2025-12-04 16:21:09
2025-12-01 21:08:46
2025-12-01 21:08:34
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Lawmakers Want To Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They’re Doing
Ah, yes ... back to the scare tactics that the only use of a VPN is to access CSAM.
Almost Everyone Uses VPNsLet’s talk about who lawmakers are hurting with these bills, because it sure isn’t just people trying to watch porn without handing over their driver’s license.
- Businesses run on VPNs. Every company with remote employees uses VPNs. Every business traveler connecting through sketchy hotel Wi-Fi needs one. Companies use VPNs to protect client and employee data, secure internal communications, and prevent cyberattacks.
- Students need VPNs for school. Universities require students to use VPNs to access research databases, course materials, and library resources. These aren’t optional, and many professors literally assign work that can only be accessed through the school VPN. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s WiscVPN, for example, “allows UW–Madison faculty, staff and students to access University resources even when they are using a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP).”
- Vulnerable people rely on VPNs for safety. Domestic abuse survivors use VPNs to hide their location from their abusers. Journalists use them to protect their sources. Activists use them to organize without government surveillance. LGBTQ+ people in hostile environments—both in the US and around the world—use them to access health resources, support groups, and community. For people living under censorship regimes, VPNs are often their only connection to vital resources and information their governments have banned.
- Regular people just want privacy. Maybe you don’t want every website you visit tracking your location and selling that data to advertisers. Maybe you don’t want your internet service provider (ISP) building a complete profile of your browsing history. Maybe you just think it’s creepy that corporations know everywhere you go online. VPNs can protect everyday users from everyday tracking and surveillance.
Lawmakers Want To Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They’re Doing
Remember when you thought age verification laws couldn’t get any worse? Well, lawmakers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and beyond are about to blow you away. It’s unfo…Techdirt

WhatGodIsMadeOf
in reply to Powderhorn • • •1st world governments are enemies of humanity, feeding us marketed lifestyles that make us rely on them.
Detox from their cultures.
danielhanrahantng
in reply to WhatGodIsMadeOf • • •cassandrafatigue
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •danielhanrahantng
in reply to cassandrafatigue • • •danielhanrahantng
in reply to WhatGodIsMadeOf • • •krooklochurm
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •There is no such thing as Jesus or the fuckjng antichrist.
Belief in stupid fucking magical shit like this is and has always been one of the biggest fucking problems in the world.
Harry Potter actually happened though.
like this
SuiXi3D likes this.
TehPers
in reply to krooklochurm • • •danielhanrahantng
in reply to TehPers • • •TehPers
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •danielhanrahantng
in reply to TehPers • • •TehPers
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •Wild assumption.
I don't worship. That's just plain stupid, at least in my opinion. Books can be read for the sake of reading them. Knowledge isn't some weird forbidden apple on a tree. It's something used to make informed decisions in the world.
Please seek therapy. The psychosis is strong with this. The "us vs them" mentality is nothing short of cultish brainwashing. Worship is fine, belief and faith are fine, community building is even cool, but turning it into a cult just justifies my decision to distance myself from religion more.
danielhanrahantng
in reply to TehPers • • •krooklochurm
in reply to TehPers • • •Hail Satan bro!
I fucking love Satan.
I'm also an atheist, so not in a theistic sense. He's just like. Cool.
TehPers
in reply to krooklochurm • • •krooklochurm
in reply to TehPers • • •Powderhorn
in reply to TehPers • • •TehPers
in reply to Powderhorn • • •Can't say I own a copy of Mein Kampf, though I've skimmed parts of it.
It's one of those books that I'll read if I feel like reading at some point, but I don't really want a copy because of how it looks to own one lol.
Satanic Bible's a lot better since I don't mind associating myself with Satanism somewhat despite not being religious at all.
Powderhorn
in reply to TehPers • • •I was a tutor at the UW Math Study Center my first year of college. I'd gotten my hair bleached for the first time, and it turned out orange. So I shaved it off and started over.
We could bring a book to read between requests for help (this is, after all, 1997), and I'd just picked up Mein Kampf. As it happened, people seemed uninterested in asking a guy with a shaved head reading Hitler for help.
danielhanrahantng
in reply to krooklochurm • • •krooklochurm
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •danielhanrahantng
in reply to krooklochurm • • •krooklochurm
in reply to danielhanrahantng • • •InevitableList
in reply to Powderhorn • • •