Following the same legislative and narrative pattern as the EU for “Chat Control”, similar laws and rhetoric are now cropping up in the US. The narrative is “save the children from porn” but the action is censorship, mass surveillance, and the elimination of privacy on the Internet.

As of this writing, Wisconsin lawmakers are escalating their war on privacy by targeting VPNs in the name of “protecting children” in A.B. 105/S.B. 130. It’s an age verification bill that requires all websites distributing material that could conceivably be deemed “sexual content” to both implement an age verification system and also to block the access of users connected via VPN. The bill seeks to broadly expand the definition of materials that are “harmful to minors” beyond the type of speech that states can prohibit minors from accessing—potentially encompassing things like depictions and discussions of human anatomy, sexuality, and reproduction.

Wisconsin’s bill has already passed the State Assembly and is now moving through the Senate. If it becomes law, Wisconsin could become the first state where using a VPN to access certain content is banned. Michigan lawmakers have proposed similar legislation that did not move through its legislature, but among other things, would force internet providers to actively monitor and block VPN connections. And in the UK, officials are calling VPNs "a loophole that needs closing.

  • tate@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    14·
    2 hours ago

    Wisconsin already blocks access to all goverment websites if you use a VPN. I can’t even check the garbage collection schedule for my town. I always thought it was this misguided concept that they thought only “hackers” would want to be anonymous. It seems they are really working for the data brokers, who don’t want anyone to be anonymous.

  • Arghblarg@lemmy.caEnglish
    36·
    4 hours ago

    At some point we’ll just have to tunnel IP over DNS, and then they can’t block traffic without destroying the entire internet. Not that it’ll dissuade them.

    • SeeMarkFly@lemmy.mlEnglish
      13·
      1 hour ago

      I know governments work slow but these guys are still trying to figure out if freeing the slaves was a good idea.

  • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    2·
    2 hours ago

    If this passes I will simply add Wisconsin to my growing list of banned US states from accessing my website. That’s assuming it’s not already on there.

  • tidderuuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    4 hours ago

    Porn websites should just start blocking access for any lawmakers that are okay with this legislative garbage.

  • DaMummy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    156·
    3 hours ago

    There’s a genocide going on. It’s not the porn degenerates, it’s the moral religious people. Don’t push this garbage onto children. At least wait until they’re 25 and their brain is fully developed before you teach them that women are the problem, that little boys should be fondled by grown men, and that it’s OK to commit a genocide against the people who pray to a different sky wizards than you.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 hours ago

    Don’t worry once this bites them in the ass by exposing something they have said is bad they will get themselves an exception.

  • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    51·
    3 hours ago

    My IT experience is fading fast so can anyone explain this bit?

    block the access of users connected via VPN

    I’m running a Digital Ocean droplet on the other side of the Pond with my own, static IP. How could a site detect I’m using a VPN? Imgur blocks me if it’s on. How do they know?!

    • Godort@lemmy.caEnglish
      6·
      3 hours ago

      Generally, they know you’re using a VPN because of where your traffic is coming from.

      They probably block Digital Ocean’s IP pool as a whole as it’s often a hub for cybercrime and it would only affect a fraction of users.

      • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        20 minutes ago

        The thing is, VPNs won’t protect your privacy much. Browser fingerprinting technology has achieved its goal. True anonymity online is damn near impossible now.

        VPNs are able to help circumvent authoritarian bullshit by making the traffic appear to come from somewhere else. So states that implement laws banning what is essentially protected speech aren’t able to really be effective in their efforts because the people that live there just route their traffic outside the state the have it all bounced back in. Banning VPNs would help them censor anything they consider porn.

        That’s the real danger. A teenager jerking off is not the concern. It’s the excuse.

        I wonder, what if we end run this with the cheap GPUs about to hit the market once the AI bubbles pop? Just set up a bunch of Remote Desktop instances people log in to pull shit up on and stream that to the browser. When they disconnect, nuke the container and pull the instance up again, route everything again. It’s basically Netflix of a remote session. And if they ban that, it would invoke the wrath of some incredibly powerful industries.

        All because naked people are scary.

      • Tanoh@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        3 hours ago

        There are lots of companies selling data, just one of them is a list of known VPN IP addresses. Updated every X days. Just plug that into your service and it gets a lot harder, but still not impossible, to use with a VPN.