Labour Could Ban VPNs After Online Safety Act Surge – Guido Fawkes

EXC: Labour Could Ban VPNs After Online Safety Act Surge

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Labour could ban the use of Virtual Private Networks after their use has skyrocketed to avoid the restrictions imposed by the Online Safety Act. Logical next step for the authoritarians…

A VPN reroutes a device’s internet traffic through another country. Swiss Proton VPN became the UK’s top free app on Apple’s app store over the weekend with downloads up 1,800%. Nord VPN reported a 1,000% spike in purchases from the UK. Half of the top ten free apps on the store are VPNs now. Well done lads…

Labour has previously supported moves to restrict VPN usage when the Online Safety Act was first going through parliament. Prominent backbench MP Sarah Champion launched a campaign against them:

“My new clause 54 would require the Secretary of State to publish, within six months of the Bill’s passage, a report on the effect of VPN use on Ofcom’s ability to enforce the requirements under clause 112. If VPNs cause significant issues, the Government must identify those issues and find solutions, rather than avoiding difficult problems.”

Champion was supported by the Labour frontbench – the party said there were “gaps” in the bill that needed to be amended. Shadow digital minister Alex Davies-Jones said at the time that the clause “touches on the issue of future-proofing, which Labour has raised repeatedly in debates on the Bill.” VPNs currently destroy the operation of the badly-designed legislation…

Under the terms of the act platforms are not allowed to promote VPNs as an alternative to ID checks. Labour will be minded to go much further. If China can’t do it…