This will deter people from using VPNs to stay safe and secure online. Why are the government proposing restrictions to accessing VPNs?

Open Rights Group
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
VPNs can help protect children's security online too. They aren’t just used to avoid content blocks.

Restrictions will deter people from using a core cybersecurity tool and create greater risks.

Privacy is online safety #ProtectVPNs ✊️

Sign the petition ➡️ action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-governm...
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
The only way to create an ironclad age verification system is extreme digital authoritarianism.

Restrictions on VPNs are an attack on the open Internet and our ability to be secure online – the antithesis of online safety.

Read our briefing ➡️ www.openrightsgroup.org/publications...

#ProtectVPNs
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
Aside from restrictions, it's been suggested that sites should detect VPN use and bounce users into age verification.

This would be technically flawed, privacy-invasive and would exclude lawful Internet users because VPN traffic can look identical to ordinary encrypted web traffic.

#ProtectVPNs
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
VPNs aren’t a meaningful threat to age verification measures.

⚫ 6-12 year olds are very unlikely to use them due to technological and economic barriers.

⚫ Older teens already know other workarounds.

Banning or restricting VPNs is overreach. The price is our privacy and security.

#ProtectVPNs
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
An adult using a VPN doesn't impact the safety of a child online.

Adults use VPNs because they don’t trust age verification providers with their personal data.

Something the government has refused to deal with by regulating the industry to ensure high standards of data protection.

#ProtectVPNs
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
Banning or blocking VPNs will shatter cybersecurity in a self-defeating attempt to make the unworkable workable.

Creating uncertainty around core Internet infrastructure could undermine the UK’s credibility as a stable place for digital businesses and security innovation.

#ProtectVPNs
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago
Treating VPNs as a 'problem' is foolish.

They help parents manage online risks, support secure remote working, protect people in abusive situations, and provide a lifeline to people in repressive States. MPs themselves use them!

Attacking VPNs throws the baby out with the bath water.

#ProtectVPNs
Open Rights Group18h ago
The UK government could announce restrictions on VPNs next month. This would threaten our privacy and security. VPNs keep young people safe from harassment. Businesses secure. Journalists, activists and whistleblowers protected. Here's why we must #ProtectVPNs 🧵 Sign the petition if you agree ⬇️

Tell the Government: Protect V...
Tell the Government: Protect VPN use in the UK

Take action! Protect VPN use in the UK VPNs help people to stay private and safe online. Young people use them to avoid harassment, or protect location data. Companies use them to make sure remote log-in to their networks are secure. Journalists, campaigners and whistle blowers use them to protect their work and themselves. But the Government wants to force people to verify their age when they buy a VPN. This will deter people from using VPNs to stay safe and secure online. Why are the government proposing restrictions to accessing VPNs?

Open Rights Group
Show threadOpen Rights Group18h ago

VPNs can help protect children's security online too. They aren’t just used to avoid content blocks.

Restrictions will deter people from using a core cybersecurity tool and create greater risks.

Privacy is online safety ✊️

Sign the petition to #ProtectVPNs in the UK ➡️ https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-government-protect-vpn-use-uk

#vpn #vpns #cybersecurity #privacy #onlinesafety #onlinesafetyact #ageverification #StopKillingTheInternet #ukpolitics #ukpol